Bathgate’s Paul Di Resta will start second on the grid for the penultimate round of the German Touring Car Championship in Dijon. The 23-year-old was narrowly edged off pole position by his Mercedes team-mate, Canadian Bruno Spengler.
“Sure it would have been ideal to have qualified on pole,” Di Resta, whose fastest lap of 1min 20.446secs on the 2.4-mile track was just 0.532s slower than Spengler’s, admitted today, “but at least I’m starting from the front row of the grid.
“Dijon’s an extremely tough and challenging circuit but hopefully Bruno and I can get a jump on the rest of the field and dictate the pace of the race. Obviously I’d love to get my second win of the year, but the main thing is that we get a Mercedes wins.”
While the Merc team-mates fill the front row, the qualifying was a disaster for defending champ and current leader Timo Scheider. The Audi driver was caught out by the changing conditions and qualified a disastrous 16th.
His nearest challenger for the title, team-mate Mattias Ekstrom who is 12 points adrift, lines up fourth alongside third-quickest Tom Kristensen. England’s Gary Paffett, the only other driver who can deny Scheider the title, starts eighth in his Merc.
JM
