Zandvoort DTM: Wittmann beats title contenders to pole position

The 23-year-old German was the third-fastest driver in Q3 and went to the top of the timesheets in the one-lap shootout in 1m30.894s.

He then watched as first Timo Scheider and then Farfus failed to beat his time, ensuring the first pole for both himself and the rookie MTEK team.

Farfus, who needs to take eight points out of Rockenfeller on Sunday to keep the title fight alive to the Hockenheim finale, will start second with the Phoenix Audi driver third and Scheider's Abt RS5 fourth.

Farfus's RBM team-mate Joey Hand was an excellent fifth with Filipe Albuquerque a spot further back in his Rosberg Audi.

Both Albuquerque's team-mate Edoardo Mortara, and Abt driver Adrien Tambay, were on course to make Q4 after two sectors of their final Q3 efforts.

But both strangely lost time during the final part of the lap, ensuring that Audi stablemate Rockenfeller remained in the Q4 spots.

Qualifying a career-best eighth - in between the two Audis - was Timo Glock, who ensured that the rookie MTEK team got both its BMWs into Q3 for the first time.

Miguel Molina qualified 10th; the Phoenix Audi driver having pulled himself out of the drop zone after the chequered flag went out in both Q1 and Q2 to continue his good recent run of qualifying performances.

Mattias Ekstrom and Gary Paffett were victims of Molina's late charge in Q2 and will start 11th and 12; Paffett in the best of the Mercedes.

Next up will be Dirk Werner, who ran wide on his final lap of Q2 and damaged the left-rear corner of his BMW.

Werner's team-mate Bruno Spengler fared even worse and qualified 16th, which will become 18th once the grid penalty and benefit Christian Vietoris and Jamie Green a spot each.

Nurburgring race winner Robert Wickens will start last after putting two wheels on the grass at the Arie Luyendykbocht on his final effort in Q1.

Pos Driver              Car              Time        Gap
 1. Marco Wittmann      MTEK BMW         1m30.894s
 2. Augusto Farfus      RBM BMW          1m30.979s  +0.085s
 3. Mike Rockenfeller   Phoenix Audi     1m31.325s  +0.431s
 4. Timo Scheider       Abt Audi         1m32.524s  +1.630s
 5. Joey Hand           RBM BMW          1m31.439s  Q3
 6. Filipe Albuquerque  Rosberg Audi     1m31.443s  Q3
 7. Edoardo Mortara     Rosberg Audi     1m31.460s  Q3
 8. Timo Glock          MTEK BMW         1m31.614s  Q3
 9. Adrien Tambay       Abt Audi         1m31.621s  Q2
10. Miguel Molina       Phoenix Audi     1m32.106s  Q2
11. Mattias Ekstrom     Abt Audi         1m31.382s  Q2
12. Gary Paffett        HWA Mercedes     1m31.414s  Q2
13. Dirk Werner         Schnitzer BMW    1m31.442s  Q2
14. Pascal Wehrlein     Mucke Mercedes   1m31.445s  Q2
15. Andy Priaulx        RMG BMW          1m31.539s  Q2
16. Bruno Spengler      Schnitzer BMW    1m31.546s  Q2 *
17. Christian Vietoris  HWA Mercedes     1m32.055s  Q1
18. Jamie Green         Abt Audi         1m32.067s  Q1
19. Martin Tomczyk      RMG BMW          1m32.088s  Q1
20. Daniel Juncadella   Mucke Mercedes   1m32.145s  Q1
21. Robert Wickens      HWA Mercedes     1m32.241s  Q1
22. Roberto Merhi       HWA Mercedes     1m32.357s  Q1

* Will drop two places after penalty.