“Tambay takes maiden DTM pole at Hockenheim”

Tambay (centre) celebrates with Wittmann (left) and da Costa (right). © DTM.
Tambay (centre) celebrates with Wittmann (left) and da Costa (right). © DTM.

Adrien Tambay secured his first DTM pole position today in his Audi Team Abt machine.

The Frenchman made certain of the result following a late burst, which gave him the top spot over Marco Wittmann (BMW Team RMG) and Bruno Spengler (BMW Team Schnitzer).

Tambay’s best – a 1:32.272 – headed of a challenge from DTM debutante (BMW Team MTEK) Antonio Felix da Costa; however the Portuguese racer had two of his best laps discounted when he was found to have breached the track limits.

Da Costa’s error promoted Marco Wittmann to the front row. Wittmann, who ran well in free practice, maintained his good pace during qualifying, initially topping Q1 and edging through Q2 in 7th place. Former champion Spengler, too, grabbed 3rd with a fabulous last lap, placing just ahead of da Costa.
It will be an all-Audi third row, with Mattias Ekström qualifying ahead of Miguel Molina in the Team Abt Sportsline fight, while Edoardo Mortara (Audi Team Abt) and Martin Tomczyk (BMW Team Schnitzer).

Timo Glock missed out on Q3 by just 0.008s. The former Formula One racer headed off Audi pairing Timo Scheider and reigning champion Mike Rockenfeller and last year’s runner-up Augusto Farfus
Rookies Nico Müller and Maxime Martin filled out the seventh row, while veterans Joey Hand and Jamie Green could do no better than 17th and 18th respectively.

It was a horrific qualifying for Mercedes. Gary Paffett and Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes HWA) were the best of the marquees machine, finishing 15th and 16th respectively.
To make matters worse, all five cars to drop out of the first section of qualifying were Mercedes entries, led by DTM-returnee Paul di Resta (HWA, 19th), followed by Daniel Juncadella (Mucke Motorsport, 20th), Robert Wickens (21st), Christian Vietoris (22nd – both HWA) and Vitaly Petrov (Mucke Motorsport, 23rd).

2013 DTM Series (Rd 1, Qualifying, Hockenheim)
Pos  Driver                  Team            Time
 1.  Adrien Tambay           Abt Audi        1m32.272s
 2.  Marco Wittmann          RMG BMW         1m32.419s
 3.  Bruno Spengler          Schnitzer BMW   1m32.600s
 4.  Antonio Felix da Costa  MTEK BMW        1m32.608s
 5.  Mattias Ekstrom         Abt Audi        1m32.624s
 6.  Miguel Molina           Abt Audi        1m32.787s
 7.  Edoardo Mortara         Abt Audi        1m32.898s
 8.  Martin Tomczyk          Schnitzer BMW   1m33.113s
Q2
 9.  Timo Glock              MTEK BMW        1m32.603s  
10.  Timo Scheider           Phoenix Audi    1m32.706s  
11.  Mike Rockenfeller       Phoenix Audi    1m32.717s  
12.  Augusto Farfus          RBM BMW         1m32.739s  
13.  Nico Muller             Rosberg Audi    1m32.756s  
14.  Maxime Martin           RMG BMW         1m32.792s  
15.  Gary Paffett            HWA Mercedes    1m32.834s  
16.  Pascal Wehrlein         HWA Mercedes    1m32.840s  
Q1
17.  Joey Hand               RBM BMW         1m32.885s  
18.  Jamie Green             Rosberg Audi    1m32.986s  
19.  Paul di Resta           HWA Mercedes    1m33.639s  
20.  Daniel Juncadella       Mucke Mercedes  1m33.746s  
21.  Robert Wickens          HWA Mercedes    1m33.875s  
22.  Christian Vietoris      HWA Mercedes    1m34.242s 
23.  Vitaly Petrov           Mucke Mercedes  1m34.367s  

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