Spain’s Daniel Juncadella secured his second pole position of the season for the first DTM race of the weekend at Brands Hatch, securing it by just 0.092 seconds ahead of Austria’s Lucas Auer around the 3.908-km circuit.
Both René Rast and Philipp Eng were also in the hunt for pole position, but the pair complete row two, with the top four split by just under two tenths of a second.
Augusto Farfus continued his consistent pace around the Grand Prix loop, but would end up fifth, ahead of Gary Paffett, who recovered from an early scare just before the half way point of the 20-minute session.
Paffett was fortunate to get away with a glancing blow on the left side of his Mercedes, as the Briton went wide at Paddock Hill Bend before a slight impact with the wall at the bottom of the hill.
Timo Glock’s assault towards pole position came to an abrupt end going into Surtees with just 30 seconds to go, as the BMW driver had a 360-degree spin, beaching his car deep in the gravel.
Edoardo Mortara lines up alongside the German in eighth place, ahead of Marco Wittmann and 2015 champion Pascal Wehrlein.
Robin Frijns would be only 0.461 seconds behind the pace set by Juncadella, but will only start from 11th place, ahead of Paul Di Resta.
Nico Müller put his Audi RS5 DTM into the top three, but with less than five minutes to go, the Swiss driver would finish 13th quickest, ahead of Ingolstadt stablemates Loïc Duval and Mike Rockenfeller.
Joel Eriksson set his best lap time of the day so far to put him 16th on the starting grid, ahead of Britain’s Jamie Green and Bruno Spengler, who rounded out the order.
Race one gets underway at 1333 local time, lasting for 55 minutes plus one additional lap, with all drivers having to complete a mandatory pit stop.
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:18.069 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:18.161 | 0.092 |
| 3 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:18.255 | 0.186 |
| 4 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:18.257 | 0.188 |
| 5 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:18.365 | 0.296 |
| 6 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:18.398 | 0.329 |
| 7 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:18.407 | 0.338 |
| 8 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:18.422 | 0.353 |
| 9 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:18.443 | 0.374 |
| 10 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:18.444 | 0.375 |
| 11 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:18.530 | 0.461 |
| 12 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:18.625 | 0.556 |
| 13 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:18.644 | 0.575 |
| 14 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:18.695 | 0.626 |
| 15 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:18.746 | 0.677 |
| 16 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:18.755 | 0.686 |
| 17 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:18.799 | 0.730 |
| 18 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:19.385 | 1.316 |