Saturday Qualifying Canceled Due to Heavy Fog

DTM’s Saturday qualifying session at the Nürburgring has been canceled as a result of adverse weather conditions, with the championship order now determining the grid for race one.

The 20-minute session to determine the grid order for the first of two races this weekend was due to kick off at 10:15 a.m. CEST (4:15 a.m. ET).

However, the venue has been covered under a thick layer of fog since the start of the day.

This resulted in the qualifying sessions for multiple support series, including TCR Europe and the DTM Classic DRM Cup, already not commencing.

Just over an hour before the scheduled start of DTM’s qualifying session, race director Scot Elkins put out a bulletin to teams in both DTM and DTM Trophy exclaiming that ‘track conditions are not suitable for track activity’ before the session was ultimately called off.

The grid order will now be determined based on the championship standings, meaning GRT Grasser Racing Team’s Mirko Bortolotti will start the race from pole position with Sheldon van der Linde second.

Rene Rast starts third ahead of Nico Mueller, Lucas Auer, Felipe Fraga and Ricardo Feller.

The top ten grid order is rounded out by Marco Wittmann, Luca Stolz and Thomas Preining.

The first race of the weekend is due to start at 1:30 p.m. CEST (7:30 a.m. ET).

Race control has stated that it plans to resume ‘whatever track activity is scheduled at the time of day the track is ready.’  Teams will be updated every 30 minutes.