Cat and rat game it is between BMW and Audi at the DTM season this year. BMW qualified first at yesterday’s race in Spielberg ahead of the main race later on today. Bruno Spengler and Marco Wittmann stole the first and second position while Augusto Farfus came fourth. They will start in that order today.
That’s just a repeat of what BMW did at the DTM season opener in Hockenheim, before Audi cut short the streak at Brands Hatch a few weeks ago. BMW has a clear chance of winning again today with three of its best drivers in the front row; they have plenty of time to play around with the pits stops. As for Spengler, this was his first DTM pole position of the season but his 15th in his career, he won it by 0.111s.
Teammate Marco was hot on Spengler’s rear bumper as you can see from the close margin which separates the two winners. But Marco is happy as this is his career best start in DTM and also the best start for a rookie of the MTEK team. As for Audi, the best came at position three with Edoardo Mortara who also happens to be last year’s Spielberg winner.
Fourth was veteran Farfus with the RBM BMW while ABT closes the top five with their Audi driven by Timo Scheider. Things were not looking so good for Hockenheim podium finisher Dirk Werner who was eliminated in Q2.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m24.836s
2. Marco Wittmann MTEK BMW 1m24.947s + 0.111s
3. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m25.036s + 0.200s
4. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m25.183s + 0.347s
5. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m24.887s Q3
6. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m24.922s Q3
7. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m24.973s Q3
8. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m24.986s* Q3
9. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 1m25.245s Q3
10. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes Q3
11. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW 1m25.130s Q2
12. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Mercedes 1m25.146s Q2
13. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m25.168s Q2
14. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m25.259s Q2
15. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m25.497s Q2
16. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m25.518s Q2
17. Jamie Green Abt Audi 1m25.351s Q1
18. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m25.406s Q1
19. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m25.451s Q1
20. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi 1m25.552s Q1
21. Roberto Merhi HWA Mercedes 1m25.761s Q1
22. Andy Priaulx RMG BMW 1m25.763s* Q1
#8 and #22 (*) Will be awarded a 5-place grid penalty
