Mirko Bortolotti stormed to DTM pole at the Nurburgring for the first race of the weekend, with the SSR Performance Lamborghini driver setting a 1:25.188, scoring his first pole position of the season.
The Italian put his car in front of current points leader Thomas Preining, who qualified 0.160 off Bortolotti. The two swapped the top spot in the closing minutes of the session, but Bortolotti went for one last lap and took pole.
Third was Ricardo Feller for Abt Sportsline, a further 0.120 off Preining, with his teammate Kelvin van der Linde just 0.024 adrift from the Swiss driver.
British driver Jack Aitken was the fastest Ferrari, for Emil Frey Racing, just 16 thousandths slower than K. van der Linde. Bortolotti’s SSR Performance teammate Franck Perera was next up in sixth, with Manthey EMA’s Dennis Olsen in seventh.
Mercedes-AMG Team Winward’s Lucas Auer put his car eighth, with three time DTM champion Rene Rast ninth for Schubert Motorsport BMW.
Rounding out the top 10 was another BMW, in the hands of Marco Wittmann, for Project 1.
The race begins at 12:30 BST.
