Gary Paffett took pole position for the ninth race of the 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season at Circuit Park Zandvoort, with the Briton relatively unchallenged during the first qualifying session of the weekend.
The 2005 champion set his best effort of a 1:30.778 around the 4.307-km circuit just after the five minute mark, ahead of second practice pace setter Pascal Wehrlein.
Both Paul di Resta and Lucas Auer went sideways at the exit of turn 12 during the 20-minute session, but would make it a top four lock out for Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM, with all four split by 0.285 seconds.
Timo Glock made it into the top five behind Auer, but was ahead of Marco Wittmann, who makes it a BMW Motorsport third row for this afternoon’s race.
Robin Frijns, on home soil, was the best of the Audi Sport drivers in seventh, leading fellow Ingolstadt stablemates Nico Müller and René Rast, whilst Augusto Farfus completed the top ten.
Mike Rockenfeller will start in 11th place, ahead of Bruno Spengler, even though the 2012 champion set the exact lap time, but Rockenfeller starts 11th, by having posted it earlier in the session.
Philipp Eng was just 0.014 seconds outside of the top ten, but will start behind Spengler and ahead of Daniel Juncadella, who took another trip through the gravel in the first half of the session.
Joel Eriksson starts behind the Spaniard in 15th place, ahead of Loïc Duval, who has the current DTM lap record, Jamie Green and Edoardo Mortara, who suffered an intial delay, due to a brake bias issue.
The first race of the DTM weekend at Zandvoort at Zandvoort starts at 1330 CEST (BST + 1 lap), lasting for 55 minutes plus one lap, with all drivers having to make a mandatory pitstop.
Qualifying result
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:30.778 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:30.838 | 0.060 |
| 3 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:30.980 | 0.202 |
| 4 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:31.063 | 0.285 |
| 5 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:31.217 | 0.439 |
| 6 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:31.337 | 0.559 |
| 7 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:31.375 | 0.597 |
| 8 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 10 | 1:31.424 | 0.646 |
| 9 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:31.461 | 0.683 |
| 10 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:31.469 | 0.691 |
| 11 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:31.477 | 0.699 |
| 12 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 9 | 1:31.477 | 0.699 |
| 13 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:31.482 | 0.704 |
| 14 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 8 | 1:31.507 | 0.729 |
| 15 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:31.526 | 0.748 |
| 16 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:31.623 | 0.845 |
| 17 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 9 | 1:31.761 | 0.983 |
| 18 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 9 | 1:31.967 | 1.189 |