Liam Lawson has taken an important pole position for the penultimate race of the DTM season at the Norisring.
The New Zealander set the quickest time in his Red Bull AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo by posting a 00:48:72. That was enough to beat championship rival Kelvin van der Linde to pole position by 0.184s. The two title protagonists will share the front row.
Both drivers held the top spot at various points throughout the Saturday morning session, which saw times come down rapidly. Van der Linde held the top early on in the session before Lawson retook the top spot.
After an initial improvement from the Red Bull junior, he was surprisingly bested by Arjun Maini, who briefly took to the top of the standings before Lawson improved again to take pole. The Indian driver was then also surpassed by Van der Linde and third-placed Lucas Auer, ultimately ending the session in fourth place.
Mercedes dominate top eight
Auer and Maini led a Mercedes-dominated top eight on the Nuremberg street circuit, with positions three through eight all filled by drivers with Mercedes machinery.
Fifth place was taken by Team HRT’s Maximilian Götz, who is the remaining outsider in the championship battle. He was just 0.026s faster than the Winward Mercedes of Philip Ellis, while Daniel Juncadella made it five Mercedes runners in the top eight with seventh place.
Nick Cassidy, who takes over Alex Albon’s seat in the AlphaTauri AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo for the Norisring finale, will start eighth.
The top ten is rounded out by Team Rosberg’s Nico Müller and the T3 Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Esteban Muth.
Vincent Abril will start eleventh ahead of Mike Rockenfeller, who is taking part in his final DTM weekend with Audi.
Guest driver Lucas di Grassi is thirteenth, ahead of Maxi Buhk, Sophia Floersch and Timo Glock.
The grid is rounded out by Sheldon van der Linde, Esmee Hawkey, Marco Wittmann and Dev Gore.
