Tomczyk on wet Spielberg pole

The Phoenix Audi driver was the third of four drivers to go out in Q4, his 1m40.001s lap not only knocking Oliver Jarvis off the top spot, but also proving good enough to take pole.

It is the first time since the Zandvoort event in 2009 that an old-spec car has taken pole position, Tomczyk's time of 1m40.001s being 0.352s quicker than that of Abt driver Jarvis.

Behind Jarvis - who qualified on the front row for the first time since that Zandvoort race - Ralf Schumacher's HWA Mercedes and Edoardo Mortara's Rosberg Audi filled the second row.

Mortara had been quickest in Q3 - despite a wild spin at the Jochen Rindt Kurve - but could not challenge Tomczyk's time in Q4 as the rain had began to fall even heavier by the time he took to the track. Fourth still represented his best DTM qualifying performance.

Behind fifth placed Mike Rockenfeller (Abt) were Mucke Mercedes driver Maro Engel - for whom sixth will mark his best start of the year - Timo Scheider (Abt) and HWA's British pair Gary Paffett and Jamie Green.

All set their Q3 times after Q2 had been red-flagged due to the amount of water on the track. Q2 was abandoned with all 14 remaining drivers allowed to progress to an expanded Q3.

Before the red flag, Q1 had thrown up a bizarre incident involving Abt team-mates Mattias Ekstrom and Miguel Molina at the pit entrance.

After nosing off the track and into the pit entry lane, Ekstrom aquaplaned onto the grass and then into the tyres, causing heavy damage to the front of his A4 and ending his session.

Just as his car was rebounding out of the barrier, Molina's similarly Red Bull-liveried car had the same moment, just missing Ekstrom and then brushing the tyres gently a few meters further on. While the Spaniard was able to get back on-track, damage to the front of his car restricted his lap times.

Molina will start the race 17th with Ekstrom one place further back - the two-time champion's worst grid spot since the Lausitz race in 2001.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car          Time       Gap
 1.  Martin Tomczyk        Phoenix Audi      1m40.001s
 2.  Oliver Jarvis         Abt Audi          1m40.353s  + 0.352s
 3.  Ralf Schumacher       HWA Mercedes      1m40.587s  + 0.586s
 4.  Edoardo Mortara       Rosberg Audi      1m40.990s  + 0.989s
 5.  Mike Rockenfeller     Abt Audi          1m38.667s  (Q3)
 6.  Maro Engel            Mucke Mercedes    1m38.685s  (Q3)
 7.  Timo Scheider         Abt Audi          1m38.755s  (Q3)
 8.  Gary Paffett          HWA Mercedes      1m38.787s  (Q3)
 9.  Jamie Green           HWA Mercedes      1m38.827s  (Q3)
10.  Christian Vietoris    Persson Mercedes  1m38.866s  (Q3)
11.  Filipe Albuquerque    Rosberg Audi      1m38.882s  (Q3)
12.  Bruno Spengler        HWA Mercedes      1m39.372s  (Q3)
13.  Renger van der Zande  Persson Mercedes  1m39.530s  (Q3)
14.  David Coulthard       Mucke Mercedes    1m39.797s  (Q3)
15.  Susie Stoddart        Persson Mercedes  1m40.928s  (Q1)
16.  Rahel Frey            Phoenix Audi      1m41.385s  (Q1)
17.  Miguel Molina         Abt Audi          1m41.567s  (Q1)
18.  Mattias Ekstrom       Abt Audi          1m47.903s  (Q1)