BMW Team RBM driver Sheldon van der Linde stunned the DTM grid to take race two pole at Zolder in only his second race weekend in the series.
The South African narrowly beat 2017 champion Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s René Rast by six-thousandths of a second, with a time of 1 minute 21.590 seconds.
It took five minutes before drivers started setting competitive times, as the cooler conditions required a focus on tyre warming.
Rast set the early pace, with Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Robin Frijns within a tenth.
Less than a minute later Van der Linde went quickest, knocking Rast off the top spot by a slender six-thousandths of a second.
After the first runs the top fifteen drivers were separated by a second.
With traffic being highly influential round the twisty 4km circuit, Rast headed out to make use of some clear running.
However, the Audi driver struggled to match van der Linde’s time and bailed to the pit lane.
The session was red flagged with less than four minutes to go when R-Motorsport’s Paul Di Resta stopped out on track. The session would be restarted with no big changes to the order.
Van der Linde will head the grid for this afternoons second race, alongside Rast.
Race one winner BMW Team RMR’s Philipp Eng heads the second row alongside local hero Frijns.
The second BMW Team RMR driver Timo Glock rounds out the top five, ahead of Mike Rockenfeller. The Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver showing improved pace from yesterday, 0.543 seconds off the pole time.
Championship leader and BMW Team RMG driver Marco Wittmann heads the fourth row, only nine-thousandths slower than Rockenfeller, ahead of Audi Sport Team WRT rookie Jonathan Aberdein.
Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green will line up ninth, 0.665 seconds off pole, alongside van der Linde’s teammate Joel Eriksson who set a time of 1 minute 22.291 seconds.
Jake Dennis was the fastest of the new R-Motorsport run Aston Martins in 13th, setting a time 1 minute 22.563 seconds.
Race two at Zolder starts at 13:30 CEST (12:30 BST)
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:21.590 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:21.596 | 0.006 |
| 3 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:21.714 | 0.124 |
| 4 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 1:21.733 | 0.143 |
| 5 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:21.803 | 0.213 |
| 6 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:22.133 | 0.543 |
| 7 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:22.142 | 0.552 |
| 8 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:22.246 | 0.656 |
| 9 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:22.255 | 0.665 |
| 10 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:22.291 | 0.701 |
| 11 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:22.426 | 0.836 |
| 12 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:22.433 | 0.843 |
| 13 | 76 | Jake DENNIS | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 10 | 1:22.563 | 0.973 |
| 14 | 21 | Pietro FITTIPALDI |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:22.582 | 0.992 |
| 15 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:22.613 | 1.023 |
| 16 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 11 | 1:23.103 | 1.513 |
| 17 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 10 | 1:23.703 | 2.113 |
| 18 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 6 | 1:24.088 | 2.498 |