Nurburgring DTM: BMW's Augusto Farfus claims pole

RBM BMW driver Farfus was the third of four drivers to set a time in the single-lap Q4 shoot-out for pole, his 1m23.296s lap putting him on the top spot and keeping him there when Marco Wittmann failed to knock him off by 0.149 seconds.

Wittmann's second place on the grid was initially under threat, however, as the MTEK BMW driver was investigated for a breach of article 30.9 of the sporting regulations by turning into his pit box too early.

Officials ultimately ruled that no action was necessary and he kept his position.

Miguel Molina was Audi's highest-placed driver in third, the Phoenix man making Q4 for the first time since 2011 and joining Edoardo Mortara's Rosberg RS5 on row two.

Gary Paffett led a train of Mercedes drivers in fifth, the HWA driver followed by Daniel Juncadella, who took the best qualifying spot of his DTM career in sixth.

Robert Wickens and Christian Vietoris were next up with Mattias Ekstrom and Spengler - who was never a factor in Q3 - following on.

Rockenfeller was expected to qualify strongly after setting the pace in Q1, but was knocked into the drop zone when both Juncadella and Molina moved up the order late in Q2.

His final lap was 0.011s too slow to move the championship leader up the order.

Spengler's late Q1 flyer meant that practice pacesetter Filipe Albuquerque missed out on progressing by just a hundredth of a second while two-time champion Timo Scheider and Britain's Andy Priaulx were also eliminated.

Priaulx's RMG BMW team-mate Martin Tomczyk will start 20th, meaning the 2011 champion has failed to make it out of Q1 for four consecutive races.

This weekend's DTM race at the Nurburgring will be streamed live on AUTOSPORT.com. To see the title fight continue between Mike Rockenfeller and Bruno Spengler, log on from 12:15 UK time on Sunday.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car        Time       Gap
 1.  Augusto Farfus      RBM BMW         1m23.296s
 2.  Marco Wittmann      MTEK BMW        1m23.445s  +0.149s
 3.  Miguel Molina       Phoenix Audi    1m23.451s  +0.155s
 4.  Edoardo Mortara     Rosberg Audi    1m23.648s  +0.352s
 5.  Gary Paffett        HWA Mercedes    1m23.514s  Q3
 6.  Daniel Juncadella   Mucke Mercedes  1m23.617s  Q3
 7.  Robert Wickens      HWA Mercedes    1m23.688s  Q3
 8.  Christian Vietoris  HWA Mercedes    1m23.688s  Q3
 9.  Mattias Ekstrom     Abt Audi        1m23.803s  Q3
10.  Bruno Spengler      Schnitzer BMW   1m23.822s  Q3
11.  Mike Rockenfeller   Phoenix Audi    1m23.555s  Q2
12.  Jamie Green         Abt Audi        1m23.574s  Q2
13.  Timo Glock          MTEK BMW        1m23.665s  Q2
14.  Adrien Tambay       Abt Audi        1m23.684s  Q2
15.  Pascal Wehrlein     Mucke Mercedes  1m23.687s  Q2
16.  Joey Hand           RBM BMW         1m23.737s  Q2
17.  Filipe Albuquerque  Rosberg Audi    1m23.914s  Q1
18.  Timo Scheider       Abt Audi        1m24.091s  Q1
19.  Dirk Werner         Schnitzer BMW   1m24.198s  Q1
20.  Martin Tomczyk      RMG BMW         1m24.225s  Q1
21.  Roberto Merhi       HWA Mercedes    1m24.359s  Q1
22.  Andy Priaulx        RMG BMW         1m24.505s  Q1