Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Nico Müller claimed pole position for the DTM race one at Norisring, with a time of 46.337 seconds, in a session that saw the entire field separated by nine tenths of a second.
The Swiss driver narrowly beat BMW Team RMR’s Philipp Eng by 0.075 seconds, who remains under investigation for impeding another car.
As the session got underway beneath blue skies, the entire field headed out immediately. Track space at the Norisring is at a premium, with only 2.3km of asphalt to share.
The two Audi Sport Team Rosberg cars of Jamie Green and René Rast were the first to dip below the 50 second mark, but faster times were in the making.
BMW Team RMG’s Bruno Spengler, who holds the Norisring lap record, briefly topped the times before Müller, Eng and Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Loïc Duval beat his 46.491 second lap.
As the first runs came to an end, and the track emptied, the two Team Rosberg cars headed out to make use of the clean air. The pit lane watched on to see if the Audi duo could improve their times, and a 46.8 second warmup lap from Rast saw the field head out on track to defend their positions.
However there was little change to the order, and Müller held on to his second ever DTM pole. Eng will join him on the front row, unless awarded a penalty.
Duval and Spengler make up the second row, the latter only 0.155 seconds slower than Müller.
Rast who is looking to extend his championship lead over Eng this weekend, will line up in fifth, only three-thousandths faster than BMW Team RBM’s Joel Eriksson who was the only driver to improve in the final few minutes with a time of 46.527 seconds.
Home hero BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann, who was born less than 30km from the Norisring circuit, will head the fourth row and was the last driver within two tenths of Müller’s pole lap.
The second Audi Sport Team Phoenix car of Mike Rockenfeller took eighth with a time of 46.552 seconds, and will be hoping to score his first points at the Norisring since 2014.
DTM rookie Jonathan Aberdein will line up in ninth, the Audi Sport Team WRT driver setting a time of 46.617 seconds, 0.280 seconds back from Müller.
Rounding out the top ten is Green, who is still recovering from appendicitis which forced him to sit out Misano, with a time 0.391 seconds slower than Müller.
Daniel Juncadella was the fastest of the R-Motorsport run Aston Martin’s, his time of 46.893 seconds giving him 13th on the grid at the track he scored his maiden DTM podium in 2018.
Race One gets underway at 13:15 CEST (12:15 BST).
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 15 | 46.337 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 46.412 | 0.075 |
| 3 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 46.485 | 0.148 |
| 4 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | 46.492 | 0.155 |
| 5 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 46.524 | 0.187 |
| 6 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 46.527 | 0.190 |
| 7 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 46.532 | 0.195 |
| 8 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 46.552 | 0.215 |
| 9 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 46.617 | 0.280 |
| 10 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 24 | 46.728 | 0.391 |
| 11 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 46.782 | 0.445 |
| 12 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 46.813 | 0.476 |
| 13 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 19 | 46.893 | 0.556 |
| 14 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 46.898 | 0.561 |
| 15 | 21 | Pietro FITTIPALDI |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 47.029 | 0.692 |
| 16 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 18 | 47.125 | 0.788 |
| 17 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 24 | 47.221 | 0.884 |
| 18 | 76 | Jake DENNIS | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 21 | 47.276 | 0.939 |