Loic Duval has taken a late pole position for the Saturday DTM race, preventing Robin Frijns from taking pole position on home soil with a late flyer to top the timesheets.
Duval set his fastest time, a 01:23:341, in the closing minutes of the session. The Frenchman’s best time was set in the closing minutes of the session. Robin Frijns initially held the top spot and looked set to take pole on home soil, but a late charge from Frijns left him second, just 0.034s off pole.
Championship leader Nico Müller was third fastest after setting a 01:23:459 in the closing seconds. In doing so, he demoted Ferdinand Habsburg to fourth, with the Austrian starting on the second row after a strong qualifying performance.
2019 Assen winner Mike Rockenfeller will start from fifth ahead of Rene Rast in sixth, with the pair ensuring an all-Audi top six. Lucas Auer, race winner last time out at the Lausitzring, was the best BMW driver in seventh place with a 01:23:853.
BMW continues to lack behind Audi in qualifying, with Auer’s best effort over half a second off Duval’s pole time. Philipp Eng was eighth ahead Jonathan Aberdein, who took ninth at a track he impressed at during his rookie campaign with Team WRT.
Marco Wittmann, who also took victory at DTM’s maiden visit to the Dutch circuit in 2019, completed the top ten. Sheldon van der Linde was eleventh quickest, ahead of Jamie Green, Harrison Newey and Timo Glock.
Fabio Scherer and Robert Kubica had a close call on track which forced the Polish Grand Prix winner to take to the track’s runoff area to narrowly avoid contact with Scherer. The pair will fill the final row of the grid, with Kubica fifteenth and Scherer sixteenth.
