DTM Misano: Di Resta takes crushing pole in wet night race qualifying
Paul di Resta starred in wet qualifying for the first race of the DTM's night-time weekend at Misano, planting his Mercedes on pole position by almost half a second
Rene Rast sat at the top of the times for Audi with four minutes remaining, but could not survive di Resta's onslaught.
First the Scot pipped Rast's best with a kerb-bouncing, spectacular lap, then he sliced half a second off that effort with a cleaner run.
On his final lap, di Resta chipped three hundredths off his previous best, to finish up 0.469 seconds clear of HWA Mercedes team-mate Edoardo Mortara.
Mortara moved into the frame late in the session, with two laps edging out the best Rast could manage.
Reigning champion Rast ended up third, while championship leader Gary Paffett put in a last-lap effort to qualify his Mercedes fourth.
In the wet conditions, most of the competitors circulated on track for most of the session rather than completing their customary two runs.
The best of those to pit was Mortara, while the tactic also worked for Timo Glock, who headed the BMW brigade in fifth position.
Lucas Auer took sixth for Mercedes from Mike Rockenfeller's Audi and the Merc of Pascal Wehrlein. Rounding out the top 10 were Augusto Farfus (BMW) and Daniel Juncadella (Mercedes).
Guest racer Alex Zanardi put in a respectable performance to be within a second of the next-slowest qualifier, fellow BMW man Philipp Eng, who survived a trip into the gravel on his first flying lap.
Qualifying times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Di Resta | HWA | Mercedes | 1m46.826s | - |
| 2 | Edoardo Mortara | HWA | Mercedes | 1m47.295s | 0.469s |
| 3 | Rene Rast | Rosberg | Audi | 1m47.401s | 0.575s |
| 4 | Gary Paffett | HWA | Mercedes | 1m47.434s | 0.608s |
| 5 | Timo Glock | RMR | BMW | 1m47.569s | 0.743s |
| 6 | Lucas Auer | HWA | Mercedes | 1m47.597s | 0.771s |
| 7 | Mike Rockenfeller | Phoenix | Audi | 1m47.603s | 0.777s |
| 8 | Pascal Wehrlein | HWA | Mercedes | 1m47.645s | 0.819s |
| 9 | Augusto Farfus | RMG | BMW | 1m47.654s | 0.828s |
| 10 | Daniel Juncadella | HWA | Mercedes | 1m47.769s | 0.943s |
| 11 | Nico Muller | Abt | Audi | 1m47.850s | 1.024s |
| 12 | Robin Frijns | Abt | Audi | 1m48.115s | 1.289s |
| 13 | Bruno Spengler | RBM | BMW | 1m48.303s | 1.477s |
| 14 | Loic Duval | Phoenix | Audi | 1m48.505s | 1.679s |
| 15 | Marco Wittmann | RMG | BMW | 1m48.550s | 1.724s |
| 16 | Joel Eriksson | RBM | BMW | 1m48.674s | 1.848s |
| 17 | Jamie Green | Rosberg | Audi | 1m49.383s | 2.557s |
| 18 | Philipp Eng | RMR | BMW | 1m49.631s | 2.805s |
| 19 | Alessandro Zanardi | RMR | BMW | 1m50.571s | 3.745s |
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DTM Misano: Di Resta wins race one night thriller ahead of Frijns
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