Legge promoted to fifth on grid

Jamie Green, Ralf Schumacher and Maro Engel all completed more than eight laps in the third segment of qualifying. Initially they were just prevented from progressing into the Q4 shootout for pole, but they were allowed to keep their times.

Their penalties only cause a minor change to the grid, dropping all three behind Legge. The British driver's fifth place is the highest starting position achieved by a female in the new DTM.

"Qualifying couldn't have gone any better, it was perfect," said Legge. "And I was sixth before the other guys did their extra laps, so I was hoping to at least get that place back."

Mercedes has admitted that it simply made a mistake in allowing those three cars to continue.

"The penalty is a shame, because more was possible," said Schumacher. "But these are the rules, and anyway, it's still my best qualifying of the year."

There was more bad news for Mercedes on Saturday evening, as the stewards confirmed that Paul di Resta had been penalised five places on the grid for a breach of parc ferme regulations, despite claims from his HWA team that nobody worked on the car when they should not have.