Tom Blomqvist secured pole position for the final race of the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in an interrupted session which saw the title battle swing in favour of René Rast.
The 20-minute qualifying session was red-flagged at the half-way stage after a drain cover came loose at the high-speed Nordkurve and had to be repaired.
Mercedes driver Gary Paffett had forced the drain cover loose on the corner entry, and it was then immediately collected by stablemate Paul Di Resta, causing enough damage to put his Mercedes-AMG C63 out for the rest of the session.
Defending champion Marco Wittmann had set the pace before the red-flag, but was pipped by fellow BMW driver Blomqvist and Rast’s Audi in the final minutes once the session resumed after a half-hour stoppage.
Blomqvist scored his third pole position in the DTM with a time of 1:30.491, just 0.064 seconds ahead of Rast who would score a valuable two points towards his title challenge by qualifying in second position.
Championship rivals Mattias Ekström and Jamie Green will start in 14th and 15th positions respectively after their grid-penalties have been applied, allowing Rast a real shot at the drivers championship.
Ekström remains the points leader going into this afternoon’s finale, nine points ahead of Green with Rast just a further two behind, while Mike Rockenfeller sits 20 points adrift of the two-time champion.
Marco Wittmann will start this afternoon’s race in third position, ahead of Lucas Auer, whose Mercedes underwent repairs during the red-flag period.
Title contender Green posted a time good enough for fifth position, but will be demoted due to his grid penalty, promoting Robert Wickens into the top five on the grid.
Behind him, Maxime Martin starts from sixth position ahead of Rockenfeller, who currently sits fourth in the championship standings.
Augusto Farfus lines up up in eigth position, ahead of 2005 champion Gary Paffett, with yesterday’s polesitter Timo Glock completing the top ten after the grid drops have been applied.
The title-deciding final race of the 2017 DTM championship gets underway at 15:13 CEST.
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:30.491 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:30.555 | 0.064 |
| 3 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:30.564 | 0.073 |
| 4 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:30.579 | 0.088 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:30.590 | 0.099 |
| 6 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:30.656 | 0.165 |
| 7 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:30.672 | 0.181 |
| 8 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:30.721 | 0.230 |
| 9 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:30.739 | 0.248 |
| 10 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:30.761 | 0.270 |
| 11 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:30.799 | 0.308 |
| 12 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:30.848 | 0.357 |
| 13 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:30.859 | 0.368 |
| 14 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:30.987 | 0.496 |
| 15 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 6 | 1:31.015 | 0.524 |
| 16 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:31.162 | 0.671 |
| 17 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:31.461 | 0.970 |
| 18 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 5 | 1:31.800 | 1.309 |