Moscow DTM: Mike Rockenfeller on pole after bizarre stoppage

Mike Rockenfeller took his second DTM pole position of the year as qualifying at Moscow Raceway was halted for the most bizarre of reasons

Championship leader Rockenfeller had set the pace in the third of four scheduled parts of qualifying in his Phoenix Audi, and was set to be joined in Q4 by Mattias Ekstrom, Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler.

However, shortly before Q4 was due to start, the airspace above the circuit was closed due to the imminent flypast of Russian president Vladimir Putin's private jet.

This meant the track's medical helicopter would have been unable to take off should anybody have needed it during the single-lap pole shoot-out.

With a two-hour closure on airspace announced, race officials decided to cancel Q4 and instead set the front two rows of the grid based on the times set in Q3.

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Behind the top four came Jamie Green, Q2 pace-setter Dirk Werner, Gary Paffett and Pascal Wehrlein.

Wehrlein had initially gone out in Q2 with the 13th fastest time, but a glitch with the timing system was rapidly discovered, meaning that the German was given his actual time - good enough for eighth and a spot in Q3 - just as that part of qualifying was getting underway.

Timo Glock failed to make it into Q2, the German questioning whether Miguel Molina - one place ahead of him on the timesheets - had deliberately held him up during the final minutes.

Norisring runner-up Robert Wickens also failed to make it out of Q1 while his HWA team-mate Roberto Merhi spun off and clipped the barrier during the final minutes on his way to the last spot on the grid.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car        Time     Gap
 1.  Mike Rockenfeller   Phoenix Audi    58.423s
 2.  Mattias Ekstrom     Abt Audi        58.604s  +0.181s
 3.  Augusto Farfus      RBM BMW         58.677s  +0.254s
 4.  Bruno Spengler      Schnitzer BMW   58.698s  +0.275s
 5.  Jamie Green         Abt Audi        58.749s  Q3*
 6.  Dirk Werner         Schnitzer BMW   58.779s  Q3*
 7.  Gary Paffett        HWA Mercedes    58.831s  Q3*
 8.  Pascal Wehrlein     Mucke Mercedes  58.843s  Q3*
 9.  Daniel Juncadella   Mucke Mercedes  58.985s  Q3*
10.  Christian Vietoris  HWA Mercedes    59.038s  Q3*
11.  Miguel Molina       Phoenix Audi    58.907s  Q2
12.  Adrien Tambay       Abt Audi        58.910s  Q2
13.  Filipe Albuquerque  Rosberg Audi    58.914s  Q2
14.  Timo Scheider       Abt Audi        58.954s  Q2
15.  Joey Hand           RBM BMW         59.034s  Q2
16.  Edoardo Mortara     Rosberg Audi    59.133s  Q2
17.  Timo Glock          MTEK BMW        59.177s  Q1
18.  Robert Wickens      HWA Mercedes    59.285s  Q1
19.  Martin Tomczyk      RMG BMW         59.286s  Q1
20.  Marco Wittmann      MTEK BMW        59.400s  Q1
21.  Andy Priaulx        RMG BMW         59.442s  Q1
22.  Roberto Merhi       HWA Mercedes    59.467s  Q1

* Eliminated before cancellation of Q4
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