Auto News 5

Edoardo Mortara (Audi) takes his first DTM pole by being quickest in qualifying at Spielberg, Austria, fourth round of the season.

The Italian driver bested championship leader Gary Paffett (Mercedes) and his Audi teammate Mattias Ekström, who was quickest in Q3, but lost time after few mistakes in Q4. Last year Spielberg race winner Martin Tomczyk was fourth fastest aboard his BMW.

Behind them, Bruno Spengler (BMW) struggled to qualify for Q3, but the Canadian driver clinched the tenth position at the last moment of Q2, and then finally took the sixth spot on the starting grid for tomorrow's race.

It was a tough qualifying session for Robert Wickens, the other Canadian on track, who only managed to set the 19th best performance.

"We took a bit longer to get going here than at the three previous races," Spengler said.

"It took a while to find a good set-up in the free practice sessions. It is nothing out of the ordinary to have a more difficult weekend, however. With this in mind, sixth is a good result. A lot is possible from the third row of the grid. I will certainly be on the attack."



Qualifying results - DTM (Spielberg, Austria)

1. Edoardo Mortara (Audi) - 1min26.171s - Q4
2. Gary Paffett (Mercedes) - 1min26.292s - Q4
3. Mattias Ekström (Audi) - 1min26.319s - Q4
4. Martin Tomczyk (BMW) - 1min26.408s - Q4
5. Joey Hand (BMW) - 1min25.927s - Q3
6. Bruno Spengler (BMW) - 1min25.963s - Q3
7. Jamie Green (Mercedes) - 1min26.022s - Q3
8. Filipe Albuquerque (Audi) - 1min26.294s - Q3
9. Dirk Werner (BMW) - 1min26.309s - Q3
10. Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes) - 1min26.340s - Q3
(...)
19. Robert Wickens (Mercedes) - 1min26.725s - Q1
Etc.