Ekstrom snatches pole from Paffett

The Audi driver, who was the last to run in the four-way pole shootout, beat his Mercedes rival by just 0.066s, while championship leader Timo Scheider took third, just 0.088s off pole.

Ekstrom was the dominant force throughout qualifying, topping three of the four segments. In Q3, where only the top four progress, he was so strong that he was the only car that didn't opt to complete a second run, and he was still fastest despite the seven other drivers having another crack at his time.

But it was a closer affair in Q4, with Paffett and Scheider setting strong sector times that Ekstrom was only marginally quicker than by the end of the lap.

Paffett will have some help towards the front of the grid as his HWA team-mate Paul di Resta took fourth, having just edged Tom Kristensen in Q3 to make the top four.

There was a scare for the 2005 champion during qualifying though, as he was placed under investigation by the stewards after his team released him into the pitlane directly in front of Scheider in Q2.

Behind Kristensen, Oliver Jarvis put in another impressive performance in his 2008 Audi to take sixth, just ahead of the 2009 A4 of Martin Tomczyk.

Maro Engel was the top 2008 Mercedes in eighth, while Jamie Green was bumped out of the top eight in the dying seconds of Q2, and he will line up just ahead of Mike Rockenfeller on the fifth row.

The major casualty of qualifying was Bruno Spengler, who thought he was safe as he sat in the garage in the closing stages of Q1, but ended up being bumped down to 15th as several drivers improved in the last minute.

Pos  Driver              Car       Time
 1.  Mattias Ekstrom     Audi      1m32.525s
 2.  Gary Paffett        Mercedes  1m32.591s
 3.  Timo Scheider       Audi      1m32.613s
 4.  Paul di Resta       Mercedes  1m32.787s
 5.  Tom Kristensen      Audi      1m32.340s
 6.  Oliver Jarvis       Audi      1m32.504s
 7.  Martin Tomczyk      Audi      1m32.661s
 8.  Maro Engel          Mercedes  1m32.774s
 9.  Jamie Green         Mercedes  1m32.612s
10.  Mike Rockenfeller   Audi      1m32.763s
11.  Ralf Schumacher     Mercedes  1m32.779s
12.  Alexandre Premat    Audi      1m32.915s
13.  Markus Winkelhock   Audi      1m32.959s
14.  Katherine Legge     Audi      2m53.880s
15.  Bruno Spengler      Mercedes  1m33.568s
16.  Susie Stoddart      Mercedes  1m33.831s
17.  Mathias Lauda       Mercedes  1m33.915s
18.  Tomas Kostka        Audi      1m34.868s
19.  Christian Bakkerud  Audi      1m34.912s
20.  Johannes Seidlitz   Audi      1m35.436s