Nico Müller repeated his qualifying performance from Saturday in qualifying for Sunday’s second DTM race at the Nürburgring, as Audi continued its dominance by locking out the top six positions.
Championship leader Müller was once again the only driver to drop into the 1 minute 46 seconds lap time, with his pole time coming on his final run in a lap of 1:46.958.
Müller’s team-mate Robin Frijns was second, also improving in the closing seconds, but the Dutchman ended up 0.138 seconds adrift of his Abt Sportsline colleague.
Team Rosberg’s René Rast had set the pace in the first half of qualifying on the Grand Prix circuit, but as with Saturday the German simply found himself unable to match the pace of the Abt Audis, ending up in third over two tenths adrift, despite improving on his final lap.
Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller was fourth, one place better than on Saturday, ahead of team-mate Loïc Duval in fifth and the second Team Rosberg car of Jamie Green in sixth.
The result meant that all six factory Audis occupy the top six positions on the grid for race two, with Sheldon van der Linde the best of the BMW drivers in seventh, 0.761 seconds off the pace.
Jonathan Aberdein followed his South African compatriot in eighth, whilst Team ART’s Robert Kubica was a season-best ninth, the Pole outpaced by just two factory BMW drivers.
Marco Wittmann completed the top ten at a sunny and warm Nürburgring, with the BMW driver nine tenths off the pace.
Timo Glock was 12th, whilst 11th-placed Philipp Eng was the last driver within a second of the pace.
The independent WRT-run Audis failed to match the pace of their factory rivals, occupying the final three places, with 14th-placed Fabio Scherer out-qualifying his two team-mates for the third time this season.
Race two is scheduled to get underway at 13:30 CEST (12:30 BST).
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:46.958 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:47.096 | 0.138 |
| 3 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:47.203 | 0.245 |
| 4 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:47.400 | 0.442 |
| 5 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:47.463 | 0.505 |
| 6 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:47.690 | 0.732 |
| 7 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:47.719 | 0.761 |
| 8 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:47.736 | 0.778 |
| 9 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:47.861 | 0.903 |
| 10 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:47.862 | 0.904 |
| 11 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:47.868 | 0.910 |
| 12 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:47.880 | 0.922 |
| 13 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:48.283 | 1.325 |
| 14 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:48.453 | 1.495 |
| 15 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:48.580 | 1.622 |
| 16 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:48.898 | 1.940 |