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James Newbold

Lausitzring DTM: Van der Linde beats Rast to Sunday pole

Schubert BMW driver van der Linde, who put in a controlled drive to win race one after seizing the lead at the start, was the only driver to duck under the 1m31s bracket with a 1m30.998s lap.

His M4 GT3, which is running 10kg lighter than on Saturday but with a 0.057 reduction in boost pressure following Balance of Performance tweaks, was only ninth at the halfway point in the session.

But in the closing seconds, as times tumbled, the South African pipped three-time DTM champion Rene Rast by 0.108s to secure his third DTM pole.

Abt Audi driver Rast secured the best qualifying result of his DTM return so far, with Maro Engel (Gruppe M Mercedes) and Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser Lamborghini) making it four different manufacturers in the top four positions.

Double DTM champion Marco Wittman made the early running and was the first into the 1m31s bracket in his Walkenhorst BMW, but that was soon shaded by Dennis Olsen’s SSR Porsche as the Norwegian put himself 0.329s clear with a 1m31.424s lap.

That was then usurped by Nico Muller (Team Rosberg Audi), whose 1m31.297s was fastest of all when red flags came out for Fraga’s scary fire.

The Red Bull Ferrari driver reacted quickly and pulled off the circuit onto the gravel with his AF Corse-run machine ablaze, before running over to a marshal post and helping to put out the fire.

Fraga, who retired from race one with a puncture, was one of several drivers who had yet to set a time when the red flags were shown, with championship leaders Lucas Auer (Winward Mercedes), Bortolotti and Ricardo Feller (Abt Audi) among them.

When the session restarted with four minutes remaining, the track was exceptionally busy as drivers jockeyed for space.

ADAC GT Masters champion Feller immediately moved into second behind Muller with his first timed effort, but was quickly shuffled back as Rast and Engel took turns at holding the top spot.

But van der Linde wasn’t to be denied and punched in the best lap of the session to displace Engel, before Rast rallied and retook second on his last effort.

Behind Bortolotti, Feller will start fifth ahead of Muller, who only managed to improve by 0.068s on his earlier benchmark.

Fraga’s teammate Nick Cassidy will start seventh, ahead of race one runner-up Luca Stolz (HRT Mercedes), Auer and David Schumacher (Winward Mercedes).

Wittmann was shuffled down to P12 at the flag, just ahead of Olsen.

Reigning champion Maximilian Gotz (Winward Mercedes) will start from 19th position.  

Lausitzring DTM - Sunday qualifying results:

 Pos   Nº   Driver   Car /  Time   Gap
31  Sheldon van der Linde BMW 1'30.998  
33  René Rast Audi 1'31.106 0.108
88  Maro Engel Mercedes 1'31.152 0.154
63  Mirko Bortolotti Lamborghini 1'31.159 0.161
Ricardo Feller Audi 1'31.174 0.176
51  Nico Müller Audi 1'31.229 0.231
37  Nick Cassidy Ferrari 1'31.284 0.286
Luca Stolz Mercedes 1'31.336 0.338
22  Lucas Auer Mercedes 1'31.361 0.363
10  27  David Schumacher Mercedes 1'31.361 0.363
11  25  Philipp Eng BMW 1'31.376 0.378
12  11  Marco Wittmann BMW 1'31.391 0.393
13  94  Dennis Olsen Porsche 1'31.409 0.411
14  36  Arjun Maini Mercedes 1'31.443 0.445
15  Kelvin van der Linde Audi 1'31.451 0.453
16  55  Mikael Grenier Mercedes 1'31.487 0.489
17  92  Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 1'31.510 0.512
18  24  Thomas Preining Porsche 1'31.512 0.514
19  Maximilian Götz Mercedes 1'31.568 0.570
20  10  Esteban Muth BMW 1'31.599 0.601
21  18  Maximilian Buhk Mercedes 1'31.702 0.704
22  95  Nicki Thiim Lamborghini 1'31.837 0.839
23  19  Rolf Ineichen Lamborghini 1'31.973 0.975
24  85  Clemens Schmid Lamborghini 1'32.111 1.113
25  12  Dev Gore Audi 1'32.447 1.449
26  66  Marius Zug Audi 1'32.448 1.450
27  Alessio Deledda Lamborghini 1'33.442 2.444
28  26  Esmee Hawkey Lamborghini 1'34.051 3.053
74  Felipe Fraga Ferrari -  
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