Kristensen scores pole for Audi

Green, who had previously taken four of the last five poles, was on top again with a minute to go, when Kristensen produced a spectacular flying lap to grab pole by the narrowest of margins.

Although Green was unable to respond, Mercedes' pace is all the more impressive given that there is a 20-kilo difference between it and the works Audis, and Oschersleben is regarded to suit the A4 well.

"I'm very happy," said Kristensen, who also took pole here last year but stalled at the start. "I'm not surprised to be on pole again, and I'm pleased to beat Jamie, because he's been on pole for every race this year and now I've beaten him to one.

"I was very aggressive over the kerbs in Turns 1 and 2, and although the car bumped around a lot, I knew it would count in favour of the laptime."

Green, who has yet to win a DTM race despite his four poles, said: "Everyone says I should try starting somewhere different! It was very close between myself and Tom, but overall I'm very happy with second."

Bruno Spengler took a best-ever third starting position, ahead of former Formula One stars Mika Hakkinen and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Series leader Bernd Schneider could only manage the sixth fastest time, ahead of the Audis of Martin Tomczyk and Frank Stippler.

Stippler was the fastest 2005-spec car, but surprisingly knocked out former champion Mattias Ekstrom in the second round of qualifying in his 2006-spec car. Ekstrom will start ninth.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver                 Make      Time
 1.  Tom Kristensen         Audi      1:19.264
 2.  Jamie Green            Mercedes  1:19.273  + 0.009
 3.  Bruno Spengler         Mercedes  1:19.513  + 0.249
 4.  Mika Hakkinen          Mercedes  1:19.561  + 0.297
 5.  Heinz-Harald Frentzen  Audi      1:19.820  + 0.556
 6.  Bernd Schneider        Mercedes  1:19.876  + 0.612
 7.  Martin Tomczyk         Audi      1:19.973  + 0.709
 8.  Frank Stippler         Audi      1:20.480  + 1.216
 9.  Mattias Ekstrom        Audi      1:19.929  + 0.665
10.  Christian Abt          Audi      1:20.025  + 0.761
11.  Alexandros Margaritis  Mercedes  1:20.087  + 0.823
12.  Timo Scheider          Audi      1:20.123  + 0.859
13.  Pierre Kaffer          Audi      1:20.397  + 1.133
14.  Jean Alesi             Mercedes  1:20.441  + 1.177
15.  Daniel la Rosa         Mercedes  1:20.747  + 1.483
16.  Stefan Mucke           Mercedes  1:20.774  + 1.510
17.  Mathias Lauda          Mercedes  1:21.367  + 2.103
18.  Susie Stoddart         Mercedes  1:21.432  + 2.168
19.  Vanina Ickx            Audi      1:21.960  + 2.696
20.  Olivier Tielemans      Audi      1:22.425  + 3.161