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Norisring DTM: Robert Wickens beats Paul di Resta to pole

Robert Wickens will start the Norisring DTM race from pole position for the second year running, after putting in a stunning set of laps on the streets of Nuremberg

With Mercedes living up to its practice hype and getting five cars into the top eight, pole position became a straight fight between Wickens and his HWA team-mate Paul di Resta in Q3.

Both drivers were almost immediately into the 47s bracket, which hadn't been done up until that point, with di Resta sitting on top with a few minutes left.

But a late string of fast laps made the difference for Wickens, the Canadian first leap-frogging di Resta, and then lowering his own best time to a 47.883s to ensure pole position.

"I was expecting it to be better here [for Mercedes], but I didn't know it would be this good," said Wickens.

Jamie Green was third and the best-placed Audi on the grid. The Briton almost didn't make it out of Q2, his very last lap earning him a spot in the top eight.

However, once he was in the final segment of qualifying Green was able to shine, becoming the only driver other than Wickens and di Resta to break into the 47s bracket.

The Mercedes trio of Pascal Wehrlein, Gary Paffett and Christian Vietoris finished fourth, fifth and sixth, while Mattias Ekstrom was seventh.

Points leader Marco Wittmann finished eighth, having been the only BMW driver to make it through Q2.

For the first time this season, there was a mixed bag of makes at the other end of the grid rather than a group of Mercedes.

Of those eliminated from Q1, there was one Mercedes (Vitaly Petrov), two Audis (Edoardo Mortara and Timo Scheider), and two BMWs (Martin Tomczyk and Antonio Felix da Costa).


Pos  Driver                  Team/Car        Time     Gap     
 1.  Robert Wickens          HWA Mercedes    47.883s         
 2.  Paul di Resta           HWA Mercedes    47.976s  +0.093s
 3.  Jamie Green             Rosberg Audi    47.995s  +0.112s
 4.  Pascal Wehrlein         HWA Mercedes    48.008s  +0.125s
 5.  Gary Paffett            HWA Mercedes    48.033s  +0.150s
 6.  Christian Vietoris      HWA Mercedes    48.033s  +0.150s
 7.  Mattias Ekstrom         Abt Audi        48.079s  +0.196s
 8.  Marco Wittmann          RMG BMW         48.210s  +0.327s
 9.  Adrien Tambay           Abt Audi        48.223s  Q2     
10.  Nico Muller             Rosberg Audi    48.235s  Q2     
11.  Maxime Martin           RMG BMW         48.267s  Q2     
12.  Mike Rockenfeller       Phoenix Audi    48.292s  Q2     
13.  Timo Glock              MTEK BMW        48.316s  Q2     
14.  Joey Hand               RBM BMW         48.320s  Q2     
15.  Augusto Farfus          RBM BMW         48.329s  Q2     
16.  Bruno Spengler          Schnitzer BMW   48.329s  Q2     
17.  Daniel Juncadella       Mucke Mercedes  48.375s  Q2     
18.  Miguel Molina           Abt Audi        48.434s  Q2     
19.  Martin Tomczyk          Schnitzer BMW   48.417s  Q1     
20.  Edoardo Mortara         Abt Audi        48.439s  Q1     
21.  Timo Scheider           Phoenix Audi    48.480s  Q1     
22.  Antonio Felix da Costa  MTEK BMW        48.488s  Q1     
23.  Vitaly Petrov           Mucke Mercedes  48.544s  Q1     

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