Red Bull Ring DTM: Robert Wickens beats Timo Glock to pole position
Robert Wickens took a last-gasp pole position in an exciting DTM qualifying showdown at the Red Bull Ring in Austria
The Mercedes driver could not have waited any longer, storming to pole with a 1m25.175s flyer that came well after the chequered flag had started to fly.
It was a recovery of sorts, the Canadian spinning on his first flying effort in Q3, before putting everything together to take his second pole of the season on his last flying lap.
Wickens' late effort spoilt BMW's party, with Timo Glock seemingly on for pole, ahead of Marco Wittmann and Augusto Farfus. In the end, the trio were forced to settle for second, third and fourth respectively.
Pascal Wehrlein was fifth for Mercedes, ahead of Brit Jamie Green, who was Audi's sole representative in Q3.
Christian Vietoris made it three Mercedes in the top 10 with seventh, while Moscow winner Maxime Martin was eighth.
Joey Hand was ninth, having missed out on a Q1 spot by just 0.017 seconds. Bruno Spengler rounded out the top 10.
Nico Muller, meanwhile, lost any chance of going for pole thanks to an electrical problem that cut out his power steering at the start of Q2. He was unable to set a time, leaving him stranded in 18th.
Gary Paffett was another one of the hard luck stories of the session. The Mercedes driver almost did enough to get through Q1, matching 18th placed Timo Scheider to the thousandth of a second.
But Scheider set his time first, meaning Paffett was left in 19th and out of Q1. Scheider went on to finish 14th.
Joining Paffett on the sidelines after Q1 were Audi pair Adrien Tambay and Edoardo Mortara, with Vitaly Petrov 22nd, and Paul di Resta, who missed the majority of free practice two thanks to a crash, in last.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m25.175s 2. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m25.181s +0.006s 3. Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 1m25.228s +0.053s 4. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m25.237s +0.062s 5. Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 1m25.246s +0.071s 6. Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 1m25.266s +0.091s 7. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m25.362s +0.187s 8. Maxime Martin RMG BMW 1m25.424s +0.249s 9. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m25.259s Q2 10. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m25.309s Q2 11. Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 1m25.335s Q2 12. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m25.335s Q2 13. Antonio Felix da Costa MTEK BMW 1m25.343s Q2 14. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m25.385s Q2 15. Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 1m25.400s Q2 16. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m25.423s Q2 17. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m25.708s Q2 18. Nico Muller Rosberg Audi - Q2 19. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m25.577s Q1 20. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m25.599s Q1 21. Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 1m25.666s Q1 22. Vitaly Petrov Mucke Mercedes 1m25.856s Q1 23. Paul di Resta HWA Mercedes 1m25.932s Q1
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