Audi’s Robin Frijns stole pole position for the opening DTM race of the season at Spa-Francorchamps, claiming his first pole in the series in the final minute, pipping team-mate Nico Müller by 0.118 seconds.
Müller had set the early pace in the session, with the tiems largely unchanged through the middle part of the short 20-minute qualifying.
With two minutes to go, defending champion René Rast went quickest with a lap of 2 minutes 5.889 seconds, just before Müller went quickest less than a minute later, shaving a further tenth off.
But it was Frijns who pipped both on his last lap in the final minute, posting a 2 minute 5.625 seconds lap time to edge out his Swiss team-mate by 0.118 seconds.
It is the first DTM pole of the Dutchman’s career, as he enters into his third season in the championship.
Frijns and Müller’s improvements left Rast in third, 0.264 seconds adrift, ahead of Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller in fourth.
The leading BMW driver was South African Sheldon van der Linde in fifth, 0.617 seconds adrift, as the Munich marque struggled to match Audi’s pace in the dry.
BMW Team RMG’s Timo Glock was sixth, ahead of Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Loïc Duval in seventh, who was the first driver just over a second adrift, and BMW’s two-time champion Marco Wittmann in eighth.
Completing the top ten were BMW’s Austrian duo Lucas Auer and Philipp Eng.
Jamie Green was the leading Brit in 11th, 1.432 seconds off the pace in his Audi.
Team WRT’s Fabio Scherer was the best of the newcomers in 12th, and also the best of the independent Belgian team’s drivers.
Former formula 1 driver Robert Kubica was just 14th, over two seconds off the pace in his ART-run BMW, ahead of WRT’s Harrison Newey in 15th, the last of the drivers to post a time.
WRT’s Ferdinand von Habsburg failed to post a time due to his earlier accident in practice.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 13:33 CEST (12:33 BST).
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 2:05.625 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 2:05.743 | 0.118 |
| 3 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 6 | 2:05.889 | 0.264 |
| 4 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 2:06.000 | 0.375 |
| 5 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 2:06.242 | 0.617 |
| 6 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 2:06.358 | 0.733 |
| 7 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 2:06.677 | 1.052 |
| 8 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 2:06.750 | 1.125 |
| 9 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 2:06.752 | 1.127 |
| 10 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 7 | 2:06.833 | 1.208 |
| 11 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 2:07.057 | 1.432 |
| 12 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 2:07.525 | 1.900 |
| 13 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 2:07.753 | 2.128 |
| 14 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 2:07.870 | 2.245 |
| 15 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 7 | 2:08.453 | 2.828 |
| 16 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 0 | No time | N/A |