Heinrich Storms to Last-Gasp Saturday Spielberg Pole

Laurin Heinrich took his maiden DTM pole position in a last-gasp qualifying effort that saw him jump to the top in the closing moments of a wet-dry session at the Red Bull Ring.

The German driver steered the No. 75 KÜS Team Bernhard Porsche 911 GT3 R to a fastest time of 1:36.778 as the last driver to cross the line in Saturday’s 20-minute qualifying session.

He leaped ahead of Kelvin van der Linde’s No. 3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II by just 0.065 seconds, with his teammate Ayhancan Guven completing the top three aboard the No. 24 Porsche.

Heinrich came through at the end of a session where teams and drivers sought to find the optimal tire choice on a damp and slippery Red Bull Ring.

Van der Linde led the session when a crash for the No. 27 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of David Schumacher triggered a red flag, improving again after the restart to set his session best of 1:36.843.

A number of drivers, including championship rivals Mirko Bortolotti and Thomas Preining, pitted for wets with five minutes remaining.

For Preining, the choice appeared to pay off as the No. 91 Porsche leaped to third in the closing stages, eventually ending the session fourth after Heinrich’s last-gasp effort.

The Austrian’s teammate Dennis Olsen completed the top five, while Maro Engel jumped to sixth with a similarly late effort aboard the No. 48 Mercedes.

Rene Rast qualified seventh aboard the No. 33 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, just 0.006 seconds ahead of the No. 11 machine in the hands of Marco Wittmann.

Luca Stolz picked up ninth for Haupt Racing Team, while championship leader Mirko Bortolotti rounded out the top ten in the No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The difficult conditions left a number of frontrunning drivers significantly out of place for this afternoon’s race.

Defending champion Sheldon van der Linde qualified 17th aboard the No. 1 BMW, with SSR Performance’s Franck Perera 23rd.

Ricardo Feller, third in the championship standings, occupiesd the last row of the grid along with the No. 22 Team Winward Mercedes of Lucas Auer.

The opening race of the weekend kicks off at 1:30 p.m. CEST (7:30 a.m. CEST)

RESULTS: Qualifying 1