Maro Engel won pole position in Sunday’s qualifying for Race 2. The driver of the #80 Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol Mercedes-AMG GT3 went fastest in the wet session to rebound after losing the DTM championship lead in Saturday’s race.
Under the looming threat of another rain shower, Engel set his time of 1m26.307sec early in the session and stayed unchallenged throughout. Ricardo Feller came closest, but stayed 0.448sec back, the #90 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R pilot lining up alongside Engel on the front row.
Despite the drying track, Engel and Feller’s early lap times could not be improved upon, with Jules Gounon coming closest late in the session. The Frenchman set a 1m27.062sec with the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Thomas Preining, who took the DTM championship lead with a third place in Race 1 on Saturday, will start the #91 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R from sixth on the grid. Marco Wittmann, Saturday’s winner and third in the championship, could only manage a lacklustre 19th place in the #11 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 – 17th after penalties reshuffled the grid.
Grasser Racing Team took a double blow behind the front-runners, both of its Lamborghinis falling foul of the stewards. Maximilian Paul, back in DTM this weekend, was penalised for blocking Gounon. His teammate Mirko Bortolotti fared worse still, the #63 TGI Team by GRT Lamborghini Temerario GT3 disqualified from Qualifying 2 for exceeding the permitted turbo boost. Bortolotti may take the start, but only from the back of the grid.
Race 2 starts Sunday afternoon at 13:30 CEST.
