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.
Live motorsport updates with AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live
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
Previous article
Moscow DTM: Bruno Spengler fastest for BMW in practice
Next article
Moscow DTM: Mike Rockenfeller wins series' Russian debut
About this article
| Series | DTM |
| Drivers | Mike Rockenfeller |
| Author | Jamie O'Leary |
The slow-burner threatening to unseat Audi's DTM king
It's taken him a while to emerge as a consistent title challenger, but in the final year of DTM's Class One rule set, Nico Muller has smoothed the rough edges and has double champion stablemate Rene Rast working harder than ever to keep up in the title race
How a DTM failure became an unlikely Nurburgring conqueror
Opel's fortunes in the DTM had taken a turn for the worst by 2003 - hardly the pedigree that suggested it could take on the toughest 24-hour race of them all. But that's exactly what it did
The season that revitalised a sleeping giant
On the 20th anniversary of the resumption of hostilities in the DTM, Autosport revisits a classic season that brought a staple of German motorsport back to life with a bang and set in motion the careers of some notable names
Does 2000 hold the answers to DTM's current crisis?
It's 20 years since the DTM roared back into life at a packed Hockenheim with a back-to-basics approach as the antidote to its high-tech past. Now it's on its knees again, so is it time to recall the lessons learned in 2000?
The last-chance saloon of Germany's forgotten tin-top champions
The Opel Vectra GTS was the last in the line of the marque's DTM challengers, but failed to hit the lofty heights of its predecessors when financial constraints hit
Ranking the 10 best Audi DTM drivers
Audi last week announced it would be exiting the DTM at the end of 2020, bringing the curtain down on 20 years of continuous participation since the series' reboot in 2000. Autosport's expert panel ranks its 10 best drivers from the period
How the DTM landed itself in crisis
Audi's announcement that it will withdraw from the DTM was the latest bodyblow for a series that has lost three manufacturers in as many years. Some major soul-searching will now be required to assess how it can survive
The FE cynic who had to accept change in his series
DTM boss Gerhard Berger was an ardent detractor of Formula E and was reluctant for his series to embrace greener engine technologies. But this cynic's tune has had to change to ensure the DTM's existence in the future of motorsport
