
Mattias Ekstrom - Photo Credit: DTM.com
Mattias Ekstrom has taken pole position for the penultimate round of the DTM season at Valencia in Spain, continuing his strong recent run of form. Meanwhile title contenders Martin Tomczyk and Bruno Spengler could only manage 11th and 13th on the grid respectively.
The Swede, who has won two of the last three races, was the quickest driver in Q3, and was four tenths quicker than anyone else in the final Q4 shootout for pole.
The rest of Q4 was filled by some unusual names, with rookies Filipe Albuquerque and Renger van der Zande qualifying second and third respectively and David Coulthard taking fourth place and his best DTM qualifying result to date.
13 cars had been allowed through to Q3 after Edoardo Mortara spun into the gravel during Q2. Abt Audi quartet of Mike Rockenfeller, Miguel Molina, Timo Scheider and Oliver Jarvis failed to make it out of Q3 and filled positions five to eight. Completing the top ten were HWA Mercedes duo Gary Paffett and Ralf Schumacher.
Tomczyk and Spengler sandwiched Jamie Green as the slowest runners in Q3. Next up will be Mortara, with Maro Engel, Chrisitan Vietoris, Rahel Frey and Susie Stoddart being knocked out in the first session.
Qualifying results:
Pos. |
Driver / Entrant / Car |
Time |
Session |
1. |
Mattias Ekström Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline Red Bull Audi A4 DTM |
1:30.608 |
Q4 |
2. |
Filipe Albuquerque Audi Sport Team Rosberg TV Movie Audi A4 DTM |
1:31.021 |
Q4 |
3. |
Renger van der Zande stern AMG Mercedes stern AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:31.173 |
Q4 |
4. |
David Coulthard Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:31.338 |
Q4 |
5. |
Mike Rockenfeller Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline E-POSTBRIEF Audi A4 DTM |
1:30.202 |
Q3 |
6. |
Miguel Molina Audi Sport Team Abt Junior Red Bull Audi A4 DTM |
1:30.212 |
Q3 |
7. |
Timo Scheider Audi Sport Team Abt AUTO TEST Audi A4 DTM |
1:30.234 |
Q3 |
8. |
Oliver Jarvis Audi Sport Team Abt Audi Sport performance cars A4 DTM |
1:30.240 |
Q3 |
9. |
Gary Paffett Thomas Sabo AMG Mercedes Thomas Sabo AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:30.297 |
Q3 |
10. |
Ralf Schumacher Salzgitter AMG Mercedes Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:30.304 |
Q3 |
11. |
Martin Tomczyk Audi Sport Team Phoenix Schaeffler Audi A4 DTM |
1:30.554 |
Q3 |
12. |
Jamie Green AMG Mercedes AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:30.602 |
Q3 |
13. |
Bruno Spengler Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Klasse |
1:30.621 |
Q3 |
14. |
Edoardo Mortara Audi Sport Team Rosberg Playboy Audi A4 DTM |
– |
Q2 |
15. |
Maro Engel GQ AMG Mercedes GQ AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:30.583 |
Q1 |
16. |
Christian Vietoris Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:30.587 |
Q1 |
17. |
Rahel Frey Audi Sport Team Phoenix Glamour Audi A4 DTM |
1:30.712 |
Q1 |
18. |
Susie Stoddart TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Klasse |
1:30.739 |
Q1 |