Norisring, 30th June 2012. Four BMW M3 DTMs in the top ten, all BMW drivers in Q2 and a happy Augusto Farfus (BR) in third place on the grid: in temperatures reaching 34 degrees Celsius, the BMW DTM teams kept cool heads during qualifying at the Norisring (DE) to secure promising starting positions ahead of the fifth race of the season. Gallery after the jump!

Just as he did at the Lausitzring (DE), Farfus progressed nicely into the fourth qualifying session at the wheel of his Castrol EDGE BMW M3 DTM, and went on to clock the third fastest time of 49.255 seconds. The 28-year-old was just 0.116 seconds behind Mercedes driver Gary Paffett (GB) who claimed pole position.

For the first time, all six BMW drivers made it through to the second qualifying session. While Joey Hand (US, SAMSUNG BMW M3 DTM) and Dirk Werner (DE, E-POSTBRIEF BMW M3 DTM) had to settle for 15th and 16th, the battle for fractions of a second went into a third qualifying session for a quartet of BMW drivers. Martin Tomczyk (DE) will start the race from the third row of the grid having qualified sixth, while Bruno Spengler (CA, BMW Bank M3 DTM) was just behind the reigning DTM champion in seventh.
Andy Priaulx’s (GB) ninth place was his second best qualifying result in the DTM, having previously started the race in Hockenheim (DE) from seventh in his Crowne Plaza Hotels BMW M3 DTM.

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