Timo Glock took pole position and led a BMW top four in qualifying for Saturday’s first DTM race at Zandvoort, after rain came over the Dutch circuit in the final minutes of the session.
Rain was forecast to hit the Dutch circuit in the morning qualifying session, but the first 14 minutes remained dry allowing drivers to get a number of ‘banker’ laps under their belts.
The top time then traded between BMW’s Marco Wittmann, Augusto Farfus and Glock before drivers headed back to the pits at the half-way stage to change tyres and make further adjustments to their cars.
Glock had put in a lap of 1 minute 27.823 seconds just before the mid-point in the session, and that ultimately proved to be good enough to allow the German to hold on to pole and take his second pole position of the season.
Farfus ended up in second with his best qualifying result of the season, ahead of Wittmann in third and Maxime Martin in fourth, as BMW held the advantage at the crucial moment in the session when the rain began to come down.
Audi’s René Rast, who is just one point adrift of the championship lead, was fifth ahead of Loïc Duval in sixth, who secured a best-ever DTM qualifying result.
Brit Tom Blomqvist put his BMW in seventh, ahead of compatriot Gary Paffett in eighth, who was the best Mercedes driver in a dismal session for the Stuttgart marque.
The top ten was completed by Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller and points leader Mattias Ekström.
Crucially for Mercedes, their best-placed driver in the championship, Lucas Auer, ended up down in 16th position as his team mis-judged the conditions and the Austrian was unable to get a quick enough lap in early in the session.
With five minutes left in the session, a number of drivers opted to take to the circuit to explore the conditions, given that rain is forecast to fall in Saturday’s first race at 14:48 CEST (13:48 BST).
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 16 | Timo GLOCK |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:27.823 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:27.907 | 0.084 |
| 3 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:28.065 | 0.242 |
| 4 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:28.155 | 0.332 |
| 5 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 1:28.287 | 0.464 |
| 6 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:28.331 | 0.508 |
| 7 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:28.351 | 0.528 |
| 8 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:28.375 | 0.552 |
| 9 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 1:28.468 | 0.645 |
| 10 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:28.547 | 0.724 |
| 11 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:28.567 | 0.744 |
| 12 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:28.652 | 0.829 |
| 13 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:28.656 | 0.833 |
| 14 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 1:28.751 | 0.928 |
| 15 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:28.819 | 0.996 |
| 16 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 6 | 1:28.861 | 1.038 |
| 17 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 1:28.875 | 1.052 |
| 18 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 5 | 1:28.983 | 1.160 |