Sweden’s Mattias Ekström took advantage of the wet conditions at the Red Bull Ring in qualifying for the second race in Austria, securing pole position for the 10th race of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM).
The weather deteriorated during the session, as the constant rainfall caught out many drivers, including Paul di Resta, Daniel Juncadella and defending champion Marco Wittmann, who went off of turn 3 just before the half way point of the session. Wittmann would end up 21st, after a disastrous session for not only himself, but for BMW in general.
2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller showed his pace in the wet as well, just five thousandths of a second behind the two-time champion, making it another successive Audi front row.
“The conditions were very difficult,” said Ekström. “There was a lot of water on the track. Maybe, in the end, the fact that we extensively tested here in the rain before helped me a little.”
Mercedes showed good strength in the adverse weather, with five of their C63 AMGs ending up in the top ten. Gary Paffett was the fastest for the brand taking third, a further 0.140 seconds behind.
Current points leader Pascal Wehrlein was in the mix for pole position, as was Robert Wickens, with the pain rounding out the top five.
Yesterday’s race winner, Edoardo Mortara, will line up sixth ahead of Team Phoenix’s Timo Scheider. Christian Vietoris, Paul di Resta and Audi’s Adrien Tambay completed the top ten, which was split by 1.145 seconds.
Nico Müller was just a fraction behind the Frenchman in 11th, with Maximillian Götz and Daniel Juncadella taking the next two places. The slowest of the Mercedes drivers was Austria’s Lucas Auer, who fared better in comparison with yesterday.
BMW’s session was one to forget, with none of their drivers making into the top ten, as Team Schnitzer’s Martin Tomczyk was 14th fastest, ahead of Team RMG’s Maxime Martin. Zandvoort race two winner António Félix da Costa will start from 18th, between the Audis of Jamie Green and Miguel Molina.
The five BMWs of Bruno Spengler, Wittmann, Tom Blomqvist, Augusto Farfus and Timo Glock occupy the remainder of the grid, in what had been a difficult session for the Munich manufacturer.
Race two at the Red Bull Ring starts at 1518 CEST (1418 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:42.010 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:42.015 | 0.005 |
| 3 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.155 | 0.145 |
| 4 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.422 | 0.412 |
| 5 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.566 | 0.556 |
| 6 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:42.659 | 0.649 |
| 7 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:42.849 | 0.839 |
| 8 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.853 | 0.843 |
| 9 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 11 | 1:43.064 | 1.054 |
| 10 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:43.155 | 1.145 |
| 11 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:43.251 | 1.241 |
| 12 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:43.604 | 1.594 |
| 13 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:43.651 | 1.641 |
| 14 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:43.743 | 1.733 |
| 15 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:43.772 | 1.762 |
| 16 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:44.110 | 2.100 |
| 17 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:44.192 | 2.182 |
| 18 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:44.251 | 2.241 |
| 19 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:44.419 | 2.409 |
| 20 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:44.509 | 2.499 |
| 21 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:44.707 | 2.697 |
| 22 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:44.830 | 2.820 |
| 23 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:44.983 | 2.973 |
| 24 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:45.348 | 3.338 |