Norisring qual 1: Another Paffett pole

The short track normally bunches the grid together, but a fully committed charge from Paffett was rewarded with time of 49.440s, almost two tenths faster than his nearest challenger, Bernard Auinger. A similar amount of time covered the rest of the top six...

Paffett's championship rival Frank Diefenbacher held provisional pole at the beginning of the session but he was bumped down the order as Paffett and Auinger traded times at the top. Robert Doornbos caused a surprise by leaping up into second with just 10 minutes of the session remaining, but late improvements (including Paffett's pole effort) saw him slip to fifth by the end.

Sven Heidfeld continued his and Mercedes strong form at Norisring by claiming third, while Kimmo Liimatainen made it two Team Rosberg cars in the top six, despite a couple of wild moments.

The ultra-low downforce set-ups that the cars run at Norisring makes them look very nervous over the bumpy surface and there were a number of lock-ups, slides and glances with the barrier. However, most drivers got away with their mistakes, although Vitantonio Liuzzi was less fortunate and he took off his front wing when he made contact with the wall after losing control under braking into T1.

Race two pole sitter Kousuke Matsuura was never a factor in the session, but a solid late run moved him up into eighth.


Gary Paffett Dallara-Opel Team Rosberg 49.440s
Bernhard Auinger Dallara-Opel Opel Team BSR 49.637s
Sven Heidfeld Dallara-Mercedes Mucke Motorsport 49.698s
Frank Diefenbacher Dallara-Opel Opel Team BSR 49.722s
Robert Doornbos Dallara-Mugen-Honda Team Ghinzani 49.777s
Kimmo Liimatainen Dallara-Opel Team Rosberg 49.836s