Mercedes’ Gary Paffett helped his championship challenge by securing pole position for the second Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters contest at the Red Bull Ring.
Paffett, who currently sits second in the standings, set a time of 1:23.404 in the second half of the session, edging out Audi’s Nico Müller by 0.028s.
Following rain overnight, the track rubbered in throughout the 20-minute session, and championship leader Paul Di Resta was another late improver, heading the second row with Edoardo Mortara for company.
Mortara had set the early pace in the session, but fell back in the latter stages as times tumbled in the final minutes.
Pascal Wehrlein enjoyed a strong qualifying showing to line up fifth, making it four Mercedes in the top five positions.
BMW’s Joel Eriksson lines up sixth as the ahead of fellow BMW racer Timo Glock, while race one winner René Rast was left frustrated to only manage eighth position while title rivals Paffett and Di Resta are in the top three.
Daniel Juncadella, who had his race one win stripped of him yesterday [22 September] with a time penalty for accelerating too early on the restart, lines up in ninth, with Philip Eng completing the top ten.
Lucas Auer will start race two from 14th, after he lost out on track time with an issue at the start of qualifying two meaning he missed out on seven minutes of action.
Series debutant and five-time World Rally champion Sebastian Ogier again qualified last, this time 1.296s off the pole time, but only two tenths adrift of nearest rival Loic Duval.
Race two at the Red Bull Ring is scheduled to get underway at 13:30 CEST (12:30 BST).
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:23.404 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:23.432 | 0.028 |
| 3 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:23.632 | 0.228 |
| 4 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:23.712 | 0.308 |
| 5 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 14 | 1:23.748 | 0.344 |
| 6 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:23.773 | 0.369 |
| 7 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:23.853 | 0.449 |
| 8 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:23.866 | 0.462 |
| 9 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 14 | 1:23.885 | 0.481 |
| 10 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:23.969 | 0.565 |
| 11 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:24.014 | 0.610 |
| 12 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:24.040 | 0.636 |
| 13 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:24.070 | 0.666 |
| 14 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:24.133 | 0.729 |
| 15 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:24.185 | 0.781 |
| 16 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:24.250 | 0.846 |
| 17 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:24.422 | 1.018 |
| 18 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:24.452 | 1.048 |
| 19 | 17 | Sébastien OGIER | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:24.700 | 1.296 |