Bruno Spengler has led BMW to a qualifying 1-2 – and the carmaker’s first DTM pole position in twenty years – for this weekend’s race at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in just its second championship event since returning to the series.
The Canadian pipped fellow BMW stablemate Augusto Farfus to top spot, with BMW claiming two of the four spots in the final shootout for pole position in today’s qualifying session.
The pair will start from the front row of the grid, with championship leader Gary Paffett in third place in his Mercedes, while Mike Rockenfeller starts from fourth place in his Audi.
Demonstrating just how competitive this championship is, none of the drivers who made Q4 a week ago at Hockenheim were able to repeat the effort this time around.
Edoardo Mortara came closest, and will start from fifth place in his Rosberg Audi after missing out on a Q4 berth by six-hundredths of a second; he shares the third row of the grid with Jamie Green, who finished on the podium at Hockenheim last weekend.
Defending DTM champion Martin Tomczyk ensured that BMW – like Audi – had three of its cars in the first four rows of the grid. He will start from seventh place, one spot better than last week’s pole-winner, Mattias Ekström. The Swede’s Audi stablemates Miguel Molina and Adrien Tambay rounded out the top-ten.
The second phase of qualifying was an incredibly closely-fought affair, with the top-ten covered by less than 0.4 seconds. It was therefore little surprise to see a few high-profile casualties in this phase of qualifying, including two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider and former WTCC champion Andy Priaulx, who both missed the cut by less than one-tenth of a second.
It was a poor qualifying session for the field’s former F1 stars, with Ralf Schumacher continuing his Lausitz curse with another Q1 elimination in his Mercedes en route to 17th on the grid. Fellow F1 race-winner David Coulthard struggled to get a decent balance through the circuit’s twisty sections, and suffered several lock-ups on his way to a disappointing 20th on the grid.
2012 DTM Race of Lausitz – Qualifying Results:
DRIVER | TEAM / ENTRY | RESULT | ||||
1. | Bruno Spengler | ![]() |
Team Schnitzer BMW | ![]() |
1:18.777 | Q4 |
2. | Augusto Farfus Jr | ![]() |
Team RBM BMW | ![]() |
1:18.815 | Q4 |
3. | Gary Paffett | ![]() |
HWA Team Mercedes | ![]() |
1:18.820 | Q4 |
4. | Mike Rockenfeller | ![]() |
Phoenix Racing Audi | ![]() |
1:19.206 | Q4 |
Q4 CUT-OFF | 1:18.312 | |||||
5. | Edoardo Mortara | ![]() |
Team Rosberg Audi | ![]() |
1:18.374 | Q3 |
6. | Jamie Green | ![]() |
HWA Team Mercedes | ![]() |
1:18.461 | Q3 |
7. | Martin Tomczyk | ![]() |
Team RMG BMW | ![]() |
1:18.490 | Q3 |
8. | Mattias Ekström | ![]() |
Abt Sportsline Audi | ![]() |
1:18.569 | Q3 |
9. | Miguel Molina | ![]() |
Phoenix Racing Audi | ![]() |
1:18.667 | Q3 |
10. | Adrien Tambay | ![]() |
Audi Sport Team Abt | ![]() |
1:18.686 | Q3 |
Q3 CUT-OFF | 1:18.717 | |||||
11. | Filipe Albuquerque | ![]() |
Team Rosberg Audi | ![]() |
1:18.749 | Q2 |
12. | Timo Scheider | ![]() |
Abt Sportsline Audi | ![]() |
1:18.758 | Q2 |
13. | Andy Priaulx | ![]() |
Team RBM BMW | ![]() |
1:18.771 | Q2 |
14. | Joey Hand | ![]() |
Team RMG BMW | ![]() |
1:18.817 | Q2 |
15. | Robert Wickens | ![]() |
Mücke Motorsport Mercedes | ![]() |
1:18.840 | Q2 |
16. | Christian Vietoris | ![]() |
HWA Team Mercedes | ![]() |
1:18.862 | Q2 |
Q2 CUT-OFF | 1:19.498 | |||||
17. | Ralf Schumacher | ![]() |
HWA Team Mercedes | ![]() |
1:19.506 | Q1 |
18. | Robert Merhi | ![]() |
Persson Motorsport Mercedes | ![]() |
1:19.557 | Q1 |
19. | Susie Wolff | ![]() |
Persson Motorsport Mercedes | ![]() |
1:19.584 | Q1 |
20. | David Coulthard | ![]() |
Mücke Motorsport Mercedes | ![]() |
1:19.682 | Q1 |
21. | Dirk Werner | ![]() |
Team Schnitzer BMW | ![]() |
1:19.737 | Q1 |
22. | Rahel Frey | ![]() |
Audi Sport Team Abt | ![]() |
1:20.415 | Q1 |
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Richard Bailey
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