Hockenheim DTM: Miguel Molina heads Audi 1-2-3 in qualifying

Molina and team-mate Mattias Ekstrom staged an impressive battle for pole in the closing minutes of Q3, Molina replacing the former champion at the top with a 1m33.316s with 90 seconds of the sessions remaining.

Ekstrom fell just short of retaking top spot at the flag, his final effort a 1m33.332s, hading Molina pole for the second time in a Hockenheim finale, the Spaniard fastest in qualifying at the Baden-Wurttemberg circuit back in 2011.

"It always feel really good," Molina said. "We had some tough moments during the season, so this always helps to keep the confidence."

Edoardo Mortara, who was just eighth quickest in Q2, rounded out the Audi hat-trick by qualifying third.

"After free practice I was worried, because we couldn't make the car work," said the Italian. "Q1 didn't look that good, Q2 was better, and in Q3 we did enough for P3. I think the progression was quite impressive."

Augusto Farfus, the only BMW driver to make it into Q3, qualified fourth, ahead of Jamie Green and Pascal Wehrlein, who was the only Mercedes driver to make it into Q3.

Phoenix Audi team-mates Mike Rockenfeller and Timo Scheider qualified seventh and eighth.

Antonio Felix da Costa qualified ninth, after Mortara bumped him below the Q3 cut-off right at the flag. Paul di Resta will start 10th.

Meanwhile, Marco Wittmann failed to make it through to Q3 for the first time in 2014, the practice pace-setter managing just 13th best in Q2.

At the other end of the grid, Timo Glock - the man who won this race 12 months ago - will start from 19th, after failing to get out of Q1. He was joined in the drop zone by fellow BMW drivers Martin Tomczyk (20th) and Joey Hand (21st), the American managing just a single lap in Q1 after spending most of the session stranded in the garage.

The Mercedes pair of Christian Vietoris and Vitaly Petrov round out the grid, qualifying 22nd and 23rd respectively.