An ideal lead to Zandvoort for the Emil Frey Ferrari squad in a difficult, red-flagged qualifying session: Following a disappointing season opener at Spielberg, rookie Matteo Cairoli secured his first pole place in solely his third DTM qualifying. Clocking a 1:32.974 in sunny situations, the Italian led the sector.
“It’s positively a terrific pleasure for me,” Cairoli informed ran.de, after rivals had already warned about his tempo throughout the winter. “Zandvoort is a monitor the place I have not been racing a lot and it is fairly difficult, I might say. It’s good that we lastly made the automotive work.”
Group-mate Thierry Vermeulen completed in second place, 0.171 seconds behind Cairoli, who joined the group this 12 months as Jack Aitken’s successor. Nevertheless, the 29-year-old Italian missed the British driver’s 2024 qualifying report (1:31.762) by 1.212 seconds.
Auer: “Each Ferraris are on one other planet”
Cairoli’s Emil Frey team-mate Vermeulen, who’s supported by Max Verstappen and is celebrating his dwelling race at Zandvoort, additionally breathed a sigh of reduction after the sturdy consequence: “We had quite a lot of issues with my automotive yesterday,” he admitted to ran.de. “The group was right here till three within the morning, however the automotive was superb to drive; the steadiness was actually good.”
In third place was runner-up Lucas Auer (+0.246), the highest Mercedes-AMG driver, for whom the entrance row was out of attain. “Each Ferraris have been on one other planet since yesterday,” mentioned the Austrian Landgraf driver in an interview with ran.de.
Fourth place went to Land-Porsche rookie Bastian Buus (+0.428), proving his group’s sturdy type and as soon as once more outperforming the Manthey drivers. Thomas Preining (+0.808) and Ricardo Feller (+0.870) may handle no higher than tenth and eleventh.
Technical drama for Kelvin van der Linde triggers crimson flag
Teenager Ben Dörr (+0.435) sits in a promising fifth place within the Dörr-McLaren. He was considerably quicker than his team-mate Timo Glock, who clearly struggled, ending twentieth with a large 5.269-second hole to the entrance.
Issues went even worse for Schubert BMW driver Kelvin van der Linde: The German-South African misplaced oil instantly after the beginning of qualifying on his outlap, inflicting the session to be red-flagged. Ordinarily, his greatest lap time would have been deleted, however since van der Linde took no additional half within the session, it was irrelevant – he should begin from the again of the grid.
The 27-minute interruption disrupted the rhythm for many groups, as virtually all drivers had already accomplished their “warmth soak” – a course of the place tires are warmed up through the brakes. Repeating this warmth cycle a second time often has a destructive affect on tire efficiency.
Kelvin van der Linde and the technical gremlins: “Extraordinarily bitter”
Why did van der Linde should park his automotive? “We do not know precisely but,” mentioned Rene Rast’s successor, who has been suffering from technical points for the reason that official check and the Spielberg opener, chatting with ran.de. “After all, we noticed there was quite a lot of oil on the monitor – so I’m actually sorry for the opposite drivers, it positively wasn’t intentional.”
He added that it was “extraordinarily bitter, particularly for me, as a result of we’ve had technical points many instances this 12 months.” Will the group get the automotive prepared for the race? “In all probability, the boys will handle it,” he famous. Group-mate Marco Wittmann additionally failed to achieve the entrance, inserting his BMW M4 GT3 Evo in twelfth.
Abt driver Engstler exhibits upward development for Lamborghini
Lamborghini confirmed indicators of enchancment: Abt driver Luca Engstler (+0.567) certified his Temerario GT3 in seventh, inserting him straight forward of eighth-placed DTM chief Maro Engel (+0.573).
Engstler was half a second quicker than his team-mate Marco Mapelli (+1.081) within the new Lamborghini GT3. The automotive continues to be thought of to be in its early levels of growth and is presently working with a modified rear wing as a result of a particular regulation.
Each Abt Lamborghinis completed forward of the Grasser group: Maximilian Paul was fifteenth, 1.232 seconds again, whereas Mirko Bortolotti (1.345) may solely handle seventeenth.
To make issues worse, Bortolotti was below investigation for driving unnecessarily slowly within the last sector, which hampered “Grello” driver Preining. The Stewards determined to take “no additional motion”. The race is scheduled to begin at its common time of 13:30.
We would like your opinion!
What would you wish to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Group
