René Rast further reduced the championship gap to Nico Müller, taking the deficit to just seven points, by claiming pole position for the first DTM race of the weekend at Zolder.
Rast had set the pace in Friday’s free practice sessions at the Belgian circuit, and the reigning champion continued his strong form in Saturday morning’s qualifying session.
The German put in the fastest time in the closing seconds, edging out WRT’s Ferdinand von Habsburg by just 0.034 seconds, as the Austrian equalled his best qualifying performance of the season thus far.
Title contender Robin Frijns was third fastest thanks to a late improvement, the Abt Sportsline driver being 0.260 seconds slower than Rast.
Jonathan Aberdein was BMW’s best performer in fourth, just 0.016 seconds further back, ahead of the second Audi Sport Team Rosberg car of Jamie Green in fifth.
WRT’s Harrison Newey was just behind his fellow Brit in sixth, ahead of BMW’s Philipp Eng in seventh.
In the title fight, crucially Nico Müller could only manage eighth fastest, over half a second off the pace, as the championship leader missed out on any qualifying points and saw his advantage cut further.
The top ten was completed by WRT’s Fabio Scherer, equalling his best grid position of the season, and Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller.
Despite qualifying on pole at the circuit last weekend, BMW’s Timo Glock was just 13th in the first session this weekend, just under a second off the pace.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 13:30 CEST (12:30 BST).
Qualifying results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:18.843 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:18.877 | 0.034 |
| 3 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.103 | 0.260 |
| 4 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:19.119 | 0.276 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.140 | 0.297 |
| 6 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:19.163 | 0.320 |
| 7 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:19.317 | 0.474 |
| 8 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:19.412 | 0.569 |
| 9 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.435 | 0.592 |
| 10 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.451 | 0.608 |
| 11 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:19.687 | 0.844 |
| 12 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.697 | 0.854 |
| 13 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:19.813 | 0.970 |
| 14 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:19.964 | 1.121 |
| 15 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 11 | 1:20.000 | 1.157 |
| 16 | 19 | Benoît TRÉLUYER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:22.189 | 3.346 |