Mercedes’ Lucas Auer added to his championship lead this morning in qualifying, as the 22-year-old took another three points, having secured pole position for the first race at the Lausitzring.
The Austrian’s best effort came in the last 60 seconds of the 20-minute qualifying session, as he beat stablemate Robert Wickens by 0.104 seconds, posting a 1:16.193 in the process. Wickens’ best effort was just a minute before Auer lit up the timing screens.
It was also a better showing from the BMW ranks, as Team RBM’s Maxime Martin was third fastest, with both Timo Glock and Bruno Spengler able to put their M4 DTMs into fifth and sixth, behind the fastest Audi of René Rast.
Nico Müller’s best effort on his last flying lap was enough to put him ahead of Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller for seventh, whilst Gary Paffett and Edoardo Mortara completed the top ten.
Defending champion Marco Wittmann will start this afternoon’s race down in 11th place, ahead of the Audis of Jamie Green and Mattias Ekström, in what was a very close-fought qualifying session.
Maro Engel was 14th fastest, 0.582 seconds behind the blistering pace set by pole setter Auer, in front of Augusto Farfus.
Loïc Duval was the slowest of the Audi contingent in 16th place, ahead of Paul Di Resta and Bruno Spengler, who complete the line-up for the third race of the 2017 DTM season.
Race 1 gets underway at 1448 local time, lasting for 55 minutes plus one lap, with all drivers having to make a mandatory pitstop.
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:16.193 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:16.298 | 0.105 |
| 3 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:16.404 | 0.211 |
| 4 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:16.420 | 0.227 |
| 5 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:16.424 | 0.231 |
| 6 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:16.473 | 0.280 |
| 7 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 15 | 1:16.484 | 0.291 |
| 8 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 15 | 1:16.506 | 0.313 |
| 9 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:16.510 | 0.317 |
| 10 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:16.542 | 0.349 |
| 11 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:16.551 | 0.358 |
| 12 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:16.560 | 0.367 |
| 13 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 15 | 1:16.751 | 0.558 |
| 14 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:16.775 | 0.582 |
| 15 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:16.804 | 0.611 |
| 16 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:16.981 | 0.788 |
| 17 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:17.020 | 0.827 |
| 18 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:17.097 | 0.904 |