» DTM Spielberg: Tomczyk takes pole position

Martin Tomczyk has secured his first DTM pole position in close to two years after an outstanding display of wet-weather skills during qualifying for this weekend’s round at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.

Having made it into the final four-car phase of qualifying, Tomczyk’s single flying lap in the session was good enough to clinch pole position, the first since the 2009 race at Zandvoort that an older-spec machine has finished on pole position.

Tomczyk beat Oliver Jarvis to pole (coincidentally, it was Jarvis’ first front-row start since the aforementioned Zandvoort race), while Ralf Schumacher and Edoardo Mortara completed the second row of the grid.

Mortara could perhaps be kicking himself for possibly not managing better than his career-best fourth-placed starting position, failing to replicate the pace he showed in the third qualifying session to go quickest of anyone.

Soaking conditions forced the abandonment of the Q2 phase of qualifying as the drenched track was swamped by standing water. And with the session closed off, all 14 drivers from that session were allowed to compete in a knock-out Q3 session.

The conditions caught out no less a driver than Mattias Ekström, who crashed his Audi at the entry to the pit lane, while Abt team-mate Miguel Molina went off in sympathy just seconds later. Both will start from the last row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

At the front of the field, Mike Rockenfeller starts from fifth position on the grid, ahead of Mücke Motorsport driver Maro Engel, while Timo Scheider, Gary Paffett, Jamie Green and Christian Vietoris complete the top-ten on the grid.

2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Race of Spielberg Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entrant / Car
1.	Martin Tomczyk	Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:40.001	(Q4)
2.	Oliver Jarvis	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:40.353	(Q4)
3.	Ralf Schumacher	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1:40.587	(Q4)
4.	Edoardo Mortara	Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:40.990	(Q4)
5.	Mike Rockenfeller	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:38.667	(Q3)
6.	Maro Engel	Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:38.685	(Q3)
7.	Timo Scheider	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:38.755	(Q3)
8.	Gary Paffett	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1:38.787	(Q3)
9.	Jamie Green	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1:38.827	(Q3)
10.	Christian Vietoris	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:38.866	(Q3)
10.	Filipe Albuquerque	Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:38.882	(Q3)
12.	Bruno Spengler	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1:39.372	(Q3)
11.	Renger can der Zande	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:39.530	(Q3)
14.	David Coulthard	Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:39.797	(Q3)
15.	Susie Stoddart	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:40.928	(Q1)
16.	Rahel Frey	Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:41.385	(Q1)
17.	Miguel Molina	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:41.567	(Q1)
18.	Mattias Ekström	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:47.903	(Q1)