Despite initial overcast conditions at the Nürburgring ahead of qualifying for the second DTM race of the weekend, defending champion Marco Wittmann secured a close-fought and fast-paced race to pole position over the frantic 20-minute session.
The Team RMG driver set his best effort of a 1:20.936 on his final attempt around the 3.697-km circuit, pushing leading Mercedes driver Paul Di Resta into second on the grid after the session finished.
Robert Wickens and Lucas Auer made it three Mercedes C63 AMG Coupés in the top four, as the pair will occupy the second row for the race, ahead of the next-best placed BMW driver Tom Blomqvist, who completed the top five.
Auer was not able to make further inroads into the pace set by Wittmann, who was the only driver to go under the 1m21s barrier, as well as struggling with the set-up of his Mercedes in the initial phase of qualifying.
Timo Glock was firmly in the mix to battle for pole position, as was Augusto Farfus, with the pair having set the fastest time at some point during the first half of the session.
However, as the pace increased each lap and with all cars out on track in the final two minutes, the pair would have to settle for sixth and seventh respectively, ahead of 2005 champion Gary Paffett, Bruno Spengler and Edoardo Mortara, who completed the top ten.
It was another trying session for Audi Sport, who were not represented in the top ten this time around, with Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green being the best-placed down in 11th place, 0.550 seconds off the blistering pace set by Wittmann.
With the top 16 drivers separated by just 0.893 seconds, it was another hard-fought affair, as Maxime Martin was the slowest of the BMW contingent, just 0.161 seconds off the top ten.
René Rast was 13th fastest, but the Audi Sport driver starts from last on the grid, following his five-place grid penalty for his clash with Maro Engel in race one, thereby promoting championship leader Mattias Ekström to his starting position on the grid.
The final race of the weekend gets underway at 15:18 local time (14:18 BST), lasting for 55 minutes plus one lap, with a mandatory pit stop required.
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:20.936 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:21.052 | 0.116 |
| 3 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:21.121 | 0.185 |
| 4 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:21.128 | 0.192 |
| 5 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:21.135 | 0.199 |
| 6 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:21.226 | 0.290 |
| 7 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:21.321 | 0.385 |
| 8 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:21.331 | 0.395 |
| 9 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:21.346 | 0.410 |
| 10 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:21.351 | 0.415 |
| 11 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:21.486 | 0.550 |
| 12 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:21.512 | 0.576 |
| 13 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:21.561 | 0.625 |
| 14 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:21.584 | 0.648 |
| 15 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:21.742 | 0.806 |
| 16 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:21.829 | 0.893 |
| 17 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:22.237 | 1.301 |
| 18 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:22.284 | 1.348 |