Bruno Spengler second on the grid, 35 thousandths of a second behind Three Mercedes-Benz C-Classes among the Top Four, five between P1 and P9 David Coulthard in the Top Eight in only his third DTM race
Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) will start Sunday’s third round of the 2010 DTM at the Lausitzring from pole position. In the single-lap qualifying, Paul set a time of 1m18.772 and edged out Mercedes-Benz team mate and overall leader Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) with a gap of 35 thousandths of a second; Bruno will start second on the grid.
It is the 100th DTM pole position for Mercedes-Benz in the 323rd race since 1988 and the 10th out of 12 qualifyings at the Lausitzring. Paul took his third DTM career pole; his first he had achieved two years ago also here at the Lausitzring. Jamie Green (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) was on a 1m19.024 and qualified fourth – thus, three C-Classes will start from the first two rows of the grid.
In his third DTM race, making his first appearance at the Lausitzring, David Coulthard moved up to the third part of qualifying for the first time and came home eighth with a 1m19.315.
Qualifying, part 1: Jamie Green (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) posted the fastest lap with a 1m18.852. CongFu Cheng (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up 16th with a 1m19.754 ahead of Ralf Schumacher (Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class) with a 1m19.977. After his pit stop for a tyre change, the tank can got stuck and Ralf got rid of it only before he exited the pit lane.
Qualifying, part 2: The best time was set by Bruno Spengler with a 1m18.324. Last year’s winner Gary Paffett (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up ninth with a 1m18.956 and missed the third part of qualifying. So did Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m19.414) in 12th place and Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class/1m19.647) in 14th.
Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) pole position (1:18.772): “After my second place this morning I knew that a good result was possible. In qualifying, I was able to improve and was under 1m19 every time. Mercedes-Benz has always been strong at this circuit and tomorrow I want to achieve our ninth win out of 11 races at the Lausitzring.”
Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) second (1:18.807): “I am happy about second place. At the first corner of my final qualifying lap I struggled a little bit under braking; however, I didn’t make any more mistakes and I’m less than half a tenth behind pole. Congratulations to Paul on that, well done. I thank my team for a perfect C-Class. Tomorrow I will push from the very beginning – I’d like to extend my overall lead with a race win.”
Jamie Green (Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) fourth (1:19.024): “Fourth place is a great result and my Persson team did a great job; thank you all. Maybe an even better position was possible, but this I can hopefully achieve in tomorrow’s race.”
David Coulthard (Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Class) eighth (1:19.315): “My goal was to improve event by event, and this time I achieved this in qualifying. Amongst this strong field, it will be difficult to defend this place in the race or even to improve, particularly because it will be my first race here at the Lausitzring, but I will give it a try – of course. My Mücke team guys would deserve it; they gave me a great car.”
Gary Paffett (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) ninth (1:18,956): “My target was the single-lap qualifying which I missed clearly. I didn’t have any real problems, I just lacked a little bit of speed. My basis for the race is not ideal, but I will give it my all tomorrow. Last year I won from seventh on the grid, maybe it will be possible also from ninth.”
Susie Stoddart (TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) 12th (1:19.414): “I am happy to have made it to Q2; however, I would have liked Q3 better. Before, I had my stronger laps with the second set of tyres, but this time I ran out of time with the second set and did only one lap, so I was not able to improve.”
Maro Engel (GQ AMG Mercedes C-Class) 14th (1:19.647): “This morning I was fifth – and now 14th; I am disappointed. I don’t know what happened; we will analyse the data to deliver a better result in Sunday’s race.”
CongFu Cheng (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) 16th (1:19.754): “After 14th place in this morning’s free practice I had hoped for a better qualifying result. Unfortunately, I struggled with the balance and was not able to improve.”
Ralf Schumacher (Laureus AMG Mercedes C-Class) 17th (1:19.977): “Of course, I am not happy at all. Our team had worked hard for a better result; however, for some reason I don’t feel comfortable in the car on this track. The gap behind the good lap times is just too big.”
Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Great – this is our 100th DTM pole position. Paul is the leader of our trio in first position, ahead of Bruno in second place and Jamie in fourth. Congratulations to the HWA guys around Gerhard Ungar and to our partner teams Persson and Mücke. David Coulthard ended up in the top eight of the third qualifying – a great result in only his third DTM race.”
