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DTM - Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
England - Brands Hatch - Qualifying - 19/5/12

By MJP Media | 19 May 2012

Gary Paffett claims home advantage by securing pole position for tomorrow's DTM race at Brands Hatch.

Paffett and Vietoris close out the front row of the grid for Mercedes

Briton Gary Paffett claimed a career 9th DTM pole position in qualifying for the third round of the year at Brands Hatch. With his Thomas Sabo Mercedes AMG C-Coupé, the current series points leader set a time of 41.266 seconds at the Kent track, the shortest on the 2012 DTM calendar.

Paffett said after qualifying: "Of course, being up front in qualifying is always important. But at Brands Hatch it is particularly important because there are hardly any opportunities to overtake here. Today, everything came together. We are in the lead of the points standings and can make another big step tomorrow". Second on the grid will be fellow Mercedes-Benz driver 23 year old Christian Vietoris, his best qualifying position to date.

Gary Paffett takes pole position

Canadian Bruno Spengler carried on his fine form from the last round at Lausitzring and qualified his BMW Team Schnitzer M3 third on the grid. "At Brands Hatch, it always is incredibly close. The times are very close and finding a clear lap was very difficult. The race will certainly be thrilling. I will give everything to move up all the way to the front", the Canadian promised his fans.

German Mike Rockenfeller in his Schaeffler Audi A5 was the top Audi driver with fourth place on the grid. A philosophical Rockenfeller said "Had I been offered fourth place before qualifying, I would have accepted it. But, of course, when you make it into the fourth and final heat, you want to be at the front. Perhaps I was a bit cautious".

Bruno Spengler puts his BMW 3rd on the grid

In 5th place was Martin Tomczyk in the BMW Team RMG M3. Behind the defending champion were three Audi drivers: Filipe Albuquerque in the Team Rosberg TV Movie Audi A5, Adrian Tambay in the Audi Sport team Abt A5 and Sweden's Mattias Ekström in the Red Bull Audi A5. Brazilian Augusto Farfus in the Castrol Edge BMW M3 and Brit Jamie Green in the Mercedes HWA C-Coupé rounded out the top ten.

Race coverage from Brands Hatch will appear here tomorrow.

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