DTM Lausitzring: Maiden Ford pole as seven brands hit the top eight!
· Yahoo Sports
In its second year with the Ford Mustang, the US manufacturer has reason to celebrate its first DTM pole position. Arjun Maini delivered a 1:19.750 for HRT and Ford to secure the top spot on the grid after already starting from second on Saturday. The Indian driver was 0.128 seconds faster than Ferrari pilot Matteo Cairoli from Emil Frey Racing.
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"I cannot thank the team enough, really", said a delighted Maini, who secured the second DTM pole of his career after his 2024 success at Spielberg, which he achieved back then in an HRT Mercedes. "Considering where we were last year and the progress we have made: to have such good qualifyings in a row now, strong race results, and strong pace."
Nicki Thiim is lurking in third place, having set a qualifying record of 1:19.463 on Saturday. However, the times on Sunday were significantly slower, possibly due to the rain the previous day. Thiim was 0.157 seconds off pole in his Comtoyou Aston Martin. Fourth place went to rookie Finn Wiebelhaus in the second HRT Ford.
Following BoP adjustment: Seven brands in the top eight
Both the Ford and the Aston Martin were slowed down slightly by the first Balance of Performance adjustment at the Lausitzring, but the result justifies the decisions made by the BoP officials, as seven different manufacturers will start from the first eight positions.
Fifth place went to Abt driver Luca Engstler (+0.243), the best-placed pilot in the new Lamborghini Temerario, followed by Thomas Preining as the strongest Porsche driver in sixth. The top representative for the brand with the star was Maro Engel (+0.258), who put his Winward Mercedes in seventh. This means he will start directly behind his arch-rival Preining following their Saturday duel.
The best BMW driver was Marco Wittmann, who was 0.330 seconds short in the Schubert BMW. "Finally starting from the top 10 again," said the Franconian with relief, who is in a good fourth place in the overall standings despite very consistent results. Qualifying is also only rarely a strength of the BMW M4 GT3 Evo this season.
Feller hit with five-place grid penalty
"We also made a small tweak to the setup, which gave us 1.5 tenths," Wittmann revealed to ran.de. "But I think that's pretty much the maximum we got out of it today. So I'm happy with P8. Now we'll see if we can move a bit further forward in the race."
DTM leader Lucas Auer (+0.417) did not quite make it to the front, finishing 13th. However, the Austrian benefits from a grid penalty for Ricardo Feller, who received his third warning for driving too slowly in sector three. The Manthey Porsche driver qualified tenth but will be moved back to 15th on the grid. Saturday winner Ben Dorr (+0.419) also benefits, moving up from 15th to 14th.
McLaren team Dorr not at the front after victory
Despite the extremely strong Saturday and the luck with the full-course yellow phase, Ben Dorr is not surprised by the qualifying result: "We knew that we had a bit of a difficult hand here at the Lausitzring. The track doesn't suit us quite as well, as you can also see in qualifying."
That is because the circuit near Klettwitz offers little grip - and the McLaren does not bring the tires up to temperature so easily. The heat was also no disadvantage in this respect - by qualifying it was already 27 degrees air temperature and 30 degrees asphalt temperature again.
Teammate Timo Glock, after the problems in practice and the botched Saturday with the retirement because the car simply switched off, also had a poor start to Sunday: the former Formula 1 driver was 0.793 seconds behind and ended up in 20th and penultimate place.
Who has a tire advantage in the race
However, he is one of the drivers who has a tire advantage in the race with two mandatory pit stops, because due to his retirement on Saturday, Glock saved one of his three sets of tires that each driver receives for both race days. In addition, he started Saturday's race on wet tires, which means he also has a second new set of tires.
Grasser Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti also has two new sets of tires available, and he finished ninth, 0.371 seconds behind. Wiebelhaus and Engstler can also look forward to two sets of tires that have hardly been used so far.
The situation is different for the two BMW drivers, Thiim, Feller and Vermeulen, who have all already used all three slick tire sets and therefore face an unfavorable starting position should it stay dry. As usual, the race will start at 13:30.
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