The starting grid for the DTM race at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg on Saturday promises a thrilling 17th race of the season: for the third time this year, BMW driver Timo Glock is on pole position.
Glock had also been first on the grid for the Sunday races during the season opener and in Moscow.
With a lap time of 1m30.648s, the 35-year-old claimed the best starting grid position for the fourth time in his career. Next to him, his fellow BMW driver Maxime Martin will be lining up in second place after being 0.037 seconds short of Glock’s fastest time.
“It wasn’t easy finding the right balance for the car. Yesterday, I only did four laps and then just the brief free practice session this morning.” Said the Ex F1 driver
“As a team, we again did a very good job and got the changes done that we needed. I thought that my first push lap was the faster one, but there, I already made a slight mistake in turn one.”
“On the second lap, I got it done over the distance, even though it wasn’t perfect either. In the first sector, I already lost a few tenths after a mistake, but I made up for that in the final part. Of course, I am glad to be up front.”
“These three points are in the bag already. This is a very good situation to be in, but the Audis are very strong over the distance.” Concluded Glock
Regarding the situation in the drivers’ standings, the second row on the grid is an interesting one: here, Audi drivers Jamie Green and René Rast are two of the six potential title candidates.
In the drivers’ standings, second-placed Rast is the fiercest rival of points’ leader Mattias Ekström, Green is third in the standings.
In the 20 minutes’ qualifying session, Ekström didn’t do better than tenth place on the grid. Behind the tzwo Mercedes-AMG drivers Edoardo Mortara and Robert Wickens in fifth and sixth place, two further title candidates are following with Mike Rockenfeller and Marco Wittmann.
Lucas Auer, the sixth candidate in the ranks of the title contenders, is in 15th place on the starting grid for the Saturday race.
The 17th race of the season will get underway on Saturday at 14.45 hrs.