Spengler claims second DTM pole of 2012 in tense qualifying session at the Nurburgring
Bruno Spengler took his second DTM pole position of the year after coming out on top in a tense final part of qualifying at the Nurburgring
The Schnitzer BMW driver was third fastest in Q3, behind Mike Rockenfeller and Filipe Albuquerque, but set a tough marker of 1m24.284s during the one-lap Q4 shoot-out to hit the front.
In order, Audi drivers Albuquerque and Rockenfeller failed to beat his time, the Rosberg and Phoenix men qualifying third and fourth respectively.
Spengler's closest challenger for pole ended up being Albuquerque's Rosberg team-mate Edoardo Mortara, whose lap of 1m24.505s was just 0.221s slower than the Canadian's, despite him running wide at the exit of Turn 2 on his lap.
Martin Tomczyk, who was pushed out of the Q4 spots by Albuquerque with just seconds left on the clock, will start fifth in his RMG BMW, ahead of Augusto Farfus's RBM-run M3 and Jamie Green, who was the best of the Mercedes drivers in seventh for HWA.
Dirk Werner (Schnitzer), Robert Wickens and Timo Scheider (Abt Audi) completed the top 10, with Mucke Mercedes man Wickens taking the best qualifying position of his DTM career in ninth.
Championship leader Gary Paffett had a disastrous afternoon, failing to make it out of Q2 and qualifying down in 11th.
The HWA Mercedes driver had recorded his best time in sector one in the final minute of the session, but was forced to back off momentarily for waved yellow flags in sector two - the result of Farfus getting on the dirt on the exit of the Kurzangbindung hairpin and spinning backwards onto the grass on the opposite side of the track.
Like Paffett, last year's Nurburgring winner Mattias Ekstrom failed to make it out of Q2. He will start 12th in his Abt Audi.
Rahel Frey almost made it into Q2 for the first time in her DTM career, the Swiss driver falling just 0.018s shy of her Abt team-mate Ekstrom.
RBM driver Andy Priaulx, who said: "the track must have changed because after a good practice, I just totally lost the feeling with the car," and grand prix winner David Coulthard were among the others who failed to make it out of Q1.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m24.284s 2. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m24.505s + 0.221s 3. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m24.555s + 0.271s 4. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m24.727s + 0.443s 5. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 1m24.241s Q3 6. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m24.288s Q3 7. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m24.312s Q3 8. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW 1m24.422s Q3 9. Robert Wickens Mucke Mercedes 1m24.423s Q3 10. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m24.748s Q3 11. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m24.486s Q2 12. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m24.507s Q2 13. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi 1m24.539s Q2 14. Joey Hand RMG BMW 1m24.664s Q2 15. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m24.705s Q2 16. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m24.747s Q2 17. Rahel Frey Abt Audi 1m24.890s Q1 18. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m24.944s Q1 19. Andy Priaulx RBM BMW 1m24.974s Q1 20. Roberto Merhi Persson Mercedes 1m25.114s Q1 21. Susie Wolff Persson Mercedes 1m25.275s Q1 22. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m25.297s Q1
Previous article
Farfus goes fastest for BMW in second DTM practice at the Nurburgring
Next article
Spengler boosts DTM title hopes with commanding victory at the Nurburgring
About this article
| Series | DTM |
| Drivers | Bruno Spengler , Philipp Eng |
| 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
