Lucas Auer takes pole position for Race 1 at the Lausitzring

Mercedes AMG driver Lucas Auer took pole position for this afternoon’s Race 1 at the Lausitzring ahead of BMW drivers Philipp Eng and Bruno Spengler.

BMW seemed to be in control of the qualifying when the track became quiet for the mid-session recess, with Eng and Timo Glock leading the classification.

Drivers took to the track with five minutes to go, with the only exception of Mercedes’ Gary Paffett, Paul Di Resta and Edoardo Mortara who waited a further minute to take advantage of a clear track at the end of the session.

Auer struggled with understeering, but managed to climb to the top spot with a lap time of 1:37.343, pipping Eng by just 7-thousands of a second as the chequered flag waved over the track.

Spengler was third, with Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein in fourth. BMW drivers Timo Glock and Marco Wittmann followed, with the two-time champion just two-tenths off the pace.

Mortara and di Resta, who lost the back of the car under braking at Turn 1, locking the brakes and losing any opportunity of improving his lap time, followed, with the Audis of Nico Müller and Mike Rockenfeller completing the top ten.

Paffett’s strategy of waiting until the very end of the session to set his last lap didn’t pay off, with the Briton qualifying in 14th place, just ahead of reigning champion René Rast (Audi).

Eng was over the moon at the end of the session: “I’m so happy, Hock was quite difficult for me and to be in the front row in my third race is unbelievable. We’ve worked very hard since Hockenheim and I’m very grateful to my engineer for this result.”

The start of Race 1 is scheduled for 13:30 CET.