Mercedes’ Gary Paffett took his first pole position since the season finale of the 2015 season, in qualifying for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at the Moscow Raceway in Russia.
On a damp and drying track, following the washout in second practice, times continually improved throughout the frantic 20-minute qualifying session for the first race of the weekend.
Although BMW’s Timo Glock held the top spot early on with a time of 1:44.177, the times tumbled by more than three seconds over the course of the session.
In the end Paffett timed his last run to perfection, being one of the last drivers to cross the line to start a lap to go fastest with a lap of 1 minute 41.443 seconds in the final moments, having earlier also held the top time at just past the half-way mark in the session.
Fellow Mercedes racer Robert Wickens will line up alongside the Brit on the front row of the grid, but even he was a huge 0.605 seconds slower than his stable-mate.
Paul di Resta and Maximilian Götz made it a particularly strong qualifying result for Mercedes and will occupy the second row of the grid, having qualified in third and fourth respectively.
Audi’s Mattias Ekström will start from fifth, but even the experienced Swede was over a second slower than Paffett’s final pace in the session despite himself improving his time by over six tenths of a second at the very end.
The leading BMW driver was Maxime Martin in sixth, although the Belgian had held the top time with a minute left of the session. Unfortunately for the RBM driver he mis-timed his final run and missed the opportunity to start a new lap, leaving him to slide down the order in the final seconds.
Audio’s Timo Scheider and BMW’s Timo Glock were seventh and eighth respectively, with the former improving his time at the very end to improve from 21st to seventh, such was the volatility of the session.
DTM rookie Felix Rosenqvist was a superb ninth in his début qualifying session for Mercedes, with Audi’s Jamie Green completing the top ten.
Of note, current championship leader Marco Wittman could only manage 20th on the grid, as the BMW’s continued to struggle in the tricky conditions in Russia, with six of the eight Munich cars failing to crack the top ten.
Round 11 of the 2016 season takes place at 11:33 BST (12:33 CEST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:41.443 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.048 | 0.605 |
| 3 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.130 | 0.687 |
| 4 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ |  |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.164 | 0.721 |
| 5 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:42.450 | 1.007 |
| 6 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:42.506 | 1.063 |
| 7 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:42.631 | 1.188 |
| 8 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:42.631 | 1.188 |
| 9 | 88 | Felix ROSENQVIST | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:42.647 | 1.204 |
| 10 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:42.870 | 1.427 |
| 11 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:43.015 | 1.572 |
| 12 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:43.024 | 1.581 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:43.076 | 1.633 |
| 14 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:43.140 | 1.697 |
| 15 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:43.472 | 2.029 |
| 16 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:43.500 | 2.057 |
| 17 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:43.521 | 2.078 |
| 18 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:43.660 | 2.217 |
| 19 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:43.830 | 2.387 |
| 20 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:43.856 | 2.413 |
| 21 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:43.881 | 2.438 |
| 22 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 11 | 1:43.985 | 2.542 |
| 23 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:44.488 | 3.045 |
| 24 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 11 | 1:44.800 | 3.357 |