Nurburgring DTM: Marco Wittmann takes pole for BMW

Despite carrying maximum success ballast - making his BMW M4 up to 20kg heavier than the lightest of the Mercedes runners and 10kg heavier than all of the Audis - the current points leader was unstoppable in qualifying.

In Q2, he was a full 0.444 seconds ahead of the field, before taking pole with a 1m22.780s lap, the fastest ever DTM pole lap at the Nurburgring, in Q3.

Behind Wittmann there was a train of Audis. Edoardo Mortara returned to some qualifying form to grab a front row starting spot, while reigning champion Mike Rockenfeller was third fastest.

Jamie Green was fourth quickest, despite limiting his Q3 appearance to just a single flying lap right at the end of the session.

Timo Scheider and Miguel Molina were fifth and sixth respectively, while Daniel Juncadella made his first appearance in Q3 this season, finishing the session seventh, ahead of fellow Mercedes driver Paul di Resta.

Christian Vietoris was ninth fastest, the Mercedes driver having missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.001s, while Nico Muller failed to turn his promising practice form into a top eight spot and qualified 10th.

Mattias Ekstrom, who is currently second in the standings, endured a terrible start to the weekend by being knocked out in Q1.

With the circuit conditions constantly improving throughout the 13-minute session - all drivers started on wets before switching to slicks midway through - Ekstrom did not do enough on his all-important final lap, which left him 22nd.

He was joined on the sidelines after the first session by Antonio Felix da Costa, Joey Hand, Vitaly Petrov and Gary Paffett, who tumbled all the way from first to last as the circuit dried out in the dying minutes.

                                                         
Pos  Driver                  Team/Car        Time       Gap   
 1.  Marco Wittmann          RMG BMW        1m29.101s         
 2.  Edoardo Mortara         Abt Audi       1m29.555s  +0.145s
 3.  Mike Rockenfeller       Phoenix Audi   1m29.559s  +0.171s
 4.  Jamie Green             Rosberg Audi   1m29.613s  +0.216s
 5.  Timo Scheider           Phoenix Audi   1m29.616s  +0.268s
 6.  Miguel Molina           Abt Audi       1m29.710s  +0.383s
 7.  Daniel Juncadella       Mucke Mercedes 1m29.735s  +0.441s
 8.  Paul di Resta           HWA Mercedes   1m29.780s  +0.574s
 9.  Christian Vietoris      HWA Mercedes   1m23.338s  Q2     
10.  Nico Muller             Rosberg Audi   1m32.405s  Q2     
11.  Adrien Tambay           Abt Audi       1m23.421s  Q2     
12.  Maxime Martin           RMG BMW        1m23.495s  Q2     
13.  Robert Wickens          HWA Mercedes   1m23.565s  Q2     
14.  Augusto Farfus          RBM BMW        1m23.592s  Q2     
15.  Pascal Wehrlein         HWA Mercedes   1m23.593s  Q2     
16.  Timo Glock              MTEK BMW       1m23.961s  Q2     
17.  Bruno Spengler          Schnitzer BMW  1m23.770s  Q2     
18.  Martin Tomczyk          Schnitzer BMW  1m23.841s  Q2     
19.  Antonio Felix da Costa  MTEK BMW       1m27.479s  Q1     
20.  Joey Hand               RBM BMW        1m27.568s  Q1     
21.  Vitaly Petrov           Mucke Mercedes 1m27.714s  Q1     
22.  Mattias Ekstrom         Abt Audi       1m28.504s  Q1     
23.  Gary Paffett            HWA Mercedes   1m29.612s  Q1