Monza DTM: Van der Linde edges Lawson to grab Race 2 pole
Audi GT3 star Kelvin van der Linde claimed pole position for the second DTM race of the Monza season-opener, beating Saturday winner Liam Lawson by 0.078s in a closely-contested qualifying.
Nurburgring 24 Hours winner van der Linde led throughout the 20-minute session in his Abt Sportsline R8 LMS, with his time of 1m46.604s from the first run proving to be good enough for a maiden pole in the revamped DTM series.
Red Bull protege Lawson didn’t set a competitive lap until the final five minutes of the race, but his first flying lap was already good enough - a 1m46.942s - for a provisional third.
Then the Kiwi, hit with a 25kg ballast for winning Race 1 on top of an 30kg weight penalty for both Ferrari cars, managed to find yet more time on his final lap, securing a spot on the front row of the grid with a 1m46.682s.
That denied the van der Linde brothers the chance to start at the front of the pack, with Rowe Racing BMW driver Sheldon having provisionally held second with a 1m46.834s until a late improvement from Lawson dropped him to third.
Nico Muller qualified fourth in the Team Rosberg Audi, just 0.004s adrift of the younger of the van der Linde brothers, as Esteban Muth made it four different manufacturers in the top five with a time of 1m46.849s in the T3 Lamborghini.
Mercedes had locked out the top four spots on Saturday’s grid but following a 25kg weight penalty the German marque’s best qualifier was HRT driver Vincent Abril in sixth, albeit just 0.248s off the outright pace.
Lucas Auer, who finished outside the points yesterday after a slow pitstop, qualified right behind Abril in the Winward Mercedes, as Maximilian Gotz (HRT), Daniel Juncadella (GruppeM) and Philip Ellis (Winward) completed the top 10.
Alex Albon, AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Marco Wittman qualified 11th in the sole Walkenhorst BMW, while Alex Albon finished 0.467s behind polesitter van der Linde in 12th in the second AF Corse-run Ferrari.
2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller ended up a disappointing 17th in the second of the three Abt Audis.
DTM Monza Race 2 - qualifying results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |  Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'46.604 | |
| 2 | 30 |  Liam Lawson | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 1'46.682 | 0.078 |
| 3 | 31 | Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'46.834 | 0.230 |
| 4 | 51 |  Nico Müller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'46.838 | 0.234 |
| 5 | 10 |  Esteban Muth | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1'46.849 | 0.245 |
| 6 | 5 |  Vincent Abril | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'46.852 | 0.248 |
| 7 | 22 |  Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'46.939 | 0.335 |
| 8 | 4 |  Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'46.944 | 0.340 |
| 9 | 8 |  Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'46.964 | 0.360 |
| 10 | 57 |  Philip Ellis | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'46.967 | 0.363 |
| 11 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'47.044 | 0.440 |
| 12 | 23 |  Alex Albon | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 1'47.071 | 0.467 |
| 13 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'47.163 | 0.559 |
| 14 | 36 |  Arjun Maini | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'47.390 | 0.786 |
| 15 | 18 | Maximilian Buhk | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'47.490 | 0.886 |
| 16 | 26 | Esmee Hawkey | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1'47.540 | 0.936 |
| 17 | 9 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'47.592 | 0.988 |
| 18 | 12 |  Dev Gore | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'47.647 | 1.043 |
| 19 | 99 | Sophia Flörsch | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'48.142 | 1.538 |
| View full results | |||||
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