Farfus starts from front row for BMW in Oschersleben

Oschersleben (DE) - BMW Motorsport impressed during qualifying ahead of the eighth race of the DTM season in Oschersleben (DE). Augusto Farfus (BR) made it through to the fourth qualifying session for the sixth time this year and will start Sunday’s race from second on the grid. The BMW Team RBM driver clocked a time of 1:20.442 minutes in Q4. Jamie Green (GB, Audi) inherited pole position.

The fastest time in qualifying was actually set by Bruno Spengler (CA). However, the reigning DTM champion was subsequently relegated five places after a mix-up with tyres on his BMW Bank M3 DTM in Q3. Therefore, he now starts from sixth. Dirk Werner (DE), his team-mate at BMW Team Schnitzer, produced a good display in the SAMSUNG BMW M3 DTM, setting the fifth fastest time and narrowly missing out on a top-four spot by just a few thousandths of a second on a “Motorsport Arena” track that was slippery after rain showers.

Despite this, he still claimed his best qualifying result of the season so far and will start from fourth on the grid as a result of Spengler’s penalty. Martin Tomczyk (DE) was the fourth BMW driver in the top ten, qualifying ninth at the wheel of the BMW M Performance Parts M3 DTM. However, the 2011 champion will start from eighth on the grid after another driver was relegated.

The two BMW Team MTEK drivers, Marco Wittmann (DE, Ice-Watch BMW M3 DTM) and Timo Glock (DE, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M3 DTM) were unfortunate. Their hopes of progressing into Q2 were dashed when it began to rain again in Q2. They eventually qualified 15th and 16th. Joey Hand (US, BMW M3 DTM) and Andy Priaulx (GB, Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 DTM) will start Sunday’s race from 18th and 19th on the grid. The race begins at 13:30hrs (CEST) on Sunday.

Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director): “That was another extremely exciting qualifying, under very difficult conditions at the start. This was the third time in a row we have had two cars in Q4. Bruno Spengler produced an absolutely flawless drive and set the fastest time in Q4. Unfortunately Bruno has been relegated five places due to a mix-up with tyres – although he gained no competitive advantage.

That is obviously disappointing. Augusto Farfus was very impressive again, and will start from a very good position tomorrow. Dirk Werner also produced a great performance and only narrowly missed out on Q4. Martin Tomczyk followed the successful race at the Nürburgring with a good qualifying here. Unfortunately timing and the onset of rain did not help BMW Team MTEK. We are now looking forward to an exciting race tomorrow.”

Augusto Farfus (car number 7, BMW Team RBM, 2nd on the grid): “That was a fantastic qualifying. It was great fun trying to get a fast time in these challenging conditions. I was very quick in every session. In Q4 I was not quite able to match the pace of the others. However, second place is an excellent result. I can definitely push on from there.”

Dirk Werner (car number 2, BMW Team Schnitzer, 4th on the grid): “That was my best qualifying of the year, so I am happy, although I would obviously have really liked to make it through to Q4. However, it was very close. There was nothing between the top five. I missed out by a fraction of a second, which is a shame because the car was really quick today.

That said, I did not want to move into fourth place as a result of a penalty for my team-mate. Despite this, fourth is still a very good starting position, and one from which I will hopefully go on to score a lot of points.”

Bruno Spengler (car number 1, BMW Team Schnitzer, 6th on the grid): “I am obviously very disappointed that we have been stripped of pole position. The team worked hard during the DTM break to make my car quicker – and that paid off. It was not easy to get pole in these difficult conditions. That makes it all the more disillusioning to have to give it up. However, a lot is still possible from sixth tomorrow.”

Martin Tomczyk (car number 15, BMW Team RMG, 9th on the grid): “It is the second time this year I have made Q3. However, while it is okay when you see the qualifying sessions I have had in the past this year, overall we can't be happy with eighth as this is not where I want to be. It looks like we are making a small step up in DTM, but we will keep on fighting and see if we can get a bit higher up those stairs tomorrow.”

Marco Wittmann (car number 21, BMW Team MTEK, 15th on the grid): “Unfortunately our timing was poor in Q2. But it’s easy to be wise after the event. I did manage to clock the fastest time in the first qualifying session, so the pace was there. I am definitely a bit disappointed with 15th on the grid. It could certainly have been better today.”

Timo Glock (car number 22, BMW Team MTEK, 16th on the grid): “Things didn’t quite go our way in qualifying today. We did not have the necessary luck on our side. In these conditions, you cannot plan 100 per cent. I came out relatively early on in Q2, but then had problems getting my tyres up to the right temperature. For this reason, I decided to do a second warm-up lap. Then it started to rain, and that was the end of any chance to clock a good time.”

Joey Hand (car number 8, BMW Team RBM, 18th on the grid): “Free practice was tough and we really struggled with the balance of the car. Between the sessions the guys really pushed to get the car's balance better for me in the high-speed corners, and did a good job. In the first session of qualifying it was really mixed conditions, but I could tell my car was much better than in free practice. Sadly we just got the timing wrong. I came out behind Andy, who was also trying to get a lap in. I had to back off and I missed my final lap by about a second.”

Andy Priaulx (car number 16, BMW Team RMG, 19th on the grid): “I am very disappointed as today my car felt really good. I ran into traffic on my best lap in the third sector and then we ran a little bit too early on the second set of new tyres. It is tough when you have a car that has a great set-up and then don't make it to Q2. I am now looking forward and not back, as I know this track, have had some great performances here in the past, and I know I have a good car for the race.”

BMW Motorsport