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Mattias Ekstrom takes Hockenheim DTM pole for Audi as Dirk Werner puts BMW third

Mattias Ekstrom claimed pole position for the opening round of the 2012 DTM with a storming lap at Hockenheim, while BMW's Dirk Werner caused a shock by making it onto the second row

Ekstrom produced a controlled lap of 1m34.680s in Q4 while the other three drivers that made it into the final part of qualifying all made mistakes that cost them a shot at pole.

HWA Mercedes driver Jamie Green had been fastest in Q3 and therefore was the last to take to the track in Q4, but locked his brakes up at Turn 2, missing the apex. Althogh he recovered some of the lost time in the remainder of the lap, he wound up 0.215 seconds adrift of Abt Audi driver Ekstrom, who claimed his 20th DTM pole.

Schnitzer driver Werner ran wide at the Spitzkehre on his Q4 lap, but was still able to take third on the grid on BMW's series return, ahead of Edoardo Mortara, who ran wide at the Nordkurve in his Rosberg Audi.

Following the session, both Werner and Mortara had their Q4 times taken away after the BMW left the pitlane while the red light was still on and the Audi man had his wide moment judged to have been 'exceeding the track limits' by race officials. As Werner had been faster in Q3, these penalties had no effect on either man's grid position.

Mike Rockenfeller was the first driver to post a time in Q3, but the Phoenix Audi returnee saw his name tumble down the timesheets as the 10 minutes drew by. His time put him fifth on the grid, ahead of HWA's Gary Paffett, the RBM BMW of impressive rookie Andy Priaulx and Timo Scheider's Abt Audi.

Bruno Spengler, who set the pace in Q2, will start ninth in his Schnitzer BMW, ahead of defending champion Martin Tomczyk's RMG-run example.

Ralf Schumacher was the biggest casualty of Q2, the HWA Mercedes driver being knocked out of the crucial 10th spot by Priaulx after the chequered flag had come out. One place behind him was Abt's Adrien Tambay, who impressively outqualified his Audi stablemates Filipe Albuquerque (Rosberg) and Miguel Molina (Phoenix) on his series debut.

The main moment of drama in Q1 came in the dying seconds when RMG BMW driver Joey Hand, at that point 19th and heading out of the session, leapt up to seventh on his final lap, knocking out Molina. Hand eventually qualified 16th.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car          Time       Gap
 1.  Mattias Ekstrom     Abt Audi          1m34.680s
 2.  Jamie Green         HWA Mercedes      1m34.895s  + 0.215s
 3.  Dirk Werner         Schnitzer BMW     No time
 4.  Edoardo Mortara     Rosberg Audi      No time
 5.  Mike Rockenfeller   Abt Audi          1m34.264s  Q3
 6.  Gary Paffett        HWA Mercedes      1m34.287s  Q3
 7.  Andy Priaulx        RBM BMW           1m34.299s  Q3
 8.  Timo Scheider       Abt Audi          1m34.389s  Q3
 9.  Bruno Spengler      Schnitzer BMW     1m34.512s  Q3
10.  Martin Tomczyk      RMG BMW           1m34.819s  Q3
11.  Ralf Schumacher     HWA Mercedes      1m34.390s  Q2
12.  Adrien Tambay       Abt Audi          1m34.509s  Q2
13.  Robert Wickens      Persson Mercedes  1m34.538s  Q2
14.  Filipe Albuquerque  Rosberg Audi      1m34.555s  Q2
15.  Christian Vietoris  HWA Mercedes      1m34.783s  Q2
16.  Joey Hand           RMG BMW           1m35.140s  Q2
17.  Miguel Molina       Phoenix Audi      1m34.926s  Q1
18.  David Coulthard     Mucke Mercedes    1m34.932s  Q1
19.  Augusto Farfus      RBM BMW           1m35.104s  Q1
20.  Roberto Merhi       Persson Mercedes  1m35.167s  Q1
21.  Susie Wolff         Mucke Mercedes    1m35.776s  Q1
22.  Rahel Frey          Abt Audi          1m36.012s  Q1

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