3rd September, 2011
Mike Rockenfeller claims pole position at Brands Hatch
DTM
Fawkham. Great joy for Mike Rockenfeller (Audi): in qualifying for the seventh DTM season round, the German claims his maiden pole position in the most popular international touring car series. With a lap time of 42.090 seconds in the fourth qualifying heat, the Audi driver was 0.198 seconds faster than Gary Paffett (Mercedes-Benz). The Brit will be starting from second place on the front row alongside Rockenfeller into his home race. For the race on Sunday, Martin Tomczyk (Audi) and Jamie Green (Mercedes-Benz) will be starting from the second row of the grid. Points’ leader Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz) ended up sixth in qualifying behind Mattias Ekström (Audi). However, the Franco-Canadian will be docked two places on the starting grid after having used an unmarked tyre in free practice. A full press release with quotes will follow shortly.
The qualifying at a glance
Air temperature: 24.6 °C
Asphalt temperature: 27.0 °C
14.10 hrs Qualifying starts. Stoddart and Frey are the first two drivers on the track.
14.12 hrs Rahel Frey is the first driver with a time: 43.329. Then, she is outpaced by Stoddart: 43.134.
14.13 hrs Frey is now fastest again: 42.998.
14.14 hrs Maro Engel is now on top: 42.787, but is then outpaced by Vietoris: 42.603. On his next lap, Engel is fastest again with 42.506.
14.15 hrs Timo Scheider now on top: 42.276.
14.16 hrs Rockenfeller is fastest: 42.241.
14.15 hrs Timo Scheider now on top: 42.276.
14.16 hrs Rockenfeller is fastest with 42.241. Red flag as Albuquerque has crashed at Druids. All drivers move up into Q2. The time for Q2 has been set at 20.04 minutes.
14.19 hrs Q2 starts at 14.24 h.
14.24 hrs Start of Q2 with all drivers. Martin Tomczyk is the first driver on the track.
14.28 hrs Van der Zande is fastest: 42.600. Then he is outpaced by Coulthard: 42.535, after that, Engel is on top with 42.448.
14.29 hrs Engel improves his own fastest lap time to 42.378.
14.30 hrs Ekström is now fastest with 42.297, then Molina on top with 42.277.
14.31 hrs Jarvis is first with 42.269, but he is soon outpaced by Ekström: 42.264.
14.32 hrs Rockenfeller on top with 41.996, followed by Vietoris in second and Scheider in third place.
14.36 hrs Tomczyk moves up from 13th to first: 41.995. Mortara spins, but continues.
14.40 hrs Schumacher is now fastest with 41.917. Paffett moves up into second place with 41.968.
14.42 hrs Spengler improves from 12th to sixth.
14.44 hrs End of the session. Schumacher remains fastest from Paffett, Tomczyk, Rockenfeller, Molina, Green, Ekström, Spengler. Not qualified for the next heat are Mortara, Engel, Vietoris, Scheider, Van der Zande, Jarvis, Frey, Coulthard and Stoddart.
14.52 hrs Start of the session. Nobody goes out.
14.55 hrs Rockenfeller is the first driver to go out.
14.57 hrs Rockenfeller sets a time of 41.968.
14.59 hrs Ekström is now second with 42.039.
15.00 hrs Rockenfeller remains fastest from Paffett, Ekström, Tomczyk, Molina, Green and Spengler.
15.01 hrs Green is now fastest: 41.959. Tomczyk moves up into second with 41.961.
15.03 hrs End of the session. Green remains fastest from Tomczyk, Rockenfeller, Paffett. These four drivers make it into Q4. Ekström, Spengler, Schumacher and Molina end up fifth to eighth.
15.12 hrs Gary Paffett: 42.288
15.14 hrs Mike Rockenfeller: 42.090
15.15 hrs Martin Tomczyk: 42.297
15.17 hrs Jamie Green: 42.345.
