Gary Paffett took his second successive DTM pole in a row, along with his third of the season for race two at Circuit Park Zandvoort this weekend, posting a best lap time of a 1:30.225 around the 4.307-km circuit.
Philipp Eng makes his fourth front row start of the season, as the Austrian was the best of the other 17 drivers, 0.446 seconds off Paffett, with defending champion René Rast having his best qualifying session in seven sessions in third.
Despite an early off-track excursion at Tarzan corner, Pascal Wehrlein lines up against Rast on row two, ahead of Paul Di Resta, who made it thre from Stuttgart in the top five, showing Mercedes’ dominance in earnest this season.
Mike Rockenfeller was sixth fastest, ahead of the BMW duo of Bruno Spengler and Augusto Farfus, whilst Edoardo Mortara and Lucas Auer completing the top ten, with Daniel Juncadella 0.006 seconds adrift in 11th place.
Marco Wittmann will start alongside the Spaniard in 12th position in a very closely-fought session, with the two-time champion finding himself 0.730 seconds off Paffett’s pace.
Loïc Duval was 13th, ahead of Sweden’s Joel Eriksson, who was able to get out into the session with around five minutes remaining, after the Team RBM mechanics repaired his damaged M4 DTM after his hefty brush with the turn seven wall in free practice three.
Jamie Green would only muster as best as 15th place, ahead of Audi Sport stablemate Nico Müller, Timo Glock and Robin Frijns.
Frijns was unable to complete the session, due to an ongoing electrics issue that his RS5 DTM has been suffering with, which saw him not take part in the final practice session.
“We had a problem in FP3, where the car just stopped and the display just went off, which was an electric issue. It could have been anything, but we couldn’t find or resolve the issue,” admitted the Dutchman, who took his best finish of the season of fifth place yesterday.
“I tried to go out, but there were a lot of engine cut outs, due to the electric issue we are having. I was trying to do a lap, but I was losing too much time on the straight. I was being careful, as it’s not very good for the engine. It was getting more and more, so there was no sense to continue.”
The tenth race of the 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season gets underway at 1333 CET (BST + 1 hour), lasting for 55 minutes plus an additional lap.
Q1 results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:30.225 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:30.671 | 0.446 |
| 3 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:30.716 | 0.491 |
| 4 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:30.774 | 0.549 |
| 5 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:30.810 | 0.585 |
| 6 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:30.876 | 0.651 |
| 7 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:30.908 | 0.683 |
| 8 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:30.942 | 0.717 |
| 9 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:30.944 | 0.719 |
| 10 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:30.948 | 0.723 |
| 11 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 7 | 1:30.954 | 0.729 |
| 12 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:30.955 | 0.730 |
| 13 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:30.992 | 0.767 |
| 14 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 4 | 1:31.069 | 0.844 |
| 15 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:31.095 | 0.870 |
| 16 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:31.105 | 0.880 |
| 17 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:31.233 | 1.008 |
| 18 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 4 | 1:31.528 | 1.303 |