Nico Müller has taken his first pole position of the 2020 DTM season at Lausitzring in a wet session that was briefly red flagged following a spin by Timo Glock.
Müller initially seemed to struggle in wet conditions, with Mike Rockenfeller initially leading the charge with a series of fast laps. That was until Timo Glock beached his BMW M4 DTM following a spin on the exit of turn one, which caused the session to be red flagged as his beached car had to be recovered.
Once the session was restarted, several drivers set fastest laps as lap times began to tumble. Müller initially seemed to bad pole with a 01:58:909, until that was topped by Rene Rast with a 01:58:499.
Müller then fired back with a 01:57:822 to move back to the top of the timing sheets. It would prove fast enough for pole, as Rast would improve but find himself 0.038s short and had to settle for second.
Robin Frijns, who initially set the pace after the restart, qualified third with a 01:58:180 ahead of Mike Rockenfeller in fourth. Rockenfeller looked very strong in the opening phase of the session, but dropped down the order after the session was resumed. His best effort was 01:58:184, just under four-tenths off pole.
Marco Wittmann was the fastest of a string of BMW drivers making up the bottom half of the top ten. The two-time champion was fifth quickest with a time of 01:58.414, ahead of Lucas Auer, Philipp Eng and Sheldon van der Linde.
Auer was another one of several drivers to find the gravel on a fast lap, shooting wide in the second sector after just setting the fastest first sector. His best effort of 01:58.869 was ultimately good enough for sixth place.
The top ten was completed by Loic Duval and Ferdinand Habsburg, with Habsburg’s Team WRT team-mate Harrison Newey the best-placed rookie in eleventh ahead of Jonathan Aberdein and Fabio Scherer. Scherer also found the gravel on one of his quick laps briefly after the restart, but was able to continue.
Robert Kubica qualified fourteenth in his first wet qualifying session since joining the DTM ahead of championship veteran Jamie Green, who seemed to struggle greatly in the difficult conditions.
Glock did not resume the session after his car was recovered following his spin and will start this afternoon’s race from last place.
