DTM Nurburgring: Marco Wittmann on pole for race one

Auer took his maiden pole at the Nurburgring in 2015 and repeated the feat on Saturday ahead of the shorter 40-minute race amongst the Eifel Mountains.

However, the Austrian received his third warning of the season at the previous round at Moscow Raceway for obstructing Nico Muller, and was subsequently handed a five-place grid penalty, moving him to the third row of the grid in sixth.

Jamie Green, who endured a torrid weekend at the Nurburgring last year, set the pace early in the session with a time of 1m23.161s, before everyone took to the pits for fresh rubber.

As the mad dash towards the flag began it was Auer who set the fastest time of all, bettering Green's provisional time by two-and-a-half tenths to seize pole for the third time in his DTM career.

Wittmann followed him over the line but could only muster enough for second, his time 0.128 seconds off the Mucke driver's effort.

BMW RBM's Tom Blomqvist chased the top two, trailing Wittmann by just over a tenth, while Green's earlier effort was good enough to hold on to a second-row start.

Edoardo Mortara threatened to snatch pole after setting the fastest middle sector of all as the flag fell, but he ended up fifth fastest - and fourth on the grid - after a scrappy end to the lap.

Daniel Juncadella lines up fifth, with the penalised Auer sixth and Felix Rosenqvist in seventh; the Swede continuing his strong start to his DTM career after deputising for new Manor F1 driver Esteban Ocon in Moscow.

Ex-F1 duo Timo Glock and Paul di Resta were split by Bruno Spengler, with the trio rounding out the top 10.

Robert Wickens' 12-point gap to Wittmann in the championship looks set to increase, with the HWA Mercedes man qualifying in a lowly 13th position.

RACE ONE GRID