Nicki Thiim takes his first pole in the DTM at Norisring

“I am speechless. It may only have been qualifying, but after what has been a rather disappointing season for me so far, this pole position feels incredible. You are up against the best of the best in the DTM, so there is a certain learning process. Plus, both SSR Performance cars are on the front row of the grid. That is a great starting position,” said a delighted Thiim, who set the top time in Group A.

Lining up alongside him for race eight of this season’s DTM will be his team-mate Mirko Bortolotti, who was the fastest driver in Group B. “I used every centimetre out there on the track. My wing mirror actually touched the wall. I am super happy with my fastest lap. We started qualifying on a set of used tyres, as it started to drizzle shortly before the start of the session. I then went back out on fresh slicks for the closing stages, which was a good strategy,” the Italian explained.

Maro Engel will start his 100th DTM race from third place in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Championship leader Kelvin van der Linde from the Abt Sportsline team lines up in fourth place. Maximilian Paul from Paul Motorsport starts from fifth, ensuring there are three Lamborghini in the top five.

Group B kicked off qualifying at 09:20 on Sunday. With the track damp at first, the ten drivers initially took a cautious approach, before the best times started to come in the final third of qualifying. Bortolotti produced the fastest lap shortly before the end of the session. However, Kelvin van der Linde was just 0.08 seconds slower than the Italian.

Five minutes later, Group A took to the 2.162-kilometre street circuit in Nuremberg and clocked faster times in better conditions. After a number of impressive laps, Thiim’s pole lap came with five minutes of the session remaining. Engel climbed into second place in the final few seconds.