René Rast claimed his third pole position of the season in qualifying for the first DTM on the Nürburgring Sprint circuit, as title rival Nico Müller put his Audi in third.
In a red-flag interrupted session, Rast emerged as the fastest driver in the field, the reigning champion improving on his final run to set a time of 1 minute 19.472 seconds on the shorter circuit.
The session had been red-flagged just one minute from the scheduled end when WRT’s Fabio Scherer beached his RS5 at Turn 1, which resulted in a stoppage followed by the clocks being reset to allow a final three-minute blast.
As Rast improved his lap by two tenths, Dutchman Robin Frijns was unable to better his, leaving the Abt Sportsline driver to settle for second and a front-row start alongside Rast.
Championship leader Nico Müller was third, only improving his time by half a tenth on his final run, ahead of BMW Team RBM’s Philipp Eng in fourth, just over two tenths off the pace.
BMW Team RMG duo Jonathan Aberdein and Marco Wittmann were fifth and sixth respectively, ahead of an impressive performance by WRT’s Ferdinand von Habsburg in seventh, who improved on his final run.
Audi’s Friday practice pace-setter Jamie Green could only manage eighth quickest, the Brit failing to improve on his final run.
The top ten was completed by WRT’s Scherer and BMW Team RMG’s Timo Glock, the latter being only just over half a second off the pace as the field was separated by under nine tenths of a second.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 13:30 CEST (12:30 BST).
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:19.472 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.607 | 0.135 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.686 | 0.214 |
| 4 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:19.705 | 0.233 |
| 5 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:19.782 | 0.310 |
| 6 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:19.867 | 0.395 |
| 7 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:19.870 | 0.398 |
| 8 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:19.920 | 0.448 |
| 9 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:19.952 | 0.480 |
| 10 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:19.978 | 0.506 |
| 11 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:19.994 | 0.522 |
| 12 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:20.029 | 0.557 |
| 13 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:20.061 | 0.589 |
| 14 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:20.106 | 0.634 |
| 15 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:20.292 | 0.820 |
| 16 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:20.365 | 0.893 |