September 5th, 2009
Pole for the home race: Di Resta fastest in qualifying
DTM
Fawkham. The series has come to an end. After six pole positions for Audi in the 2009 DTM season, Scot Paul Di Resta became the first Mercedes-Benz driver to post a fastest qualifying time in 2009. In the final session of the shoot-out qualifying, the 23-year old lapped the 1.929 kilometres long Brands Hatch circuit in 41.750 seconds. ?Claiming pole position today is something special. So far, the year has been rather disappointing for me. However, that is the way things are in motorsport. There are ups and downs. For tomorrow, we have good chances and I hope that we ca repeat today?s result?, said Di Resta after qualifying. Reigning DTM champion and points leader Timo Scheider (D) was also happy with his second place. ?I am very happy with being on the front row and I am already looking forward to the race. The Brands Hatch circuit suits me. This is a good position to start the race. Being better than Gary and Mattias was my goal and I succeeded. Tomorrow, I just have to make a good start and maybe that will be my chance to overtake Paul.? The Audi driver was 81 hundredths of a second down on Di Resta. Scheider?s fellow-Audi driver Tom Kristensen (DK) and Canadian Bruno Spengler with his AMG Mercedes C-Class were third and fourth fastest respectively and will be starting from the second row into Sunday?s race at 14.00 h CET.
For those hunting points? leader Scheider, qualifying didn?t bring the best possible result. Swede Mattias Ekstr?m (Audi), who is in second place, one point down, failed to make it into the final qualifying heat and will start from seventh place. Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett (GB), who is third in the battle for the DTM title behind Scheider and Ekstr?m, qualified sixth. Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz) will be starting from eleventh place into the seventh DTM round of the season.
The race on Sunday is scheduled for 93 laps, a total distance for 179.397 kilometres. The start is at 14.00 h CET. ARD is broadcasting live from 13.45 h.
