Bruno Spengler takes first BMW pole of 2015

2012 champion Bruno Spengler took pole position for the second Deutsche Tournewagen Masters (DTM) race at the Norisring by a mere fraction from the duelling Mercedes pair of Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens, in what was a closely contested qualifying.

Spengler, who joined Team MTEK from Schnitzer this year, set the fastest time of 48.280 seconds around the 2.3km track, just 0.004 seconds ahead of Vietoris, who took pole position for race 1 yesterday.

“It was really great,” said the Franco-Canadian, who explained that the going is pretty tough at the Norisring. “The team and the guys did a great job, as it’s difficult to get pole position here, as you have to drive as close to the wall as possible, using every millimetre of the track.”

It was also the first pole position for Ernst Knoors’ outfit since Marco Wittmann’s efforts at Zandvoort in 2013, in a qualifying that saw the entire field separated by just 0.625 seconds.

Vietoris and Wickens were at the top of the times for more than half of the session, but both could not depose Spengler from the top spot in the dying seconds. However, Mercedes’ strength around the Norisring showed throughout the 20-minute session, with rookie Lucas Auer taking fifth, ahead of yesterday’s race winner Pascal Wherlein.

Paul di Resta and Daniel Juncadella placed eighth and tenth respectively, making it six C63 AMG’s in the top ten, whilst Mattias Ekström was the fastest of the Audi drivers in fourth, with points leader Jamie Green in seventh.

““Fourth place is great, I’m really happy,” said the 36-year-old, who still has the performance weight added to his vehicle. “The car is good. After yesterday, this feels like a success, even though the race is still ahead. From the second row, almost anything is possible.”

Maxime Martin was the only other BMW driver to make it into the top ten in ninth, which really gave a clear indication of how close the times were, with the top ten split by 0.210 seconds.

Race two starts this afternoon at 1518 CEST (1418 BST).

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	7	Bruno SPENGLER		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	15	43:12.000	0.000
2	8	Christian VIETORIS		gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	14	48:57.600	45.600
3	6	Robert WICKENS		SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	18	1:55.200	43.200
4	5	Mattias EKSTRÖM		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	18	37:26.400	14.400
5	22	Lucas AUER		EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	18	7:40.800	28.800
6	94	Pascal WEHRLEIN		gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	18	12:00.000	48.000
7	53	Jamie GREEN		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	20	40:48.000	36.000
8	3	Paul di RESTA		SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	21	19:40.800	28.800
9	36	Maxime MARTIN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	18	36:57.600	45.600
10	12	Daniel JUNCADELLA		PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	15	45:36.000	24.000
11	2	Gary PAFFETT		EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	19	23:02.400	50.400
12	18	Augusto FARFUS		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	19	7:40.800	28.800
13	27	Adrien TAMBAY		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	22	9:07.200	55.200
14	16	Timo GLOCK		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	15	24:57.600	45.600
15	51	Nico MÜLLER		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	19	30:43.200	31.200
16	84	Maximilian GÖTZ		PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	15	2:24.000	12.000
17	13	António Félix da COSTA		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	24	38:24.000	12.000
18	48	Edoardo MORTARA		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	21	52:48.000	36.000
19	99	Mike ROCKENFELLER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	23	6:14.400	2.400
20	31	Tom BLOMQVIST		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	17	15:21.600	9.600
21	77	Martin TOMCZYK		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	17	24:28.800	16.800
22	1	Marco WITTMANN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	18	33:36.000	24.000
23	10	Timo SCHEIDER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	21	4:19.200	7.200
24	17	Miguel MOLINA		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	22	43:12.000	0.000

Complete session results