BMW Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus admitted that he didn’t expect to be on pole position at the Hockenheimring for the final round of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters this weekend.
Farfus took his second consecutive pole position of his maiden season in the DTM, beating championship contenders Gary Paffett and Bruno Spengler to the top spot.
Former World Touring Car racer Farfus has enjoyed a strong run of form in the second half of 2012 which has seen the Brazilian finish in the points in each of the last four races, including taking his first victory in the last race at Valencia.
“I have to admit I didn’t expect to be on pole and believed a top five would be good,” admitted Farfus, 29. “Then, when I made it to Q4, I realised we could try for pole, and it worked out.
“Many thanks to the team because we changed the car a little bit during qualifying and it worked well. This was good because we had a car that was difficult to drive yesterday, but we kept on working on it and this is the result. I feel after the first race here in April, when I was 19th on the grid, it is a big step forward.”
Team Principal of BMW Team RBM, Bart Mampaey, was full of praise for Farfus, who has raced for the team since 2010.
“Q4 was a real thriller,” explained Mampaey. “All four drivers produced very good laps, and Augusto Farfus managed to come out on top, just as he did in Valencia. It is great for BMW Team RBM, that we are in such good form at the end of the season.
“Augusto was very impressive in the third part of qualifying, which meant we had a small advantage with our tyres. That definitely helped a bit. However, he still had to go faster than Gary Paffett, Bruno Spengler and Mattias Ekström here in Hockenheim. That was a very impressive performance. I am proud of Augusto and the whole team.”
The result in qualifying also marked BMW’s strongest-yet session since returning to the DTM at the start of the season, with all BMW M3’s qualifying inside the top ten except the second RBM car of Andy Priaulx. BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt explained that it was a pleasing end to the season for the marque.
“This is Augusto’s second pole position in a row and means we have started from the front of the grid on five occasions over the course of our comeback season,” said Marquardt. “We have made it into the top ten with five BMW M3 DTMs. This is the first time we’ve achieved that. It was unbelievably close between Bruno and Gary Paffett, which means the fans can look forward to a thrilling finale on Sunday. We cannot wait for the final race of what has been a sensational season for us.”