Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport
James Newbold

DTM Imola: Rast takes first pole of his comeback over Muller

It was the best qualifying showing so far from the three-time DTM champion on his return to the series, having sat out the 2021 season, with Abt Audi driver Rast beating Team Rosberg Audi rival Nico Muller to pole by 0.188s.

Thomas Preining completed the top three in his best DTM showing to date in the Team Bernhard Porsche, as Clemens Schmid was shuffled back from first to fourth in the final seconds of a frenetic qualifying.

After Ricardo Feller set the early benchmark time with a 1m41.323s, team-mate Rast quickly asserted control of the session with a 1m40.687s followed by a 1m40.221s that third Abt driver Kelvin van der Linde came closest to matching with an effort that was 0.127s slower.

Schmid, who suffered a right-rear tyre blowout entering Tamburello in FP1 on Friday, was the best-placed of the Grasser Racing Lamborghini quartet in third at this point as team leader Mirko Bortolotti elected to remain in the garage until there were just six minutes remaining of the session.

But it was Schmid who stepped up to lead Lamborghini's charge with a 1m40.198s to snatch provisional pole, Bortolotti going 0.059s slower.

However Rast then reclaimed the top spot with the only sub-1m40s lap of the session at 1m39.817s, with Muller and Preining also beating Schmid's time.

Another late effort from Feller split the two Grasser cars, leaving Bortolotti sixth-quickest, although the Italian will drop 10 places on the grid for running an incorrect set of tyres during FP2 that his team explained was caused by having the wrong tyre barcodes.

Thomas Preining, KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3-R (Photo by: DTM)

After a quick spin at Variante Alta, Kelvin van der Linde set the fastest middle sector of anybody on his final lap but it was good enough only for the seventh-quickest time.

But thanks to Bortolotti's penalty, he will start sixth, with double DTM champion Marco Wittmann the best of the BMW M4s starting seventh in his Walkenhorst Motorsport example.

Championship leader Sheldon van der Linde will carry 25kg from eighth on the grid in race one, after his victory last time out at the Lausitzring, with Mercedes drivers Lucas Auer (Winward) and Maro Engel (GruppeM) completing the top 10.

DTM Imola Qualifying results:

Cla Driver Car Time Gap
1 Germany René Rast Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'39.817  
2 Switzerland Nico Müller Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.005 0.188
3 Austria Thomas Preining Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'40.039 0.222
4 Austria Clemens Schmid Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'40.121 0.304
5 Switzerland Ricardo Feller Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.137 0.320
6 Italy Mirko Bortolotti Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'40.180 0.363
7 South Africa Kelvin van der Linde Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'40.348 0.531
8 Germany Marco Wittmann BMW M4 GT3 1'40.409 0.592
9 South Africa Sheldon Van Der Linde BMW M4 GT3 1'40.431 0.614
10 Austria Lucas Auer Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.474 0.657
11 Germany Maro Engel Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.570 0.753
12 Norway Dennis Olsen Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'40.597 0.780
13 New Zealand Nick Cassidy Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'40.626 0.809
14 Switzerland Rolf Ineichen Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'40.631 0.814
15 Germany Luca Stolz Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.661 0.844
16 Belgium Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 911 GT3 R 1'40.787 0.970
17 Austria Philipp Eng BMW M4 GT3 1'40.800 0.983
18 Germany Timo Glock BMW M4 GT3 1'40.927 1.110
19 India Arjun Maini Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.935 1.118
20 Germany Maximilian Götz Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'40.958 1.141
21 Germany Marius Zug Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'41.063 1.246
22 Canada Mikael Grenier Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'41.127 1.310
23 Germany Maximilian Buhk Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'41.301 1.484
24 Brazil Felipe Fraga Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 1'41.310 1.493
25 Germany David Schumacher Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo 1'41.392 1.575
26 United States Dev Gore Audi R8 LMS Evo II 1'41.396 1.579
27 Belgium Esteban Muth BMW M4 GT3 1'41.397 1.580
28 Italy Alessio Deledda Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 1'42.065 2.248
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.