DTM - Impressive Bortolotti secures pole for race two

Mirko Bortolotti (I) remains on track for success in Oschersleben. After finishing runner-up in the opening DTM race of the season on Saturday, the Lamborghini driver from SSR Performance was the fastest man in qualifying on Sunday morning.

The Italian stopped the clock at 1:21.800 minutes to secure his sixth pole position in the DTM. Luca Stolz (Brachbach) was just 0.070 seconds slower in second place for Mercedes-AMG Team HRT. Saturday’s winner Jack Aitken (GB) was third in a Ferrari 296 GT3.

“That was really a perfect lap. We narrowly missed out on pole position on Saturday, but are right at the front for race two. The success ballast from the opening race will make it a challenge, but I hope that I can defend first place in the race and don’t have to pull off any overtaking manoeuvres,” said Bortolotti, who was not only happy with first place on the grid, but also the three points for the fastest time in qualifying.

Just behind the top three in fourth place was Luca Engstler (Kempten) from Lamborghini Team Liqui Moly by GRT. Arjun Maini (IND) backed up his impressive form in Oschersleben, guiding the second HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 to fifth place.

As in the first qualifying session on Saturday, the driver initially strived to get some heat into their brakes and tyres, with track temperatures around 15 degrees on Sunday morning. With roughly five minutes of the session remaining, the pursuit of the fastest lap really began. First to top the timings sheet was Stolz on his fifth lap. However, Bortolotti countered and leapfrogged ahead of him with just two minutes remaining. Bortolotti and Stolz were the only two drivers to dip below the 1:22.000-minute mark.