This Sunday, Marco Wittmann will be the pole-sitter for the first DTM race held at the Hungaroring after a break of nearly 26 years.
In the qualifying session, the German BMW M4 DTM driver crossed the line of the 4.381-kilometre circuit located not far from Budapest in 1:26.518 minutes, thus repeating the feat he delivered at Oschersleben and securing his second consecutive pole. “I just love the qualifying,” said the winner of the season opener following the third pole position in his still short DTM career. “Getting your act together on a single lap represents a great challenge. Today, everything went fine – a great day for BMW. First position on the grid is a great initial position as a good start is particularly important, here in Hungary.”
Wittmann’s fellow BMW driver Timo Glock was 0.213 seconds slower and will be standing next to the 24-year old on row one. For the former Formula 1 ace, being second on the grid is the best qualifying result he secured in his DTM career so far. Behind the BMW pairing, Miguel Molina took his Audi RS 5 DTM to third position and is confident regarding the third round of the season. “BMW was very fast, today,” admitted the Spaniard. “I set a good lap time but unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough for securing the pole. The guys provided me with a really fast car. We are here to win and are going to push hard, in the race.”
Meanwhile, Pascal Wehrlein in 16th position once again proved to be the fastest of the DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé drivers – while fellow Mercedes-Benz driver Christian Vietoris had to cope with a disappointment. The Oschersleben winner encountered a difficult qualifying session at the Hungaroring and in the end, he will be the last on the grid for the race on Sunday. “I knew right from the start that the situation would be difficult for us, in dry conditions,” the 25-year old revealed. “On a dry track, we are just too slow. Now it’s important that we make a major team effort and focus on making progress.”
Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) also wasn’t happy with his qualifying achievements. In the end, the reigning DTM Champion had to settle for finishing 13th. Meanwhile, the three rookies Maxime Martin, António Félix da Costa (both BMW) and Nico Müller (Audi) made for positive surprises. All the three DTM newcomers made it to the final phase of qualifying. Martin even temporarily held the provisional pole to qualify fourth, in the end – right ahead of Félix da Costa, with Müller coming eighth.
