Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Schneider Grabs Surprise Pole

Four-time DTM Champion Bernd Schneider made a sudden return to form at Zandvoort on Saturday afternoon by scooping pole position for the eighth round of the DTM

After a poor season by his standards, Mercedes star Schneider almost didn't make the top 10 Super Pole run-off at all, having struggled with a flat-spotted tyre and an interrupted second run thanks to a red flag. He grabbed fifth on his very last lap in the pre-qualifying session, which was headed by the weekend's pacesetter Tom Kristensen of Audi.

But Schneider produced a stellar lap when it mattered most in Super Pole, heading the field by almost a quarter of a second. "I'm really happy, I didn't expect this at all," he said. "My Super Pole lap was just perfect. I surprised even myself!"

To continue the surprises, DTM underdog Opel took the next two places, with Marcel Fassler and Heinz-Harald Frentzen separated by just 0.055s, Title protagonists Gary Paffett and Mattias Ekstrom, who are currently one point apart from each other in Ekstrom's favour, will start fourth and fifth respectively.

Britons Jamie Green (Mercedes) and Allan McNish (Audi) will line up sixth and seventh, with the Audis of Christian Abt, Frank Stippler and Kristensen rounding out the top 10. Kristensen set the fastest first sector in Super Pole, but then made a litany of mistakes that cost him 1.5s to Schneider's fastest time.

Double F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen will start 11th after just missing out on a place in the Super Pole, while Mercedes teammate Jean Alesi crashed out in spectacular style when his splitter was torn off his C-Class and acted as a ramp, almost flipping the car end over end.

To make matters worse, Frenchman Alesi then criticised the level of support he was getting from the AMG Mercedes team on live TV, which didn't go down well with Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug.

Qualifying results:

Pos  Driver            Team                   Time
 1.  Tom Kristensen    Audi A4 DTM            1:32.968
 2.  Gary Paffett      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:33.038 + 0.070
 3.  Marcel Fassler    Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:33.127 + 0.159
 4.  H.H. Frentzen     Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:33.194 + 0.226
 5.  Bernd Schneider   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:33.220 + 0.252
 6.  Jamie Green       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:33.252 + 0.284
 7.  Mattias Ekstrom   Audi A4 DTM            1:33.300 + 0.332
 8.  Christian Abt     Audi A4 DTM            1:33.456 + 0.488
 9.  Allan McNish      Audi A4 DTM            1:33.483 + 0.515
10.  Frank Stippler    Audi A4 DTM            1:33.492 + 0.524
11.  Mika Hakkinen     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:33.595 + 0.627
12.  Manuel Reuter     Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:33.700 + 0.732
13.  Laurent Aiello    Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:33.724 + 0.756
14.  Bruno Spengler    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:33.788 + 0.820
15.  Martin Tomczyk    Audi A4 DTM            1:33.874 + 0.906
16.  Rinaldo Capello   Audi A4 DTM            1:34.145 + 1.177
17.  A. Margaritis     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:34.170 + 1.202
18.  Pierre Kaffer     Audi A4 DTM            1:34.180 + 1.212
19.  Jean Alesi        AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:34.305 + 1.337
20.  Stefan Mucke      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:34.568 + 1.600

Super Pole results:

Pos  Driver            Team                   Time
 1.  Bernd Schneider   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:32.730
 2.  Marcel Fassler    Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:32.954 + 0.224
 3.  H.H. Frentzen     Opel Vectra GTS V8     1:33.009 + 0.279
 4.  Gary Paffett      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:33.205 + 0.475
 5.  Mattias Ekstrom   Audi A4 DTM            1:33.277 + 0.547
 6.  Jamie Green       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse  1:33.295 + 0.565
 7.  Allan McNish      Audi A4 DTM            1:33.404 + 0.674
 8.  Christian Abt     Audi A4 DTM            1:33.636 + 0.906
 9.  Frank Stippler    Audi A4 DTM            1:34.132 + 1.402
10.  Tom Kristensen    Audi A4 DTM            1:34.244 + 1.514

Grid Positions:

Pos  Driver            Team
 1.  Bernd Schneider   AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 2.  Marcel Fassler    Opel Vectra GTS V8
 3.  H.H. Frentzen     Opel Vectra GTS V8
 4.  Gary Paffett      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 5.  Mattias Ekstrom   Audi A4 DTM
 6.  Jamie Green       AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
 7.  Allan McNish      Audi A4 DTM
 8.  Christian Abt     Audi A4 DTM
 9.  Frank Stippler    Audi A4 DTM
10.  Tom Kristensen    Audi A4 DTM
11.  Mika Hakkinen     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
12.  Manuel Reuter     Opel Vectra GTS V8
13.  Laurent Aiello    Opel Vectra GTS V8
14.  Bruno Spengler    AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
15.  Martin Tomczyk    Audi A4 DTM
16.  Rinaldo Capello   Audi A4 DTM
17.  A. Margaritis     AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
18.  Pierre Kaffer     Audi A4 DTM
19.  Jean Alesi        AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse
20.  Stefan Mucke      AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article DTM Sets Cost-Cutting Rules
Next article Paffett Retakes Lead with Win

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe