Photo: DTM Media

Edoardo Mortara apologises to Timo Glock for qualifying incident

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Mercedes’ Edoardo Mortara has apologised to BMW’s Timo Glock after an incident in qualifying at Zandvoort, when the Italian spoiled a qualifying attempt from yesterday’s winner, with the German then immediately slowing to vent his frustration in front of last year’s championship runner-up.

Mortara had blocked Glock as the BMW driver was on his fast lap at the end of the session, which the Italian thought was an in-lap. “It was bad, it happened earlier to him as well with (Loic) Duval, and that’s why he did what he did,” said Mortara to TouringCarTimes. “I feel very sorry for him, it was not intentional at all, I could see him coming, I tried to see if he was on a push lap or on an out lap and I could see he wasn’t pushing.”

“As a driver, when you come to Turn 7, which is a completely blind corner, I was very surprised, and I saw him behind. I can understand his frustration, I was given the wrong information twice, so all I can say is that I’m sorry,” added Mortara.

“It already happened at the beginning of the session with (Jamie) Green, but these things should never happen, so we will have to pay more attention to what we are doing in qualifying. I know the words from Timo are emotion and frustration, and I can understand his frustration. I obviously expect some penalty after speaking to the stewards,” concluded the Italian.

Timo Glock explained his reaction, as he feels he could have qualified in the front row, rather than in fifth position: “In qualifying I was first blocked by Duval, then the same happened with Mortara on the second run. This was really annoying as I was running on the same level as Augusto (Farfus, pole-sitter) and could have made it into the front row.”

“Your pulse is at 150, 160 on a flying lap. When you get out of the car, it’s quite normal that emotions are running high. Obviously the guys at the Mercedes garage weren’t happy. Maybe it wasn’t Mortara’s fault, but from his crew, they’ve already apologised to me. But that’s the way is. We were able to solve the whole thing quite peacefully in the end,” said Glock.

There’s no decision as yet on any penalty for either driver as a result of the incident.