Qualifying for the eighth race of the 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season saw Daniel Juncadella take his first DTM career pole position at the Norisring, amidst a red-flag stoppage with just over two minutes remaining.
Juncadella set his best lap of a 47.705 around the 2.3-km circuit, as Robin Frijns pulled over in his Audi RS5 DTM at Grundig, with smoke coming from the front of his car.
The Spaniard would not be pressured in the chase for pole position after the restart, and brought home a Mercedes 1-2-3-4-5, who were all split by 0.181 seconds at the end of the slightly-truncated session.
Paffett provisionally lines up alongside Juncadella on the front row for this afternoon’s race, but is currently under investigation for having impeded Marco Wittmann. The 2005 champion was found to have not does so, retaining his front row start.
Lucas Auer and Paul Di Resta completed the top four, ahead of race one winner Edoardo Mortara, who narrowly avoided damaging his C63 Coupé in his final attempt.
Bruno Spengler was the best of the BMW drivers in sixth, ahead of Wittmann, Joel Eriksson, Timo Glock and Philipp Eng, with no Audi drivers getting into the top ten.
Nico Müller was the closest driver from Ingolstadt in 11th, just 0.026 seconds behind Eng, with Jamie Green and René Rast taking 12th and 13th respectively.
Augusto Farfus was unable to move forwards in this session, as the Brazilian ends up starting 14th, and was 0.534 seconds off the pace set by Juncadella.
Final free practice pace setter Mike Rockenfeller was 15th, ahead of Frijns, Loïc Duval and 2015 champion Pascal Wehrlein, with the field split by 0.772 seconds.
The second race of the weekend at the Norisring gets underway at 1330 local time (BST + 1 hour), lasting for 55 minutes plus 1 lap.
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 47.705 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 22 | 47.739 | 0.034 |
| 3 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 47.834 | 0.129 |
| 4 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 21 | 47.882 | 0.177 |
| 5 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 23 | 47.886 | 0.181 |
| 6 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 21 | 47.926 | 0.221 |
| 7 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 23 | 47.932 | 0.227 |
| 8 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 22 | 47.939 | 0.234 |
| 9 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 22 | 47.963 | 0.258 |
| 10 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 23 | 47.997 | 0.292 |
| 11 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 48.023 | 0.318 |
| 12 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 24 | 48.123 | 0.418 |
| 13 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 48.235 | 0.530 |
| 14 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 23 | 48.239 | 0.534 |
| 15 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 23 | 48.264 | 0.559 |
| 16 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 23 | 48.291 | 0.586 |
| 17 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 48.357 | 0.652 |
| 18 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 22 | 48.477 | 0.772 |