Mareng Engel locked pole for DTM at the Sachsenring with a 1:26.307 lap, ten seconds slower than the best dry times, and trimmed his gap to league leader Thomas Preining to a single point.
Wet Track Tests Strategy
The morning’s sudden downpour left a damp track that was too sticky for slick tyres. Engel’s lap, recorded early in the session, was the fastest, yet no further rain or drying did not translate into Lighter times as the session progressed. “We had a clear lap right from the start,” Engel said, thanking his team for the correct set‑up. “It was a mega lap.”
The brief rain left the circuit in a state “puzzling,” as in every qualifying the drivers were unsure whether they had to wait for a dry window. The wet surface, however, gave Mercedes‑AMG the advantage, and Engel told the press that the car “felt superb.” The advantage was not limited to the front; Down the line, quad‑ports of everyone who had been posted delayed
Front Row and Title Runners
Thomas Preining, who finished sixth in a Manthey‑Porsche, was 1.030 s slower than Engel but followed closely by teammate Ricardo Feller, who lined the front‑row at 0.448 s. Frenchman Jules Gounon, the other Mercedes‑AMG driver, tightened the podium with a 0.755 s advantage but admitted that waiting until the end to push for position was risky on a brake‑heavy circuit. Gounon committed to help the title group’s chances, noting that a P3 finish would “take points away from the rivals.”
Second‑tier hitters saw Ben Dorr—his team’s McLaren master—grab fourth followed by Land‑Porsche’s Bastian Buus on fifth. Preining himself closed to sixth, describing a “wild slide” in the qualifying session that forced a frantic recovery when he finally managed a clear lap. He said the “front row would have been possible, but it didn’t happen.”
Midfield Shake‑Ups and Downfalls
German‑baptised team‑mate Marco Wittmann dropped from the front of the field to nineteenth due to a “lack of working tyres” in traffic, his tone revealing that BMW’s BoP changes—a heavier vehicle and lower boost pressure—were not the primary culprit. “We struggled in the rain,” Wittmann shrugged, comparing himself to Kelvin van der Linde’s seventh‑place finish.
Nicki Thiim of Aston Martin – who had wanted to trim his twenty‑point deficit – was eclipsed by a 20th–place result. Lucas Auer (Mercedes‑Mercedes) made only a ninth‑place finish, while sixth‑place Ferrari ace Matteo Cairoli slipped to seventeenth. German Audi guest entrant Simon Connor Primm surprised with a 12th‑place grid spot, almost snapping his “dream of a top‑ten finish.”
Race Outlook
The Sunday race will feature two mandatory stops in the afternoon, and with rain still in play, every grid position will decide who enters the Hockenheim finale on a realistic title chance. A “big challenge” will be the first corner, with the front‑row drivers hoping to avoid an incident before the race belt decouples from the wet‑track story.
With the Sunday grid set, the afternoon battle at Sachsenring will determine who carries the championship hopes into Hockenheim.
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