DTM Nurburgring: Lucas Auer beats Marco Wittmann to pole position

In a wet-to-dry session, Auer timed his final run to perfection and managed a last-gasp 1m25.968s effort to usurp Wittmann at the chequered flag.

The two wet-weather practice sessions that had started the race weekend were both headed by Mercedes, but conditions changed in time for the start of qualifying, with the rain stopping and the track surface drying rapidly.

The initial runs were still made on the wet tyres, with Robert Wickens eventually assuming control for Mercedes on a 1m33.520s as he headed Audi's Mike Rockenfeller and three of his fellow Silver Arrows.

By that point, however, several teams were ready to gamble on the slicks - and heading into the final minutes, the dry tyres were now the preferred choice.

Wickens' benchmark was initially surpassed by Audi duo Loic Duval and Rene Rast, before Timo Glock found almost three seconds with a lap of 1m29.278s.

But the times dropped further still and, as the chequered flag fell, Marco Wittmann was now in control on a 1m26.067s - only to be beaten at the last moment by Auer.

Wickens was 0.4s off the pace in third, ahead of Augusto Farfus (BMW), practice pacesetter Paul di Resta (Mercedes) and Tom Blomqvist (BMW).

Audi, saddled with the heaviest car on the grid under the performance weights system, struggled considerably.

Championship contender Rast finished as the Ingolstadt marque's top runner in seventh, just ahead of Glock, who was narrowly denied a crucial final run at the chequered flag.

Mercedes' Maro Engel and BMW's Maxime Martin rounded out the top 10, ahead of Audi's championship leader Mattias Ekstrom and his stablemate Rockenfeller.

Results