60th pole position for Audi in the DTM

Mattias Ekström is back: A week after winning the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps at the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS together with Timo Scheider and Greg Franchi the Swede secured the pole position for the sixth round of the DTM. Ekström last started into a race from the top grid position exactly one year ago, also at the Nürburgring.

“Today simply everything fit perfectly and my team always made exactly the right decisions,” raved the two-time DTM champion. In view of the difficult conditions this was anything but an easy feat. Drizzling rain repeatedly set in. Particularly the first and last qualifying segments became a gamble.

As early as in Q3 Ekström was the front runner although he only drove one timed lap in order to save his tires for the final shoot-out for pole. On the partially moist track he subsequently put a more than three-second gap between himself and Mercedes driver Jamie Green.

Ekström’s team-mate Mike Rockenfeller secured position three on the grid. In Q4 the 2010 Le Mans winner made a mistake in turn one. In the end he was merely lacking 298 thousandths of a second to position two. “Naturally, it would have been even nicer to start from the front row together with ‘Eki’,” said “Rocky.” “But third place is also a good starting base for the race.”

Another Audi driver, Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Team Rosberg), almost managed the leap into the top four as well. A small mistake at the beginning of his second timed lap in Q3 though cost the crucial time. By clinching position five the DTM rookie nonetheless achieved the second-best qualifying result in his still young career.

Miguel Molina, Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) and Timo Scheider completed Audi’s strong qualifying result. Tomczyk, the runner-up in the standings, was the quickest driver in Q1 and second in Q2, but then failed to achieve his personal best time again in Q3. “It was very difficult today in the changing conditions,” said Tomczyk. “But anything is still possible from position seven.”

Filipe Albuquerque is starting from position twelve. Oliver Jarvis in Q1 went out too late again on the track as it was drying off after a rain shower and thus dropped to position 15. By taking position 16 Rahel Frey equalized her so far best qualifying result in the DTM in difficult conditions.

“It was very difficult for everyone today and Q4 was no doubt a bit of a gamble,” commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “But before then we already had six Audi cars in the top eight. That ‘Eki’ clinched pole in the end by delivering a perfect lap in these difficult conditions was a fantastic performance.”