DTM Nurburgring: ‘Mamba’ bites with pole as Thiim hits back

The DTM race at the Nurburgring witnessed a dramatic turnaround for Jules Gounon, the French Winward-Mercedes driver who had struggled throughout the season. In Sunday's qualifying session, Gounon secured his first pole position of the year, setting a new lap record of 1:25.062, surpassing the previous mark held by Mirko Bortolotti from 2023.

McLaren's Ben Dorr, Glock's teammate from the prior year, secured the second spot, just 0.113 seconds behind the pole. The Frenchman's strong showing came after complaining about a minor issue with the differential the day before, which his team rectified, resulting in a fantastic lap on race morning. Gounon expressed his satisfaction with his team, admitting that they hadn't signed up for just making it to P5, P7 or P10.

McLaren's Dorr and Cairoli, who finished third in qualifying, were also pleased with their positions, despite Cairoli's dissatisfaction with not being able to extract more performance from his car. Meanwhile, Nicki Thiim, Aston Martin's Comtoyou driver, returned to the front group with a fourth-place finish, after being fourth in the previous race.

Thiim's Aston Martin was ten kilograms lighter and received more boost pressure due to a Balance of Performance (BoP) change. In the general standings, DTM leader Maro Engel was fifth, followed by Thiim's team-mate Engel, who raced without ballast, making his Mercedes 40 kilograms lighter than during Saturday's race.