DTM: Wittmann bounces back with Race 2 pole

Marco Wittmann bounced back from a difficult Saturday to claim pole for the second DTM race at Moscow Raceway in a qualifying session affected by a red flag.

BMW Team RMG driver Wittmann finished Saturday's wet first race in a lowly 19th place, losing the lead of the championship as a result, but set the fastest time in the final few minutes of Sunday's dry qualifying session with a 1m28.776s.

Wittmann's effort bested Tom Blomqvist's late improvement by 0.102 seconds as the pair locked out a BMW front row, two of only a handful of drivers to improve after the session had been restarted following a high-speed accident for Maxime Martin.

Blomqvist's RBM teammate Martin had been leading the session with seven minutes remaining, having set the fastest lap on three occasions.

But the Belgian's M4 then appeared to step out under braking for the uphill Turn 7, with Martin heading straight on into the gravel trap and coming to rest after a side-on impact with the tire barrier.

That forced a stoppage of around 10 minutes before the session could be restarted, and although Martin was unable to play any further part his lap was good enough for third.

Martin will line up alongside Race 1 winner and new championship leader Robert Wickens, who wound up best of the Mercedes cars, albeit 0.404s down on Wittmann's best time.

Bruno Spengler, Dani Juncadella and Augusto Farfus were closely matched behind the top four and will start fifth, sixth and seventh respectively, with Timo Glock lining up alongside Farfus on the fourth row.

Mercedes drivers Maximilian Gotz and Lucas Auer completed the top 10.

QUALIFYING TIMES

Originally on Autosport.com