Nurburgring DTM: Albon scores maiden pole in wet qualifying
Red Bull Formula 1 protege Alex Albon claimed his maiden pole position in the DTM in a wet qualifying session at the Nurburgring, beating the Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella.
Although both track conditions and visibility deteriorated in the final minutes due to a late burst of rain, Albon was able to improve to a 1m36.773s towards the end of the session to take the top spot in the AF Corse-run Ferrari.
HRT Mercedes driver Maximilian Gotz led the majority of qualifying with his early effort of 1m37.130s on full wet tyres, with championship leader Kelvin van der Linde holding second in the Abt Sportsline Audi.
Toksport Mercedes’ guest driver Luca Stolz matched the time of Gotz in the second half of the session, before Juncadella became the first driver to depose the German from the top in the GruppeM Mercedes with a 1m36.958s.
Around this time, Albon was slowly moving up the timesheets, jumping from eighth to fourth before posting a 1m37.053s to capture second spot behind Juncadella.
The Anglo-Thai driver then found more time on his final flying lap, breaching the 1m37s barrier to score his and Ferrari’s first pole in the DTM, by two tenths of a second.
Juncadella held on to second with his previous effort, while Walkenhorst BMW driver Marco Wittmann leapt to third late on with an impressive time of 1m37.056s.
The two-time champion demoted the SSR Performance Porsche of Michael Ammermuller to the outside of the second row, with Gotz eventually ending up fifth after failing to improve on his previous time.
Van der Linde, who will carry 25kg of success ballast in the race, was Audi’s top qualifier in seventh behind Stolz, with ex-Formula 1 driver Christian Klien eighth in the JP Motorsport McLaren.
The top 10 was completed by the second Abt Audi of Mike Rockenfeller and T3 Lamborghini’s Esteban Muth.
Liam Lawson qualified 11th in the second AF Corse Ferrari, while Rowe Racing BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde could manage no better than 16th despite setting a purple time in the first sector.
Markus Winkelhock qualified down in 22nd in the third Abt Audi after an eventual qualifying session, where he ran off track multiple times in difficult weather conditions.
Qualifying results:
| Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 |  Alex Albon | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 1'36.773 | |
| 2 | 8 |  Daniel Juncadella | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'36.958 | 0.185 |
| 3 | 11 |  Marco Wittmann | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'37.056 | 0.283 |
| 4 | 92 | Michael Ammermüller | Porsche 911 GT3 R | 1'37.122 | 0.349 |
| 5 | 4 | Maximilian Götz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.130 | 0.357 |
| 6 | 7 | Luca Stolz | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.130 | 0.357 |
| 7 | 3 |  Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'37.170 | 0.397 |
| 8 | 15 |  Christian Klien | McLaren 720S GT3 | 1'37.193 | 0.420 |
| 9 | 9 | Mike Rockenfeller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'37.268 | 0.495 |
| 10 | 10 |  Esteban Muth | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1'37.337 | 0.564 |
| 11 | 30 |  Liam Lawson | Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 | 1'37.429 | 0.656 |
| 12 | 5 |  Vincent Abril | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.440 | 0.667 |
| 13 | 57 |  Philip Ellis | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.466 | 0.693 |
| 14 | 36 |  Arjun Maini | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.489 | 0.716 |
| 15 | 12 | Christopher Haase | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'37.606 | 0.833 |
| 16 | 31 | Sheldon Van Der Linde | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'37.631 | 0.858 |
| 17 | 18 | Maximilian Buhk | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.634 | 0.861 |
| 18 | 51 |  Nico Müller | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'37.664 | 0.891 |
| 19 | 6 | Hubert Haupt | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.923 | 1.150 |
| 20 | 16 | Timo Glock | BMW M6 GT3 | 1'37.932 | 1.159 |
| 21 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo | 1'37.940 | 1.167 |
| 22 | 99 | Markus Winkelhock | Audi R8 LMS Evo | 1'37.988 | 1.215 |
| 23 | 26 | Esmee Hawkey | Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo | 1'38.041 | 1.268 |
| View full results | |||||
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