Engel Storms to Zandvoort Saturday Pole

Maro Engel continued his strong run of form at DTM’s return to Zandvoort by beating reigning champion Sheldon van der Linde to Saturday pole position.

Engel reeled off a best lap of 1:32.585 aboard his No. 48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

The German’s time proved enough to outpace Van der Linde’s No. 1 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 by 0.030 seconds, with Team Project 1’s Marco Wittmann completing the top three.

Nearly all drivers waited until the second half of the 20-minute session to set their times, with only the Manthey EMA duo of Thomas Preining and Dennis Olsen accompanying SSR Performance’s Alessio Deledda on track for the opening phase.

When the rest of the field joined, lap times rapidly improved, causing all three drivers to drop down the order.

Only Preining secured a spot in the top ten with tenth place aboard his No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R, while Olsen qualified 18th and Deledda took 27th place.

Franck Perera, winner of the opening race at Oschersleben, slotted into fourth place ahead of Emil Frey Racing’s Albert Costa.

Costa replaces Jack Aitken aboard the No. 14 Ferrari 296 GT3 this weekend as the Brit competes with Action Express Racing at the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Watkins Glen.

Mirko Bortolotti qualified sixth aboard the No. 92 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, leading Jusuf Owega and the No. 3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II driven by Kelvin van der Linde.

The top ten was completed by the No. 83 Tresor Orange 1 Audi of Patrick Niederhauser and Preining’s No. 91 Porsche, as the top ten was covered by 0.490 seconds.

The Saturday race kicks off at 1:30 p.m. CEST (7:30 p.m. ET).

RESULTS: Qualifying 1