For Mercedes-Benz it was the perfect start into the second half of the DTM season. Robert Wickens topped the time sheets in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday to take up Sunday’s race from the first grid spot – his second this year. At the third and final qualifying segment, only six-thousandths of a second separated the Mercedes-Benz pilot from Timo Glock (BMW), who narrowly missed out claiming the first pole position of his DTM career.
His brand colleague Marco Wittmann, however, was the secret qualification winner. The leader of the driver’s classification scored the third grid spot ahead of Augusto Farfus (BMW) and this puts him in a position to widen the gap to his pursuers on Sunday. Currently ranking second overall, Mattias Ekström (Audi) only posted 16th. Bruno Spengler (BMW) and Edoardo Mortara (Audi), both tied for points on positions three and four in the overall standings, had to settle for a disappointing tenth and 21st respectively. Pascal Wehrlein rounded off Mercedes-Benz’ good overall performance with fifth, with Jamie Green as the best Audi driver on sixth.
Robert Wickens (Mercedes-Benz): “In the third segment I was the fastest when it counted. Of course there’s always a little bit of luck involved, any of the top six could have taken pole position. Like at all the other races this season, Hankook is doing a great job. The standard slick was incredibly consistent today. In the last stint I turned my top time in the third lap.”
Timo Glock (BMW): “It’s great, of course, to start from the first grid row, but to lose pole position by just six-thousandths of a second is a bitter pill to swallow. I coped very well with the Hankook tyres, particularly at the end of the qualifying session, and I felt good. Our car handles the race distance really well with the slick, and that means we have good chances tomorrow.”
Marco Wittmann (BMW): “I’m totally happy with third position because in practice we weren’t quite on pace. Hankook’s race tyre was really good, especially considering that it’s not easy to get them up to temperature on this circuit. But it worked well and we have a good starting position for tomorrow’s race.”
