DTM Imola: Rast takes first pole of his comeback over Muller

It was the best qualifying showing so far from the three-time DTM champion on his return to the series, having sat out the 2021 season, with Abt Audi driver Rast beating Team Rosberg Audi rival Nico Muller to pole by 0.188s.

Thomas Preining completed the top three in his best DTM showing to date in the Team Bernhard Porsche, as Clemens Schmid was shuffled back from first to fourth in the final seconds of a frenetic qualifying.

After Ricardo Feller set the early benchmark time with a 1m41.323s, team-mate Rast quickly asserted control of the session with a 1m40.687s followed by a 1m40.221s that third Abt driver Kelvin van der Linde came closest to matching with an effort that was 0.127s slower.

Schmid, who suffered a right-rear tyre blowout entering Tamburello in FP1 on Friday, was the best-placed of the Grasser Racing Lamborghini quartet in third at this point as team leader Mirko Bortolotti elected to remain in the garage until there were just six minutes remaining of the session.

But it was Schmid who stepped up to lead Lamborghini's charge with a 1m40.198s to snatch provisional pole, Bortolotti going 0.059s slower.

However Rast then reclaimed the top spot with the only sub-1m40s lap of the session at 1m39.817s, with Muller and Preining also beating Schmid's time.

Another late effort from Feller split the two Grasser cars, leaving Bortolotti sixth-quickest, although the Italian will drop 10 places on the grid for running an incorrect set of tyres during FP2 that his team explained was caused by having the wrong tyre barcodes.

Thomas Preining, KÃS Team Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3-R

Photo by: DTM

After a quick spin at Variante Alta, Kelvin van der Linde set the fastest middle sector of anybody on his final lap but it was good enough only for the seventh-quickest time.

But thanks to Bortolotti's penalty, he will start sixth, with double DTM champion Marco Wittmann the best of the BMW M4s starting seventh in his Walkenhorst Motorsport example.

Championship leader Sheldon van der Linde will carry 25kg from eighth on the grid in race one, after his victory last time out at the Lausitzring, with Mercedes drivers Lucas Auer (Winward) and Maro Engel (GruppeM) completing the top 10.

DTM Imola Qualifying results:

Cla	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	René Rast	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	1'39.817
2	Nico Müller	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	1'40.005	0.188
3	Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'40.039	0.222
4	Clemens Schmid	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	1'40.121	0.304
5	Ricardo Feller	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	1'40.137	0.320
6	Mirko Bortolotti	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	1'40.180	0.363
7	Kelvin van der Linde	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	1'40.348	0.531
8	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 GT3	1'40.409	0.592
9	Sheldon Van Der Linde	BMW M4 GT3	1'40.431	0.614
10	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'40.474	0.657
11	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'40.570	0.753
12	Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'40.597	0.780
13	Nick Cassidy	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	1'40.626	0.809
14	Rolf Ineichen	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	1'40.631	0.814
15	Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'40.661	0.844
16	Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 911 GT3 R	1'40.787	0.970
17	Philipp Eng	BMW M4 GT3	1'40.800	0.983
18	Timo Glock	BMW M4 GT3	1'40.927	1.110
19	Arjun Maini	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'40.935	1.118
20	Maximilian Götz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'40.958	1.141
21	Marius Zug	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	1'41.063	1.246
22	Mikael Grenier	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'41.127	1.310
23	Maximilian Buhk	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'41.301	1.484
24	Felipe Fraga	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	1'41.310	1.493
25	David Schumacher	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	1'41.392	1.575
26	Dev Gore	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	1'41.396	1.579
27	Esteban Muth	BMW M4 GT3	1'41.397	1.580
28	Alessio Deledda	Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo	1'42.065	2.248
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