With the glorious sunshine still shining down on the Baden-Württemberg region, the first DTM qualifying session of the year began in earnest at the Hockenheimring, which saw Nico Müller strike in the dying seconds of the session at the 4.574-km circuit, to take his maiden pole position with a 1:33.876.
The Swiss driver, who moved to Team ABT from Team Rosberg after last year, was able to carry his form from second practice to lead an Audi 1-2, with Edoardo Mortara and Mercedes’ Robert Wickens completing the top three. All three drivers were separated by 0.229 seconds, with Jamie Green just 0.001 seconds behind the top three.
Rockenfeller set the initial pace with a 1:35.735, with Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris instantly going faster by 0.639 seconds. The 2013 champion also complained about Esteban Ocon blocking him with some very colourful language on the radio to his pit crew.
With just over 15 minutes to go, it was Augusto Farfus and Tom Blomqvist leading with a BMW 1-2, split by just 0.001 seconds.
2005 Champion Gary Paffett had an off-track excursion, as Green took back to the top spot for Audi, with Timo Glock in close pursuit.
However, the Mercedes onslaught would come into play, as Paffett went quickest by a mere 0.023 seconds from Green, with Robert Wickens usurping his fellow Stuttgart stablemate. Müller and Edoardo Mortara made their way up to P2 and P5 respectively, showing that there is plenty of performance in the RS5 DTM once again.
Vietoris lept up to second behind the Canadian, before Rockenfeller snatched the place back a lap later. But Mortara was winding up and unleashed his best, which saw the Italian go fastest by just 0.004 seconds with two minutes remaining.
This was before Müller struck in the dying seconds, in what was another close fought session, which is characteristic of the DTM, even with the long winter break.
Paul Di Resta will start from seventh place, behind a charging Vietoris, with the top six separated by 0.273 seconds, ahead of Audi’s Miguel Molina and Mattias Ekström.
BMW’s struggles continued, as 2014 champion Marco Wittmann could only muster a time that will see him line up on tenth place for the first race, as the remainder of the team were a main fixture of the bottom half of the grid.
The only absentee from the session was Mücke Motorsport’s Lucas Auer, as the Austrian beached his C63 AMG DTM at the end of the second free practice session. The team were unable to get his car ready in time for qualifying, so will start from the back of the grid for this afternoon’s race.
The opening race of the 2016 DTM season starts at 16:00 local time (15:00 British Summer Time), and will last for 40 minutes plus one lap.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 1:33.876 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:34.101 | 0.225 |
| 3 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:34.105 | 0.229 |
| 4 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 1:34.106 | 0.230 |
| 5 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:34.131 | 0.255 |
| 6 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:34.149 | 0.273 |
| 7 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:34.157 | 0.281 |
| 8 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:34.206 | 0.330 |
| 9 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:34.209 | 0.333 |
| 10 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:34.266 | 0.390 |
| 11 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:34.302 | 0.426 |
| 12 | 34 | Esteban OCON |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:34.327 | 0.451 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:34.333 | 0.457 |
| 14 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:34.338 | 0.462 |
| 15 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:34.350 | 0.474 |
| 16 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:34.357 | 0.481 |
| 17 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:34.369 | 0.493 |
| 18 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:34.491 | 0.615 |
| 19 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:34.548 | 0.672 |
| 20 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:34.607 | 0.731 |
| 21 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:34.703 | 0.827 |
| 22 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:34.705 | 0.829 |
| 23 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY | |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:34.784 | 0.908 |
| 24 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | – | No time | N/A |