Martin Tomczyk has secured pole position at Brands Hatch (GB), the shortest circuit on the DTM calendar. In qualifying for the second DTM season round, the 31-year old lapped the 1.929 kilometres long track in 41.158 seconds with his BMW M3 DTM. He ended up ahead of Mike Rockenfeller with the Audi RS 5 DTM and Brazilian Augusto Farfus (BMW), who had won the opening round, in second and third place respectively. Gary Paffett was the best-placed Mercedes-Benz driver in twelfth.
“For us, it went well from the very beginning. I am incredibly lucky and I am really looking forward to the race. Qualifying was very close, it is about hundredths of a second here. A funny thing is that the three fastest drivers from qualifying will be flying to the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring after our race here tomorrow to have another good race there, too,” Tomczyk said after his ninth pole position in the DTM.
Second-placed Rockenfeller showed his competitive spirit: “Of course, I will try to overtake Martin at the start and to decide the race in my favour. Pole would have been great, but the first row on the grid is very good, too,” the Audi driver said.
Current DTM champion Bruno Spengler from Canada (BMW) will be starting fifth behind American Joey Hand (BMW). Timo Scheider (Audi), Marco Wittmann and Andy Priaulx (both BMW), Edoardo Mortara and Miguel Molina (both Audi) followed in sixth to tenth place. Ex-Formula 1 driver and DTM novice Timo Glock ended up eleventh.
For the two local heroes Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz) and Jamie Green (Audi), qualifying didn’t go particularly well. Paffett, who had started from pole position and won the race at Brands Hatch in 2012, missed out on the top ten and will be starting twelfth with his DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé. “It is very strange. The car handled well, the balance was right, but the time wasn’t. We have to say: today, we were lacking speed. I do not expect to win on Sunday, but I will try at least to score some points,” the fastest Mercedes-Benz driver of the day said.
In the first qualifying heat, that lasts 16 minutes, Green crossed the finish line one tenth of a second too late and missed out on his chance to make it into the group of the fastest 16 drivers. For his first home race with an Audi, the 30-year old will be starting from 18th place on the grid.
Since the start of this season, option tyres developed by series’ partner Hankook are being used in the DTM. Per race, every driver can use one set of these tyres. In order to enhance the transparency for the spectators, LED lights in the cars will indicate from the race on Sunday onwards, which driver is using them. The lights have been installed in the front windscreen and in the left rear side window and will shine when the option tyres are being used.
The second race of the season with 98 laps and 189.042 kilometres will start on Sunday at 13.30 hrs (CET). ARD is broadcasting live from 13.05 hrs onwards already.
