After a timid performance in practice earlier, BMW has locked out the front row for race two at the Moscow raceway, with Team RBM team-mates Tom Blomqvist and Bruno Spengler starting from first and second on the grid.
With lap times tumbling in the late stages of the 20-minute long session, Audi’s Mattias Ekström also looked to be a contender for pole position, but the Swede narrowly missed out by just 0.064 seconds.
Three-time champion Ekström is set to start the second race of the weekend from third, sharing a starting row with yesterday’s race winner René Rast – also driving for the Ingolstadt-based brand – who turned the fourth quickest time of the session.
Paul Di Resta once again represented the quickest Mercedes-AMG in fifth, before Timo Glock, Marco Wittmann and Maxime Martin, who have taken the sixth to eighth starting positions for BMW.
Loïc Duval put his Audi RS5 DTM in ninth, sharing the fifth starting row with Gary Paffett’s Mercedes-AMG C63 behind in tenth.
The top ten drivers have all driven lap times within a margin of six tenths of a second.
UPDATE – Tom Blomqvist was subsequently excluded from the qualifying result due to a ‘fuel miscalculation’ from his team, with the Stewards decision stating that “after qualifying for race two, it was not possible to get the required 1.0 kg of residual fuel out of car #31.”
Blomqvist is the second BMW driver to be stripped of pole this weekend in Russia, after Marco Wittmann lost his Saturday pole due to carrying forward a five-place grid penalty from the previous round.
Jamie Green was also handed a five-place grid drop following the session for having received a third warning for crossing the pit-lane exit line in the final free practice session.
Race two at the Moscow raceway is set to start at 14:48 local time and will last 55 minutes plus one additional lap.
Original qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:26.518 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:26.579 | 0.061 |
| 3 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:26.582 | 0.064 |
| 4 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:26.735 | 0.217 |
| 5 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:26.887 | 0.369 |
| 6 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:26.902 | 0.384 |
| 7 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:26.910 | 0.392 |
| 8 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:26.937 | 0.419 |
| 9 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:26.946 | 0.428 |
| 10 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:27.113 | 0.595 |
| 11 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:27.168 | 0.650 |
| 12 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:27.230 | 0.712 |
| 13 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:27.230 | 0.712 |
| 14 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:27.230 | 0.712 |
| 15 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:27.258 | 0.740 |
| 16 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:27.303 | 0.785 |
| 17 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:27.332 | 0.814 |
| 18 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:27.477 | 0.959 |