Photo: Tamara Aller

René Rast takes pole position as Jenson Button shines at Hockenheim

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Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver René Rast took his eighth DTM pole position of the year in a wet and difficult season finale qualifying session at Hockenheim. Honda driver Jenson Button made the most of his Honda NSX-GT to take the sixth spot on the grid as the leading Super GT driver.

The rain had fallen over Hockenheim during the night and early morning. Despite stopping half an hour before the session, the cold temperatures didn’t allow for the track to dry up, with the field taking to the track on wet weather tyres.

Team Abt Sportsline’s Robin Frijns went wide and onto the gravel at the Sachs turn, returning to the track on his own power, whilst BMW Team RMG’s Timo Glock had a taste of the ‘super slippery’ run-off area between Turns 15/16 and spun.

Despite the track improving during the session, it wasn’t enough for the drivers to mount slick tyres for their second and final attempts.

Lap times improved continuously during the final minutes, with Rast taking pole with a time of 1:45.552, with BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann finishing second, 0.127 seconds off the pace.

Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller was third, followed by WRT’s Jonathan Aberdein, with Rockenfeller’s team-mate Loic Duval in fifth position, four-tenths behind Rast.

Honda driver Button took a big step forward from the practice sessions to lead the Super GT cars in sixth position, six-tenths off the pace, with BMW Team RMG’s Timo Glock right behind.

Team Abt Sportsline’s Robin Frijns was eighth, followed by BMW Team RBM drivers Sheldon van der Linde and Joel Eriksson, with the Swede a full second behind Rast and completing the top ten.

Duval went off track on his final lap at the Sachs corner, causing the R-Motorsport drivers to be hit with lap cancellations because of the yellow flag. Ferdinand Habsburg was the best qualified driver for the Swiss outfit in twelfth position, 1.2 seconds off the pace.

WRT’s Pietro Fittipaldi also had a lap cancelled for exceeding the track limits, dropping him to 19th place.

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