Red Bull Ring DTM: Wittmann leads Blomqvist on BMW front row

Team RMG driver Wittmann recorded a best time of 1m22.795s on his second lap of the 20-minute session, to edge out early leader and first practice pacesetter Blomqvist by a mere 0.019 seconds.

Audi pairing Adrien Tambay and Edoardo Mortara will line up on the second row of the grid for Saturday evening's first race, a tenth of a second down on Wittmann's effort.

Wittmann's team-mate Timo Glock was fifth having briefly led at the start of the session.

Glock led a trio of BMWs in the middle of the top 10, with Maxime Martin and Antonio Felix da Costa - the latter prioritising his DTM commitments over this weekend's Formula E round in Berlin - sixth and seventh.

Da Costa was the only driver to make significant progress on his second qualifying run, jumping from 11th onto the fourth row.

Championship leader Paul di Resta was eighth, having been squeezed down by da Costa's late improvement.

The Brit headed Martin Tomczyk and Mattias Ekstrom, who completed the top 10.

Gary Paffett pitted towards the end of the session having been unable to improve on his 23rd place, while fellow Mercedes driver Christian Vietoris propped up the field, having opted to attempt only one set of runs.

QUALIFYING TIMES