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DTM - Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
England - Brands Hatch - Qualifying - 18/5/13

By MJP Media | 18 May 2013

BMW take pole and dominate in DTM qualifying as Mercedes continue to struggle on the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit.

Martin Tomczyk takes pole for BMW

As the excitement of the qualifying session mounted, all eyes were on Mercedes to see if they could find some pace from the cars after a disappointing practice session this morning. BMW had looked good in the practice, but Audi were right in the mix through the great pace of Mike Rockenfeller in his Audi Sport Team Phoenix Schaeffler Audi RS 5.

The DTM qualifying is in 4 parts with all the cars taking part in the first 16 minute session before being reduced to 16 cars for the second, 10 for the 3rd and 4 for the final session. There were no major surprises in Q1 as all of the big names comfortably made it through, although Jamie Green was bitterly disappointed to go out in the first session at this, his home circuit. The fastest time in Q1 went to Marco Wittmann in the Ice-Watch BMW M3, whilst Joey Hand claimed the fastest speed in the session at 142.5 mph. Mercedes only had the cars of Gary Paffett and Robert Wickens in the top 16.

Mike Rockenfeller was the highest placed Audi in second

As qualifying went into the second session of 11 minutes, things became much tighter in the quest to finish in the top ten and so move through to Q3. Miguel Molina in the Audi Sport Team Phoenix RS 5 clocked the fastest lap in an amazing 41.085 seconds. Behind him came Martin Tomczyk in the BMW M Performance Zubehör M3 in second and Marco Wittmann in 3rd.

As there were no Mercedes drivers in the top 10, it was an Audi - BMW lockout going into Q3. The big name loser in the session was former F1 star Timo Glock who, despite recording the 5th highest speed, dropped out by virtue of finishing 11th in the session.

Joey Hand consistently had the top speed but finished 4th

The 3rd qualifying session, also of 11 minutes, determines places 5-10 on the grid with the top 4 cars going straight into a separate shoot out. The top 4 to go through from the session were the 3 BMWs of Martin Tomczyk, Augusto Farfus and Joey Hand, together with the Audi of Mike Rockenfeller. As in the first two sessions it was Hand who claimed top speed, whilst Tomczyk again topped the lap charts.

The final session for the top 4 on the grid saw Martin Tomczyk take pole position in a time of 41.158 seconds with Mike Rockenfeller 4 1/100ths behind him in second, Augusto Farfus third and Joey Hand fourth.

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