Mirko Bortolotti grasped his second DTM pole position of the season this morning with a time of 1:20.901 in his #92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.
It was a warm morning at the Lausitzring despite the fact a thick cover of cloud presided over the circuit.
Yesterday’s front-running times were within the 1:19 mark, something that was not replicated in today’s second and final qualifying session at the venue this weekend.
During the early stages of the 20-minute session, it was 2022 champion Sheldon van der Linde who set the pace with a mostly empty track ahead of him.
Jack Aitken, who took his first pole and DTM race win yesterday, struggled to replicate his pace and managed 11th in his #14 Ferrari 296 GT3, undoubtedly affected by his success ballast.
With five minutes remaining, the #6 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Alessio Deledda became stuck in a gravel trap thus triggering a red flag in order to retrieve him.
After causing a red flag, his fastest lap time was taken away from him and he was resigned to last place.
Ayhancan Guven provisionally took pole in his #24 Team75 Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3.R but the race director deleted the time after it was found to have been set under red flag conditions.
Once the closing stages approached, it was an intense fight for pole as drivers were required to put their cars up to temperature with no room for no mistakes.
Ricardo Feller, driver of the #7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT2 EVO2, asserted pace to seemingly take pole with his 1:21.034 lap time, before Mirko Bortolotti grasped it off him setting the only time in the 1:20 margin, a 1:20.901.
In third and fourth places were two other Lamborghinis, with Clemens Schmid in the former for the Grasser Racing Team with a 1:21.044, and Franck Perera in the latter for SSR Performance who set a 1:21.117.
DTM championship leader Thomas Preining took fifth in his #91 Team75 Porsche, with a time of 1:21.153.
Sixth to eighth places were claimed by a trio of the fastest Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos. Luca Soltz set a 1:21.182 in his #4 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG, narrowly followed by the two Team WINWARD Racing drivers.
David Schumacher posted a fastest lap time of 1:21.186 to situate him in front of teammate Lucas Auer, who set a 1:21.269 time.
Ninth place on the grid was secured by Maximilian Paul in the #19 GRT Lamborghini, with a time of 1:21.311.
Rounding out the top-10 in Qualifying 2 was Emil Frey Racing’s Thierry Vermeulen in his #69 Ferrari 296 GT3 after his fastest time of 1:21.360.
Race 2 is set to take place later today at 13.30 local time.
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