António Félix da Costa ended his final qualifying session of his three-year stint in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters by taking a second successive pole position at the Hockenheim season finale this afternoon.
The Portuguese driver, who will now be supported by BMW in Formula E, was head and shoulders about the rest, storming towards a blistering lap time of a 1:32.525, beating Mercedes Team ART Gary Paffett by just 0.014 seconds.
Team RBM’s Tom Blomqvist was third in one of the closest-fought qualifying sessions this season, with all 24 cars split by 0.755 seconds. Maxime Martin and points leader Marco Wittmann made it four BMWs in the top five.
Drama struck again for Edoardo Mortara, as the Italian had a technical issue with the right front of his Audi RS5 DTM, which saw him in the pits for the majority of the session.
However, the Team Abt Sportsline driver was able to put in a pretty competitive two-lap run in the dying moments, that saw him just 0.028 seconds off his title rival.
Robert Wickens was able to recoup his losses somewhat from yesterday, as the Canadian was the next best-placed of the Mercedes drivers in 7th, ahead of Timo Glock, Christian Vietoris and Jamie Green, who completed the top ten.
Augusto Farfus and Bruno Spengler were just outside the top ten in 11th and 12th respectively, as the top ten was covered by just 0.293 seconds, as the times rapidly dropped under the sunshine.
Lucas Auer was ahead of final free practice pace setter Nico Müller for 13th, with Felix Rosenqvist 15th.
The Swede was under investigation by the stewards for a potential push start from the pit stop area, and has subsequently been fined 1,000 Euros.
Adrien Tambay and Mike Rockenfeller were 16th and 17th fastest, ahead of Paul Di Resta, with former champions Martin Tomczyk and Timo Scheider all the way down in 19th and 20th for their respective final start of their DTM careers.
Daniel Juncadella’s difficult weekend continued, as the Spaniard was down the order in 21st, ahead of race one winner Miguel Molina.
It was a different story for René Rast, who now lines up on the back row alongside Maximilian Götz.
The last performance weight adjustment again sees Mercedes heaviest, with an increase in 5 kilos to 1,120kgs, based on the lap time set by Paffett. Audi lose five kilos, making them the lightest cars on the grid by 2.5kgs from BMW, who also gain five kilos, putting them at 1,122.5kgs per M4 DTM.
The final and title-deciding race of the 2016 DTM season starts at 1518 CEST (BST + 1), lasting for 60 minutes plus one lap.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:32.525 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:32.539 | 0.014 |
| 3 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:32.589 | 0.064 |
| 4 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:32.601 | 0.076 |
| 5 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:32.616 | 0.091 |
| 6 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 1:32.644 | 0.119 |
| 7 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:32.769 | 0.244 |
| 8 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:32.805 | 0.280 |
| 9 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:32.810 | 0.285 |
| 10 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:32.818 | 0.293 |
| 11 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:32.821 | 0.296 |
| 12 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:32.858 | 0.333 |
| 13 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:32.888 | 0.363 |
| 14 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:32.911 | 0.386 |
| 15 | 88 | Felix ROSENQVIST |  |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:32.929 | 0.404 |
| 16 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:32.938 | 0.413 |
| 17 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:32.956 | 0.431 |
| 18 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:32.990 | 0.465 |
| 19 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:33.002 | 0.477 |
| 20 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:33.007 | 0.482 |
| 21 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:33.059 | 0.534 |
| 22 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:33.082 | 0.557 |
| 23 | 72 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:33.158 | 0.633 |
| 24 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:33.280 | 0.755 |