Hockenheim DTM: Blomqvist beats Rast in final qualifying

Blomqvist sat third behind BMW stablemate Marco Wittmann and Audi driver Rast at the halfway point, but jumped ahead of both in the final minutes.

Outgoing champion Wittmann had gone quickest with his first effort and posted the best lap of the weekend – a 1m30.564s – next time by.

He sat 0.030s clear of Rast at the conclusion of the opening runs, when the session was red-flagged.

A drain cover in the braking zone on the main straight was loosened by Gary Paffett and then collected by fellow Mercedes driver Paul di Resta, the Scotsman sustaining a left-front puncture as a result.

This led to the 20-minute session being suspended just short of halfway, allowing track workers to head out and attempt repairs – as the missing drain cover had now left a sizable hole in the ground.

Qualifying resumed over half an hour later, and while neither Wittmann nor Rast improved on their first flying laps, Blomqvist leapfrogged both with a 1m30.491s effort.

Rast, however, had one more lap in him, splitting the BMW pair at the chequered flag to secure a crucial front row start.

Wittmann had to do with third, with Mercedes' lead driver Lucas Auer staying put in fourth place.

Saturday race winner Jamie Green qualified fifth, just 0.099s off pole, but will drop down the order due to a 10-place grid penalty assessed for a fifth warning of the season.

As such, Mercedes driver Robert Wickens and BMW's Maxime Martin will make up the third row, ahead of Audi's Mike Rockenfeller and BMW driver Augusto Farfus.

Championship leader Mattias Ekstrom qualified only 10th, 0.270s off pole, and likewise has a grid penalty hanging over him. He is to start 14th, one place ahead of Green.

Rast's two bonus points for second place in qualifying leave him 11 points behind the Swede in the standings, with the German holding an advantage on victory countback should they finish level on points.

Green remains nine points behind Ekstrom, with outside contender Rockenfeller 20 points off the championship lead.

Race 2 grid

Pos.	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap
1	31	Tom Blomqvist	BMW M4 DTM	9	1'30.491
2	33	René Rast	Audi RS5 DTM	9	1'30.555	0.064
3	11	Marco Wittmann	BMW M4 DTM	10	1'30.564	0.073
4	22	Lucas Auer	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	10	1'30.579	0.088
5	6	Robert Wickens	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	10	1'30.656	0.165
6	36	Maxime Martin	BMW M4 DTM	10	1'30.672	0.181
7	99	Mike Rockenfeller	Audi RS5 DTM	11	1'30.721	0.230
8	15	Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 DTM	11	1'30.739	0.248
9	2	Gary Paffett	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	10	1'30.799	0.308
10	16	Timo Glock	BMW M4 DTM	10	1'30.848	0.357
11	51	Nico Müller	Audi RS5 DTM	10	1'30.859	0.368
12	7	Bruno Spengler	BMW M4 DTM	10	1'30.987	0.496
13	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	6	1'31.015	0.524
14	5	Mattias Ekström	Audi RS5 DTM	10	1'30.761	0.270
15	53	Jamie Green	Audi RS5 DTM	10	1'30.590	0.099
16	63	Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	10	1'31.162	0.671
17	77	Loic Duval	Audi RS5 DTM	11	1'31.461	0.970
18	3	Paul di Resta	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	5	1'31.800	1.309