Maxime Martin claims his first pole position in the DTM for BMW – Spengler also starts from the front row.

Moscow (RU), 12th July 2014. The fastest man in qualifying for the fifth race of the DTM season at the “Moscow Raceway” (RU) was Maxime Martin (BE). The BMW Team RMG driver clocked the fastest lap in the all-important third qualifying session, setting an unbeatable time of 1:28.619 minutes to claim pole position in the SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM. Bruno Spengler (CA) was second in the BMW Bank M4 DTM, just 0.019 seconds back, meaning the 2012 champion will start from the front row of the grid for the first time this season. Martin’s success marks BMW Motorsport’s 42nd pole position in the DTM. Another two BMW drivers made it into Q3, and these were Augusto Farfus (BR) and Marco Wittmann (DE). Farfus will start from sixth in the Castrol EDGE BMW M4 DTM, just ahead of Wittmann, whose Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM will start the race from seventh.

Qualifying came to an end after the second session for three BMW drivers. Timo Glock (DE) was tenth fastest in the DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM, narrowly missing out on Q3. His team-mate at BMW Team MTEK, António Félix da Costa (PT), recovered well from a technical problem in free practice to qualify 13th at the wheel of the Red Bull BMW M4 DTM. Joey Hand (US, Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M4 DTM) was 16th in qualifying.

Martin Tomczyk (DE), in the BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM, had to call it a day after Q1. He was 19th fastest, but only missed out on Q2 by a few thousandths of a second. The three-place grid penalty he received for a collision with Gary Paffett (GB) at the Norisring (DE) means Tomcyzk starts Sunday’s race from 22nd. The fifth race of the year begins at 13:30 CET (live on ARD).

Jens Marquardt (BMW Motorsport Director):

“That was an extremely close qualifying here in Russia, and a real battle between Audi and us. Maxime Martin produced an awesome qualifying to secure pole position on only his fifth DTM race weekend. Bruno Spengler also put in a strong performance to qualify second. We also landed a further three cars in the top ten, courtesy of Augusto Farfus, Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock. The performance of António Félix da Costa also deserves a mention. To be competitive from the word go in qualifying, after the technical problems that prevented him from driving in the second free practice session, was mighty impressive. We are very happy with the result and the position we start from tomorrow. We are looking forward to an exciting race.”

Maxime Martin (car number 24, BMW Team RMG, 1st):

“That was a fantastic qualifying for me – and in all three sessions too. To start only my fifth DTM race from the very front is awesome. It feels absolutely great. However, we are well aware that the race is a completely different story. I now want to show that I can consistently mix it with the front-runners.”

Stefan Reinhold (Team Principal, BMW Team RMG):

“It goes without saying that everyone in the team is very happy after claiming our third pole position this year. Maxime Martin has really improved from race to race. This is the high point – so far – of the outstanding performances he has produced to date. I hope we can convert his qualifying effort into a top result tomorrow. Marco Wittmann was impeded twice in qualifying. That resulted in us losing a lot of time in the middle sector on the final lap, meaning he will not start as far up the field as he actually could have done.”

Bruno Spengler (car number 9, BMW Team Schnitzer, 2nd):

“I am very happy with my performance in qualifying. We had a few problems in practice and I did not think I would be able to make it onto the front row. However, the guys at BMW Team Schnitzer did a fantastic job. My car improved from session to session. I am really looking forward to the race now.”

Augusto Farfus (car number 3, BMW Team RBM, 6th):

“Sixth place is ok. I think we have made some progress. I made a mistake on my final flying lap, but pole position could have been possible with this car. All in all it was a positive qualifying, as I believe we are heading in the right direction.”

Marco Wittmann (car number 23, BMW Team RMG, 7th):

“I expected to do a little better, but qualifying was tricky. We had radio problems from the outset, which certainly does not help when qualifying is so close. I think I could have qualified a few places higher if everything had worked out perfectly, but I probably could not have beaten my team-mate’s time. Congratulations to Maxime on his first pole position!”

Timo Glock (car number 17, BMW Team MTEK, 10th):

“It is a shame, as I think I had the pace to make it into the top eight. Unfortunately my last lap in Q2 was not ideal. I was too close to another car in front of me, which caused me to lose a bit of time. I now start from tenth, but still feel I can achieve a good result from this grid position.” 

António Félix da Costa (car number 18, BMW Team MTEK, 13th):

“We focussed on the race set-up in this morning’s first free practice, and intended to prepare for qualifying in the second practice. However, a technical problem meant we were unable to go out on track in that session. Because of this, we were a bit blind going into qualifying, but followed what Timo had found out in the second practice session. We did a good job in Q1, but it was difficult to get the maximum out of the package in Q2. I would really like to thank my team, as they worked flat out to solve the problem and get me onto the track in qualifying.”

Joey Hand (car number 4, BMW Team RBM, 16th):

“Things did not actually go that badly, but unfortunately not everything came together – again. I did not get in a perfect lap with my second set of tyres in Q2. With the times so close, you cannot allow that. Despite this, I am looking forward to the race, as I did very well here last year.”

Martin Tomczyk (car number 10, BMW Team Schnitzer, 19th):

“I knew we would be starting from a difficult position here in Moscow, due to the penalty from the Norisring. However, this result is obviously disappointing. I just did not come to terms with the car in qualifying.”