Hakkinen takes crucial pole

The Finn snatched pole from the 2006-specification Audi of Mike Rockenfeller in the dying seconds of qualifying, but Rockenfeller did hang on to take a remarkable front-row slot in his older machinery.

The Mercedes drivers appear to have benefited from the difference in success ballast of 14 kilograms compared to Hockenheim, as Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green both made the top five in the 2007-spec C-Class.

Spengler may have been able to improve his position, but he ruined his final bid for pole when his car got out of shape going into turn one and he lost half a second.

Timo Scheider had set the pace in the first two sections of qualifying, but he was slower in the final session and had to settle for sixth place ahead of Martin Tomczyk.

Gary Paffett achieved his aim of getting into the final sector of qualifying, but the 2005 champion locked up and went straight on at the first corner on his final run, which meant that he was unable to improve on eighth position.

Christian Abt missed out on making the top eight session by just four hundredths of a second, and he will start ninth ahead of reigning champion Bernd Schneider, who had to sit out much of the second sector of qualifying after he damaged his car with an off at the chicane.

Audi stand in Frank Biela's difficult comeback weekend continued when he was penalised for failing to slow down in a yellow-flag situation in free practice. As a result, his 18th place will be turned into 20th and last.

Super Pole:

Pos  Driver           Car                    Time
 1.  Hakkinen M.      AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:22.456
 2.  Rockenfeller M.  Audi A4 DTM            1:22.530
 3.  Spengler B.      AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:22.625
 4.  Ekstrom M.       Audi A4 DTM            1:22.682
 5.  Green J.         AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:22.791
 6.  Scheider T.      Audi A4 DTM            1:22.831
 7.  Tomczyk M.       Audi A4 DTM            1:22.935
 8.  Paffett G.       AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:23.134

Second session:

Pos  Driver           Car                    Time
 9.  Abt C.           Audi A4 DTM            1:22.899
10.  Schneider B.     AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:22.909
11.  Di Resta P.      AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:23.152
12.  Lauda M.         AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:23.296
13.  Margaritis A.    AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:23.338
14.  Carroll A.       Audi A4 DTM            1:23.394

First session:

Pos  Driver           Car                    Time
15.  La Rosa D.       AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:23.386
16.  Luhr L.          Audi A4 DTM            1:23.400
17.  Werner M.        Audi A4 DTM            1:23.420
18.  Biela F.         Audi A4 DTM            1:23.694
19.  Stoddart S.      AMG Mercedes C-Klasse  1:23.897
20.  Ickx V.          Audi A4 DTM            1:24.468