Di Resta: No panic at Mercedes
Paul di Resta believes that Mercedes are closer to Audi's pace than the results of qualifying suggest, as the Scot feels he made too many errors on his fastest lap
The former Formula Three Euro Series champion was one of three Mercedes drivers to set a lap time of 1:21.7, but he, Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green were all half a second adrift of Timo Scheider's pole position lap for Audi.
"We're not too concerned," di Resta told autosport.com. "I don't think it's as bad as it looks, sometimes you just have a bad day.
"I didn't quite get it together. I made a few mistakes, and I think without those I would have been a lot faster, so we are not going to panic."
The 22-year-old added that he was not worried when the red flags came out in the second session while he was outside the top eight, as DTM rules permit all of the drivers from the second session to proceed to the final segment in such circumstances.
"It wasn't a problem," he added, "and I was on a quicker lap at the time, I was in the final sector when the red flags came out so it was clear we had the pace to get through.
"It was a tough qualifying, and in the end we weren't quite quick enough, so the race is going to be tough."
Di Resta will start sixth in Sunday's race, where he will be trying to score his first points of the season after a clutch problem dropped him back at Hockenheim.
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