Reigning DTM champion René Rast bagged pole position for race two at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, edging out Saturday’s pole-sitter by 0.285 seconds as Audi secured the top three positions.
Rast grabbed the top time of the session, a 2 minute 4.199 seconds lap time, in the closing seconds, preventing Dutchman Frijns from doing the double at the season opening meeting.
In dry conditions, Rast waited until the very final seconds of the session to go quickest, as the field was covered by two and a half seconds in the Eiffel mountains.
BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde was fourth, once again the marque’s best qualifier, 0.788 seconds adrift as the only other driver within a second of Rast’s pace.
Austrian Philipp Eng was fifth fastest for BMW Team RBM behind his South African team-mate, ahead of BMW Team RMG’s Timo Glock in sixth.
Brit Jamie Green improved on his Saturday qualifying performance and was seventh for the second race, ahead of BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann in eighth.
The top ten was completed by BMW Team RMR’s Lucas Auer in ninth and Audi Team Phenix’s Mike Rockenfeller in tenth, in a session which saw rapid change in the closing minutes. Indeed, Rockenfeller had been third with just a minute to go.
BMW’s Jonathan Aberdein was 11th, ahead of the leading DTM rookie of ART’s Robert Kubica in 12th.
Audi Team WRT’s three drivers propped up the timesheets, with Swiss Fabio Scherer in 14th, Brit Harrison Newey in 15th and Austrian Ferdinand von Habsburg in 16th after the latter failed to post a time.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 13:33 CEST (12:33 BST).
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 2:04.199 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 2:04.484 | 0.285 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 2:04.797 | 0.598 |
| 4 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 6 | 2:04.987 | 0.788 |
| 5 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 6 | 2:05.383 | 1.184 |
| 6 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 6 | 2:05.535 | 1.336 |
| 7 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 2:05.691 | 1.492 |
| 8 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 2:05.701 | 1.502 |
| 9 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 6 | 2:05.738 | 1.539 |
| 10 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 2:05.944 | 1.745 |
| 11 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 6 | 2:06.003 | 1.804 |
| 12 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 2:06.169 | 1.970 |
| 13 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 2:06.305 | 2.106 |
| 14 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 2:06.612 | 2.413 |
| 15 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 2:06.705 | 2.506 |
| 16 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | No time | N/A |