Tomczyk on wet Spielberg pole
Martin Tomczyk took his first DTM pole position for nearly two years with a brilliant display of wet-weather driving in qualifying at Spielberg
The Phoenix Audi driver was the third of four drivers to go out in Q4, his 1m40.001s lap not only knocking Oliver Jarvis off the top spot, but also proving good enough to take pole.
It is the first time since the Zandvoort event in 2009 that an old-spec car has taken pole position, Tomczyk's time of 1m40.001s being 0.352s quicker than that of Abt driver Jarvis.
Behind Jarvis - who qualified on the front row for the first time since that Zandvoort race - Ralf Schumacher's HWA Mercedes and Edoardo Mortara's Rosberg Audi filled the second row.
Mortara had been quickest in Q3 - despite a wild spin at the Jochen Rindt Kurve - but could not challenge Tomczyk's time in Q4 as the rain had began to fall even heavier by the time he took to the track. Fourth still represented his best DTM qualifying performance.
Behind fifth placed Mike Rockenfeller (Abt) were Mucke Mercedes driver Maro Engel - for whom sixth will mark his best start of the year - Timo Scheider (Abt) and HWA's British pair Gary Paffett and Jamie Green.
All set their Q3 times after Q2 had been red-flagged due to the amount of water on the track. Q2 was abandoned with all 14 remaining drivers allowed to progress to an expanded Q3.
Before the red flag, Q1 had thrown up a bizarre incident involving Abt team-mates Mattias Ekstrom and Miguel Molina at the pit entrance.
After nosing off the track and into the pit entry lane, Ekstrom aquaplaned onto the grass and then into the tyres, causing heavy damage to the front of his A4 and ending his session.
Just as his car was rebounding out of the barrier, Molina's similarly Red Bull-liveried car had the same moment, just missing Ekstrom and then brushing the tyres gently a few meters further on. While the Spaniard was able to get back on-track, damage to the front of his car restricted his lap times.
Molina will start the race 17th with Ekstrom one place further back - the two-time champion's worst grid spot since the Lausitz race in 2001.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Martin Tomczyk Phoenix Audi 1m40.001s 2. Oliver Jarvis Abt Audi 1m40.353s + 0.352s 3. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m40.587s + 0.586s 4. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m40.990s + 0.989s 5. Mike Rockenfeller Abt Audi 1m38.667s (Q3) 6. Maro Engel Mucke Mercedes 1m38.685s (Q3) 7. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m38.755s (Q3) 8. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m38.787s (Q3) 9. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m38.827s (Q3) 10. Christian Vietoris Persson Mercedes 1m38.866s (Q3) 11. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m38.882s (Q3) 12. Bruno Spengler HWA Mercedes 1m39.372s (Q3) 13. Renger van der Zande Persson Mercedes 1m39.530s (Q3) 14. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m39.797s (Q3) 15. Susie Stoddart Persson Mercedes 1m40.928s (Q1) 16. Rahel Frey Phoenix Audi 1m41.385s (Q1) 17. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m41.567s (Q1) 18. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m47.903s (Q1)
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