Jonas Karklys took his first-ever pole position in ADAC TCR Germany qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, one tenth of a second ahead of ROJA Motorsport’s Jessica Bäckman.
Lithaunian racer Karklys, racing a Hyundai i30 N for his own team, was on top of the times for most of the session after his effort of 1 minute 36.947 seconds.
Bäckman was his closest challenger, the Swede initially being almost half a second adrift before she significantly improved her time in her Hyundai Veloster, but not by enough to take pole. She had earlier set the pace in the second practice session of the weekend.
Liqui Moly Team Engstler will occupy the second row of the grid, with Pole Szymon Ładniak, fastest in first practice, out-qualifying Danish team-mate Martin Andersen.
Robin Jahr was fifth fastest in the second of the ROJA Velosters, whilst Vincent Radermecker put his Maurer Motorsport holden Astra in sixth.
Seventh-placed Max Gruhn, racing a new-spec Audi RS3 LMS, was the only other driver to be within a second of the pace out of the 12-car field.
Only 11 drivers posted a time, with ROJA Hyundai i30 N driver René Kircher set to start from 12th and last for race one after technical issues.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 18:15 CEST (17:15 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 27 |  |
Jonas KARKLYS | NordPass | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 8 | 1:36.947 | – |
| 2 | 26 |  |
Jessica BÄCKMAN | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 11 | 1:37.048 | 0.101 |
| 3 | 21 |  |
Szymon ŁADNIAK | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 1:37.138 | 0.191 |
| 4 | 19 |  |
Martin ANDERSEN | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 10 | 1:37.251 | 0.304 |
| 5 | 22 |  |
Robin JAHR | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai Veloster N TCR | 8 | 1:37.263 | 0.316 |
| 6 | 11 |  |
Vincent RADERMECKER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 8 | 1:37.623 | 0.676 |
| 7 | 13 | |
Max GRUHN | Gruhn Stahlbau Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR 2021 | 10 | 1:37.704 | 0.757 |
| 8 | 34 | |
Patrick SING | RaceSing | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 5 | 1:39.231 | 2.284 |
| 9 | 9 | |
Roland HERTNER | Liqui Moly Team Engstler | Honda Civic Type-R FK8 TCR | 7 | 1:39.363 | 2.416 |
| 10 | 38 | |
Kai ROSOWSKI | K-Ro Racing | Audi RS3 LMS TCR | 5 | 1:42.262 | 5.315 |
| 11 | 17 |  |
Michael MAURER | maurer motorsport | Holden Astra TCR | 10 | 1:44.826 | 7.879 |
| 12 | 8 | |
René KIRCHER | ROJA Motorsport by ASL Lichtblau | Hyundai i30 N TCR | 0 | No time | N/A |