For fellow Brits Paul di Resta, Jamie Green, Gary Paffett, Susie Stoddart and Katherine Legge, meanwhile, there were rather more mixed fortunes, with the former pairing easily making the top six on the grid but Paffett only just scraping into the top ten behind Schneider. There was worse luck still for Stoddart, the Scot forced to pay the price for a practice fire on Friday and mistake in Q1 that saw her go off the track and into the tyre barrier at the first corner whilst looking good to make it through into the second phase of qualifying for only the fourth time in her DTM career.
“Fourth on the grid is not too bad,” said a not entirely satisfied di Resta, nevertheless the second highest-placed Mercedes alongside AMG team-mate Bruno Spengler. “I tried to get the maximum out of the car, but I was not able to do better. In the race I want more.”
“Not an optimum qualifying,” reflected sixth-placed Green, who triumphed in the last race to be held at Hockenheim back in October. “I had expected a better grid position. However, already in free practice we had problems in finding the best set-up. I will give it my all in the race to improve.”
“Of course, I would prefer a place among the top eight,” confessed former series champion Paffett, “but row five is still quite ok. The car has a good balance and I am confident for the race.”
Stoddart, 17th, admitted fault for her accident, whilst praising her crew for repairing the car so swiftly after the practice fire. Legge blamed traffic and a mistake for her 19th and last-placed showing, at the same time acknowledging that her first DTM qualifying session had been ‘a fascinating experience, even though it didn't go quite the way we'd been hoping it would'.
Schneider, meanwhile, refused to write off his hopes of making it up onto the rostrum in the race, despite failing to hook up the perfect lap during qualifying.
![Bernd Schneider - Original-Teile AMG Mercedes [pic credit: DTM Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/318574.jpg)
