DTM Hungaroring: Auer pips Wehrlein to pole as Mercedes dominates
Lucas Auer took his eighth DTM pole position on Sunday at the Hungaroring, as a dominant Mercedes team locked out the top five positions
Just six minutes into the session, Paul di Resta already beat his Saturday pole time with a 1m37.391s.
Auer and Jamie Green narrowly missed out on toppling Di Resta on their first runs, so it was BMW's Timo Glock who eventually jumped into top spot by 0.008s.
Glock, who had entered the weekend as the points leader but dropped behind Mercedes' Gary Paffett by failing to score points on a tough Saturday for BMW, stayed ahead until the final minute of the session, when Audi duo Rene Rast and Robin Frijns claimed the top two positions.
However Rast's lead was shortlived, as Pascal Wehrlein lowered the benchmark by nearly three tenths with a 1m36.780s as the chequered flag fell.
Yet, Wehrlein's first pole since his return to DTM was denied by Auer, who beat the 2015 series champion by 0.063s with a 1m36.717s.
Wehrlein therefore had to settle for second, the duo leading three more Mercedes drivers in the order of Di Resta, Edoardo Mortara and Paffett.
Rast was best of the rest in sixth, as Daniel Juncadella took seventh as the slowest Mercedes.
Glock ended up eighth in another disappointing session for BMW, with the other five drivers ending up in the final seven places.
Audi duo Nico Muller and Green completed the top 10.
Race two grid
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lucas Auer | HWA | Mercedes | 1m36.717s | - | 8 |
| 2 | Pascal Wehrlein | HWA | Mercedes | 1m36.780s | 0.063s | 9 |
| 3 | Paul Di Resta | HWA | Mercedes | 1m36.977s | 0.260s | 8 |
| 4 | Edoardo Mortara | HWA | Mercedes | 1m37.016s | 0.299s | 9 |
| 5 | Gary Paffett | HWA | Mercedes | 1m37.025s | 0.308s | 8 |
| 6 | Rene Rast | Rosberg | Audi | 1m37.046s | 0.329s | 8 |
| 7 | Daniel Juncadella | HWA | Mercedes | 1m37.058s | 0.341s | 9 |
| 8 | Timo Glock | RMR | BMW | 1m37.105s | 0.388s | 9 |
| 9 | Nico Muller | Abt | Audi | 1m37.219s | 0.502s | 9 |
| 10 | Jamie Green | Rosberg | Audi | 1m37.259s | 0.542s | 9 |
| 11 | Robin Frijns | Abt | Audi | 1m37.265s | 0.548s | 8 |
| 12 | Augusto Farfus | RMG | BMW | 1m37.332s | 0.615s | 9 |
| 13 | Loic Duval | Phoenix | Audi | 1m37.430s | 0.713s | 9 |
| 14 | Marco Wittmann | RMG | BMW | 1m37.453s | 0.736s | 9 |
| 15 | Philipp Eng | RMR | BMW | 1m37.505s | 0.788s | 8 |
| 16 | Mike Rockenfeller | Phoenix | Audi | 1m37.510s | 0.793s | 9 |
| 17 | Joel Eriksson | RBM | BMW | 1m37.530s | 0.813s | 9 |
| 18 | Bruno Spengler | RBM | BMW | 1m37.750s | 1.033s | 8 |
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