Félix da Costa lands the first pole position of his DTM career – Four BMW M4 DTMs in the top four.

Zandvoort (NL), 12th July 2015. One day after the first podium of his DTM career in Zandvoort (NL), António Félix da Costa (PT) is on pole for the first time. The BMW Team Schnitzer driver clocked the fastest time of 1:30.483 minutes in the second qualifying at the 4.307-kilometre “Circuit Park Zandvoort”. This made his Red Bull BMW M4 DTM just 58 thousandths of a second faster than Bruno Spengler’s (CA) car, who qualified second in the BMW Bank M4 DTM. Places three and four also went to BMW drivers, in the form of Augusto Farfus (BR, Shell BMW M4 DTM) and Saturday’s winner Marco Wittmann (DE, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM).

Timo Glock (DE) also made it into the top ten, qualifying seventh in the DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM. However, he then had to pull over at the side of the track on his way back to the pit lane. Maxime Martin (BE, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM) and Martin Tomczyk (DE, BMW M Performance Parts BMW M4 DTM) were 11th and 13th. Tom Blomqvist (GB) was held up by another competitor on his flying lap, which prevented him from qualifying any higher than 21st.

Quote from the best-placed BMW driver.

“This weekend has been fantastic for us so far. I am very comfortable in my car and feel I have everything under control. I am obviously pleased for myself, but above all this is great for BMW. The circuit here in Zandvoort suits us, and we are getting the tyres to work well for us. In my opinion, that is what is making the difference compared to previous races. The qualifying result is fantastic. We must now wait and see how the race pans out.” – António Félix da Costa (BMW Team Schnitzer, 1st)

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Facts and Figures.

Circuit/length:

Circuit Park Zandvoort, 4.307 kilometres

Conditions:

Cloudy, 17 degrees Celsius

Pole time:

António Félix da Costa (PT, BMW Team Schnitzer), 1:30.483 minutes

BMW Motorsport results*:

#13 António Félix da Costa (PT), BMW Team Schnitzer, Red Bull BMW M4 DTM

1:30.483 minutes – 1st

#7 Bruno Spengler (CA), BMW Team MTEK, BMW Bank M4 DTM

1:30.541 minutes – 2nd

#18 Augusto Farfus (BR), BMW Team RBM, Shell BMW M4 DTM

1:30.623 minutes – 3rd

#1 Marco Wittmann (DE), BMW Team RMG, Ice-Watch BMW M4 DTM

1:30.650 minutes – 4th

#16 Timo Glock (DE), BMW Team MTEK, DEUTSCHE POST BMW M4 DTM

1:30.834 minutes – 7th

#36 Maxime Martin (BE), BMW Team RMG, SAMSUNG BMW M4 DTM

1:30.908 minutes – 11th

#77 Martin Tomczyk (DE), BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW M Performance Parts M4 DTM

1:30.970 minutes – 13th

#31 Tom Blomqvist (GB), BMW Team RBM, BMW M4 DTM

1:31.425 minutes – 21st

*The official starting grid may differ from the provisional qualifying results published in this release.

Useful information:

António Félix da Costa has never started a DTM race from pole position before. His previous best was third on the grid.

As in Saturday’s first qualifying session, four BMW M4 DTMs occupied the top four positions.

Each of the four BMW teams has one driver in the top four. This is BMW Team Schnitzer’s first pole position since the finale of the 2013 season in Hockenheim (DE).

António Félix da Costa’s best time in Sunday’s qualifying was almost eight tenths of a second quicker than the fastest time clocked by Augusto Farfus on Saturday.

The eighth of this year’s 18 DTM races begins at 14:10hrs local time.