» DTM Oschersleben: Molina claims surprise pole position

One-thousandth of a second – that’s the margin by which Miguel Molina snatched his maiden DTM pole position today, with the Audi driver doing the honours in style at the Oschersleben today.

The Spaniard – who hasn’t even scored a point this season and whose best qualifying result is a second-row start – edged out Mercedes-Benz frontrunner Bruno Spengler for top honours in a fascinating qualifying session.

In a great session for the Abt Audi team, three of their cars made it into the top-four pole shootout, with Molina joined by team-mates Oliver Jarvis and Matthias Ekström

Spengler had actually been the quickest driver in Q3, despite complaining that his Mercedes felt like its engine had dropped a cylinder.

Contrastingly, championship points’ leader Martin Tomczyk has given himself a mountain to claim after an appalling performance in qualifying; the German missed out on a berth in Q2 by just 0.1 seconds, leaving him to start from a lowly 14th. He’d actually qualified 15th-fastest, but Christian Vietoris’ five-place grid penalty from Brands Hatch will move him up one spot.

Gary Paffett’s wretched season continues, with the Briton’s HWA Mercedes developing a misfire in the opening phase of qualifying; he will start from last place after failing to complete a timed lap.

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2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Race of Oschersleben Qualifying Results:

	Driver	Entrant / Car
1.	Miguel Molina	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:22.371	(Q4)
2.	Bruno Spengler	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1:22.372	(Q4)
3.	Oliver Jarvis	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:22.517	(Q4)
4.	Mattias Ekström	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:22.687	(Q4)
5.	Timo Scheider	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:22.090	(Q3)
6.	Jamie Green	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1:22.111	(Q3)
7.	Ralf Schumacher	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	1:22.149	(Q3)
8.	Edoardo Mortara	Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:22.818	(Q3)
9.	Maro Engel	Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:22.333	(Q2)
10.	Mike Rockenfeller	Abt Audi A4 DTM 2009	1:22.339	(Q2)
11.	Filipe Albuquerque	Rosberg Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:22.348	(Q2)
12.	David Coulthard	Mücke Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:22.426	(Q2)
13.	Christian Vietoris*	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:22.507	(Q2)
14.	Renger van der Zande	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:22.518	(Q2)
15.	Martin Tomczyk	Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:22.978	(Q1)
16.	Susie Stoddart	Persson Mercedes C-Class 2008	1:23.275	(Q1)
17.	Rahel Frey	Phoenix Audi A4 DTM 2008	1:23.314	(Q1)
18.	Gary Paffett	HWA Mercedes C-Class 2009	no time	(Q1)