DTM Oschersleben: Bruno Spengler tops rain-hit qualifying
Bruno Spengler took his second DTM pole position of the year after coming out on top of a rain-affected qualifying session at Oschersleben
The Canadian, who was also on pole at the circuit in his title-winning campaign last year, was the third driver in Q4 to set a time in the single-lap pole shoot-out.
The Schnitzer BMW driver's time of 1m20.140s knocked Jamie Green's Abt Audi off the top spot and was too good to be challenged by championship leader Mike Rockenfeller too.
Spengler's advantage over Green - who took his first front-row grid spot since joining Audi last winter - was 0.123 seconds.
Augusto Farfus will start third in his RBM BMW with Rockenfeller's Phoenix Audi fourth.
Dirk Werner, who occupied a Q4 spot until Spengler knocked him out of it late in Q3, will start fifth in the second of the Schnitzer M3s.
Filipe Albuquerque finally turned his outstanding practice form of recent months into a strong qualifying performance. He equalled his best grid spot of the year in sixth.
Mercedes driver Gary Paffett, who is making his 100th DTM start this weekend, was one place further back, but will drop to 12th on the grid once his grid penalty is applied.
Miguel Molina, Martin Tomczyk and Timo Scheider were the remaining drivers to make it into Q3.
While Q3 and Q4 were held in dry conditions, the first two parts of qualifying were subjected to changeable weather.
Rain in Q2 meant that times set in the opening five minutes - when the track was at its driest - decided which drivers progressed.
Adrien Tambay, Robert Wickens and Timo Glock were not among them; each member of the trio having an off of one sort or another in the slippery conditions.
There was even worse news for Rockenfeller's main title rival Christian Vietoris. After a dismal practice showing, he could only set the 21st-fastest time in Q1.
For a while it looked like Rockenfeller would join him near the tail of the field, but the title favourite found speed on his final lap of the session to climb from 18th to second and secure his progress into Q2.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m20.140s 2. Jamie Green Abt Audi 1m20.263s +0.123s 3. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m20.442s +0.302s 4. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m20.444s +0.304s 5. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW 1m20.229s Q3 6. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m20.306s Q3 7. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi 1m20.371s Q3 8. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 1m20.467s Q3 9. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m20.761s Q3 10. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m21.161s Q3 11. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m21.185s Q2 12. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m20.333s Q2 13. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m21.277s Q2 14. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Mercedes 1m21.351s Q2 15. Marco Wittmann MTEK BMW 1m21.489s Q2 16. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m21.540s Q2 17. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m21.077s Q1 18. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m21.173s Q1 19. Andy Priaulx RMG BMW 1m21.181s Q1 20. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m21.400s Q1 21. Roberto Merhi HWA Mercedes 1m21.517s Q1 22. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m21.258s Q1
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