Bortolotti tops ultra-close qualifying

Date published : 03 Jul 2011 - 09:00:00

GPUpdateBortolotti tops ultra-close qualifying 3 July 2011Mirko Bortolotti took his second successive pole position at the Nürburgring on Saturday morning, narrowly topping the timing screens ahead of Tobias Hegewald. The top four were covered by just 36 thousandths of a second, with Will Bratt and Johannes Theobald earning the right to form the second row later this afternoon. "I'm really, really happy with that result but I did make some silly mistakes," Bortolotti said after the session. "The track was similar conditions to yesterday but my new tyres were not as stable and I missed out some of my braking points. Traffic is always a problem, especially during the overboost session, as everyone is looking for space. I'm really looking forward to the race though." After a fierce battle early on, Bortolotti's personal best effort of 1:47.906 ultimately left his rivals without an answer, paving the way for the Italian to celebrate his third pole position of the year so far. Miki Monrás was best of the rest behind Theobald, narrowly outpacing Danish driver Mikkel Mac who enjoyed a much more promising session. Christopher Zanella had to settle for seventh after setting a time just over two tenths slower than Bortolotti, edging ahead of fellow Race 1 podium finisher Jack Clarke. Alex Brundle will start the second race from ninth, out-qualifying Thiemo Storz who was little more than four tenths adrift of the ultimate pace. Race 2 begins at 12.55pm local time (BST 1)