Edoardo Mortara has claimed his first-ever DTM career pole position with a sensational performance in qualifying for this weekend’s championship round at the Red Bull Ring.
The Italian racer made it into the fourth and final stage of qualifying, posting the quickest time in the Q4 single-lap shootout for pole position. He shares the front row with current championship leader Gary Paffett, while Mortara fellow Audi runner Mattias Ekström was third-quickest.
Defending DTM champion Martin Tomczyk was fourth-fastest in the session, the only BMW runner to make it into the final four. The German had a scrappy flying lap in Q4, launching his BMW over the kerbs at Turn 1 and incredibly avoiding major damage to his car.
Tomczyk’s Team RMG BMW team-mate Joey Hand qualified a career-best fifth-fastest, narrowly being eclipsed for a Q4 berth in the closing stages of the third phase of qualifying.
Hand shares the third row of the grid with fellow BMW runner Bruno Spengler, while Jamie Green (Mercedes) and Filipe Albuquerque (Audi) will start from the fourth row of the grid – Albuquerque ensuring that both Rosberg Audis made it into the top-ten of the grid for the first time this season.
Despite showing good pace earlier in qualifying, both Dirk Werner and Ralf Schumacher were the slowest runners in Q3 and will occupy ninth and tenth places on the grid. The result was still Schumacher’s best qualifying performance of the season to-date.
2012 DTM Race of Spielberg – Qualifying Results:
| DRIVER | TEAM / ENTRY | RESULT | ||||
| 1. | Edoardo Mortara |  |
Team Rosberg Audi |  |
1:26.171 | Q4 |
| 2. | Gary Paffett |  |
HWA Team Mercedes |  |
1:26.292 | Q4 |
| 3. | Mattias Ekström |  |
Abt Sportsline Audi | |
1:26.319 | Q4 |
| 4. | Martin Tomczyk |  |
Team RMG BMW |  |
1:26.408 | Q4 |
| 5. | Joey Hand |  |
Team RMG BMW |  |
1:25.927 | Q3 |
| 6. | Bruno Spengler |  |
Team Schnitzer BMW |  |
1:25.963 | Q3 |
| 7. | Jamie Green | |
HWA Team Mercedes | |
1:26.022 | Q3 |
| 8. | Filipe Albuquerque |  |
Team Rosberg Audi | |
1:26.294 | Q3 |
| 9. | Dirk Werner |  |
Team Schnitzer BMW |  |
1:26.309 | Q3 |
| 10. | Ralf Schumacher | |
HWA Team Mercedes | |
1:26.340 | Q3 |
| 11. | Augusto Farfus Jr |  |
Team RBM BMW |  |
1:26.068 | Q2 |
| 12. | Miguel Molina |  |
Phoenix Racing Audi | |
1:26.251 | Q2 |
| 13. | Mike Rockenfeller | |
Phoenix Racing Audi | |
1:26.274 | Q2 |
| 14. | Christian Vietoris | |
HWA Team Mercedes | |
1:26.320 | Q2 |
| 15. | Adrien Tambay |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | |
1:26.449 | Q2 |
| 16. | Timo Scheider | |
Abt Sportsline Audi | |
1:26.519 | Q2 |
| 17. | Robert Merhi | |
Persson Motorsport Mercedes | |
1:26.605 | Q1 |
| 18. | Andy Priaulx | |
Team RBM BMW |  |
1:26.620 | Q1 |
| 19. | Robert Wickens | |
Mücke Motorsport Mercedes | |
1:26.725 | Q1 |
| 20. | Susie Wolff | |
Persson Motorsport Mercedes | |
1:26.914 | Q1 |
| 21. | Rahel Frey |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | |
1:27.057 | Q1 |
| 22. | David Coulthard | |
Mücke Motorsport Mercedes | |
1:27.117 | Q1 |
 |
|
Richard Bailey
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