Difficult Sunday qualifying for the DTM at the Sachsenring on a wet track: after a downpour this morning it did dry out, but it was still too damp for slicks. Pole position was secured by Winward-Mercedes driver Maro Engel with a 1:26.307, which is around ten seconds slower than the times on a dry track.
The 41-year-old thereby cut his deficit in the overall standings to three points to DTM leader Thomas Preining, who was sixth, 1.030 seconds adrift.
"It was a mega lap," Engel tells ran.de, proud of his performance. "We spoke a lot with the team beforehand about what the right strategy could be - and I think we got it right. The car was superb, I was able to put in a good clear lap right at the start."
The conditions were puzzling, because Engel set his best time early in the session - and despite no further rain, the times did not get any faster as qualifying went on. But why was that the case? "It always depends on what you bet on," Engel says cryptically. "We obviously got it right."
Team-mates of the title favourites lying in wait
Second was Preining's Manthey-Porsche team-mate Ricardo Feller, who was already a hefty 0.448 seconds adrift. "We were looking forward to the rain - personally, of course, I was too," says the Swiss driver, who puts his Manthey-Porsche on the front row for the first time in a difficult debut season for the team, on ran.de. "The car just felt super good - and now I hope it stays wet for the race."
Third place went to Engel's Winward-Mercedes team-mate Jules Gounon (+0.755), who had already been very strong on Saturday. "Actually we took the risky way to wait until the end to try to go," the Frenchman explained on ran.de.
Because on a wet track in particular, the risk of a stoppage is especially high. In addition, the strong times came early in the session. "I think the track was a bit quicker at the beginning, but I'm still happy to be on P3," says the "Mamba" driver.
What is positive from a Mercedes-AMG perspective: Gounon is ahead of his team-mate Engel's title rivals - and could therefore take points away from them in the race. "I'm going to try to help him. He's fighting for the championship and I'll try to help Mercedes AMG also and do a good race," Gounon announces.
Preining's wild slide: "For a moment I thought, that's it"
Fourth was Ben Dorr (+0.874) in the Dorr-McLaren, Land-Porsche youngster Bastian Buus (+0.938) placed fifth - and sixth was Preining, who caught a wild slide. "For a moment I thought, that's it - but I was able to catch it," the "Grello" driver describes the scare - and regrets not achieving a better position.
"Basically we were fast, the front row would definitely have been possible, but it didn't happen," he says. Now he is mainly hoping for an accident-free start. "As long as nobody drives into me at the start, it can be a good race. The run to the first corner will be the biggest challenge - after that anything is possible."
Heavy setback for Wittmann after Saturday win
Marco Wittmann suffered a heavy setback: the Schubert-BMW driver, who had reduced his deficit in the championship to 14 points after pole and victory on Saturday, managed only 19th place, 2.005 seconds adrift.
"That was probably nothing," he says on ran.de with a shrug. "We struggled. I think we simply didn't really get the tyre working. We know that we struggle more in the rain, but Kelvin is significantly further up," says Wittmann, referring to team-mate Kelvin van der Linde, who finished seventh, 1.224 seconds adrift.
"Accordingly, we have to look at what we did differently between the two cars - and, if necessary, adjust that accordingly if rain comes in the race. We were surprised as well," says the two-time DTM champion.
The change to the Balance of Performance (BoP) - the BMW received more weight and an unfavourable boost pressure before Sunday - is unlikely to have played a major role, as other factors have more influence in the rain.
Things went even worse for Aston Martin driver Nicki Thiim: the Comtoyou driver, who is fourth in the championship behind Wittmann, was only 20th, 2.038 seconds adrift. The previous day the Dane announced that he wanted to cut his deficit from 30 to 15 points before the Hockenheim finale, which is likely to be difficult after qualifying.
Audi guest entrant delivers a positive surprise
Where did the other title contenders place? Landgraf-Mercedes driver Lucas Auer, who is fifth in the overall standings, was ninth, while Emil-Frey-Ferrari driver Matteo Cairoli - sixth in the overall standings - placed 17th, 1.865 seconds adrift.
Audi guest entrant Simon Connor Primm delivered a positive surprise: the 21-year-old Saxon defied the rain and put his R8 LMS GT3 Evo II 12th on the grid, 1.603 seconds adrift. That meant he almost realised his dream of making it into the top 10.
The Sunday race, with two mandatory stops, will take place in the afternoon - and rain cannot be ruled out either. It will decide which drivers travel to the season finale at Hockenheim with realistic title chances.
