Audi’s Miguel Molina continued his dominance at Oschersleben, securing his third pole position in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters ahead of BMW’s Marco Wittmann and Audi team-mate Adrien Tambay.
Spaniard Molina was on top in the all-important Q3 session, posting first a lap of 1:20.040 before immediately improving it to a 1:20.007 – the fastest lap of the weekend. Both laps would have been good enough to give the Abt Sportsline driver pole position, with second-placed Wittmann more than half a second behind.
The pole is the third of Molina’s career, with the 25-year-old now in his fifth season in the German series.
BMW’s rookie António Félix da Costa was fourth fastest, with a late lap elevating him up the order. He fared better than his BMW Team MTEK team-mate Timo Glock though, with the German going out in Q1 after power-steering problems continued from the morning’s practice session.
Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Timo Scheider and Mike Rockenfeller were fifth and sixth fastest, ahead of BMW Team Schnitzer’s Bruno Spengler and Audi Sport Team Abt’s Edoardo Mortara in seventh and eighth.
Just as in the opening round, Augusto Farfus missed out on entry into Q3 and will start from ninth on the grid for Sunday’s race.
Mercedes-Benz had no presence in Q3 once again, with youngster Pascal Wehrlein again the best-placed driver for the manufacturer, with the German qualifying in tenth. Indeed of the five cars who went out in Q1, four of them were Mercedes, suggesting little improvement from the season opener.
Jamie Green will start from 11th, despite the Brit being third fastest in both practice and in Q1. He will be joined on the sixth row of the grid by fellow Audi racer Mattias Ekström.
In total only three Mercedes drivers made it into Q2, with Christian Vietoris and Gary Paffett unable to go any faster than 17th and 18th on the grid for the second race of the season.
Round 2 takes place at 12:33 BST on Sunday (13:33 CEST).
Top ten times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 8 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 4 | 1:20.007 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 23 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 6 | 1:20.516 | 0.509 |
| 3 | 16 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 4 | 1:20.519 | 0.512 |
| 4 | 18 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 2 | 1:20.582 | 0.575 |
| 5 | 2 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 5 | 1:20.668 | 0.661 |
| 6 | 1 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 1:20.676 | 0.669 |
| 7 | 9 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 2 | 1:20.703 | 0.696 |
| 8 | 15 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 3 | 1:21.113 | 1.106 |
| The below times are from Q2: | ||||||||
| 9 | 3 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:20.663 | 0.652 |
| 10 | 25 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 7 | 1:20.668 | 0.657 |