Bathgate’s Paul di Resta will start the fifth round of the DTM Championship, the 49-lap race at the Nurburgring in Germany, from fourth on the grid in his Mercedes.
In the top four shoot-out Di Resta, taking a break from his Formula One duties with Force India, lapped the 2.2-mile circuit in 1min 24.376secs, 0.559s slower than the Audi of polesitter Mattias Ekstrom.
“Obviously it’s not ideal,” the 24-year-old Scot admitted, “because I would rather have been on the front row. But I made one small mistake and we’re all so close, that was all it took to drop me back.
“Still, we’ve improved through every session this weekend and I know I have an excellent race car. As long as we get a good start and get through the first lap unscathed, I’m confident I’ll be battling for a podium finish by the end of the race.”
Sandwiched between Ekstrom and Di Resta are two of his Mercedes team-mates, championship leader Bruno Spengler and 2005 champ, Englishman Jamie Green in second and third respectively.
“I’ll go into Sunday’s race feeling confident,” continued Di Resta, who starts six places ahead of former F1 winner David Coulthard on the grid and currently stands fifth in the championship just 15 points behind Canadian Spengler.
“I like the track, but most importantly this is now a crucial part of the season. We’ve seven races now before the end of the DTM season in Shanghai on October 31, so there are a lot of points up for grabs. I have to make sure I start scoring heavily tomorrow.”
JM