ZANDVOORT, The Netherlands — Maximilian Paul took the first pole position of his DTM career on Friday afternoon in the early qualifying for the Sunday race at the Zandvoort Circuit.
The Lamborghini driver from the Paul Motorsport team drove the absolute best time on the 4.259-kilometer Formula 1 circuit with a time of 1:32.780 minutes.
“As a new team in the DTM, to be on pole on the third weekend is really strong and the reward for our hard work. But we can’t rest on our laurels, the level in the field is very high with so many factory drivers. For the race it’s all about staying cool and stepping on the gas,” said the polesitter.
Alongside Paul, his brand colleague Mirko Bortolotti from SSR Performance will start the sixth race of the DTM season from second place.
“It was actually a perfect lap up until the last corner. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake that probably cost me pole position. But all in all, qualifying went really well,” said the satisfied Italian.
Behind the two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2s, the Ferraris from Emil Frey Racing are on the second row of the grid. Local hero Thierry Vermeulen finished third to the delight of his home fans and, together with the two first-placed drivers, was the only driver to stay under the 1:33.000 minute mark.
“I am very happy with the result,” he said. “It would be a dream to win my first DTM race at my home race in Zandvoort. I will give it my all. The track is just great fun. Driving through the steep bends in a GT3 car is something special.”
His teammate Jack Aitken finished qualifying in fourth place. Arjun Maini (IND/Mercedes-AMG Team HRT) also showed a strong performance and drove his Mercedes-AMG GT3 to fifth place.
