Lausitz DTM: Christian Vietoris puts Mercedes back on pole
Christian Vietoris took his maiden DTM pole position in a closely-fought qualifying session at Lausitz on Saturday
The German's 1m17.715s lap in the single-lap Q4 shootout proved too good for HWA team-mate Gary Paffett, who was 0.2 seconds slower on his own lap minutes later.
Behind them Abt Sportsline driver Jamie Green took his best qualifying position since leaving Mercedes for Audi in third, while Robert Wickens made it three HWA cars on the front two rows despite a mistake on his final lap.
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Surprisingly, none of the BMWs made it into Q4; defending champion Bruno Spengler starting fifth in his Schnitzer M3 with his biggest rival for this year's crown, Mike Rockenfeller, alongside him on the third row in his Phoenix Audi.
Behind them the top 10 was completed by Adrien Tambay - taking his best grid spot of the year - Edoardo Mortara, Roberto Merhi and Augusto Farfus.
However, with Farfus having been given a five-place grid penalty for using a set of tyres that had not been allocated to him during practice, he will start 15th with Pascal Wehrlein instead moving into the top 10.
NEWS UPDATE: Glock gets blocking penalty
One place behind Farfus on the grid will be Miguel Molina, who was ninth fastest in Q1, but failed to take part in Q2 after his car ground to a halt at the end of the earlier session.
Former champions Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekstrom were both eliminated in Q1, the Abt Audi pair joining a quartet of BMW drivers at the rear of the grid.
Among these were MTEK racer Marco Wittmann - second at the last race at Spielberg - and RMG's Martin Tomczyk, who parked his M3 early due to a broken splitter.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m17.715s 2. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m17.940s + 0.225s 3. Jamie Green Abt Audi 1m18.028s + 0.313s 4. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m18.133s + 0.418s 5. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m17.967s Q3 6. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m18.134s Q3 7. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m18.161s Q3 8. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m18.205s Q3 9. Roberto Merhi HWA Mercedes 1m18.335s Q3 10. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m18.383s Q3 11. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Mercedes 1m18.225s Q2 12. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW 1m18.361s Q2 13. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m18.421s Q2 14. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m18.485s Q2 15. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m18.502s Q2 16. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi Q2 17. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m18.596s Q1 18. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m18.742s Q1 19. Marco Wittmann MTEK BMW 1m18.777s Q1 20. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m18.909s Q1 21. Andy Priaulx RMG BMW 1m19.065s Q1 22. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 1m19.137s Q1
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About this article
| Series | DTM |
| Drivers | Christian Vietoris |
| Author | Jamie O'Leary |
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