Bortolotti Storms to Sunday Pole in Compressed Qualifying

Mirko Bortolotti secured his second pole position of the DTM season with a late flying lap during Sunday qualifying at the Lausitzring.

A last-gasp effort saw the Italian steer the No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to a best lap of 1:20.901.

The time came at the end of a compressed, five minute dash for pole position after teammate Alessio Deledda triggered a red flag by spinning into the gravel at Turn 7.

Few competitive lap times had been posted at the time of the stoppage, resulting in a frantic closing stage of the session that saw five different drivers top the timesheets in the final minutes.

As the checkered flag fell, Ricardo Feller appeared to have pole position sealed when he posted a best lap of 1:21.034 aboard the No. 7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Bortolotti then crossed the line and beat Feller by 0.133 seconds, with the Swiss driver completing the second row ahead of GRT Grasser Racing Team’s Clemens Schmid.

Franck Perera ensured three different Lamborghini drivers qualified inside the top five with fourth place, just 0.036 seconds ahead of the No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R of Thomas Preining in fifth.

Luca Stolz piloted the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to sixth place, with the Team Winward pairing of David Schumacher and Lucas Auer seventh and eighth.

The top ten was rounded out by Maximilian Paul and Thierry Vermeulen. The Dutchman, driving the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, qualified tenth after briefly grabbing provisional pole both before and after the restart.

The second and final race of the weekend gets underway at 1:30 p.m. CEST (7:30 p.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Qualifying 2