Oschersleben DTM: Bruno Spengler beats Gary Paffett to pole

The Schnitzer BMW driver had been fourth quickest in Q3, meaning that he was the first man out in the single-lap Q4 shoot-out.

After setting a time of 1m20.916s, he watched as one-by-one Jamie Green, Gary Paffett and Dirk Werner all failed to beat his mark.

HWA Mercedes driver Paffett, who leads the championship by 16 points from Green and by 18 from Spengler, did enough to take second on the grid, 0.086s slower than his Canadian rival.

Green and Werner, the latter in the second Schnitzer M3, filled the second row.

Mattias Ekstrom was Audi's best representative in fifth in his Abt A5, while reigning champion Martin Tomczyk was sixth.

The RMG BMW driver will start 11th, however, thanks to a five-place grid penalty he is carrying over from Zandvoort.

Zandvoort winner Edoardo Mortara was next up in his Rosberg Audi with the A5s of Phoenix team-mates Mike Rockenfeller and Miguel Molina next up and Augusto Farfus right behind in his RBM BMW.

Ralf Schumacher was unfortunate to miss out on Q3, the HWA driver setting exactly the same time in Q2 as Rockenfeller, but staying behind as he had set the time later in the session.

The German, who survived a spin at Turn 6 near the end of Q1, will start 10th however, thanks to Tomczyk's grid penalty.

Twelfth will be Britain's Andy Priaulx, who took a trip onto the grass at Turn 3 on his first flying lap of Q1.

Spengler and Green provided the highlights of Q1 as the pair - who lay in the drop zone in 18th and 19th as the chequered flag came out - secured the top two spots on the timesheets with their final laps.

Roberto Merhi's Q1 started late when he stopped at the end of the pitlane at the start of the session to allow his Persson Mercedes mechanics to investigate a loose floor on his C-coupe. He later went off at Turn 6 and will start 19th.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car          Time       Gap
 1.  Bruno Spengler      Schnitzer BMW     1m20.916s
 2.  Gary Paffett        HWA Mercedes      1m21.002s  + 0.086s
 3.  Jamie Green         HWA Mercedes      1m21.226s  + 0.310s
 4.  Dirk Werner         Schnitzer BMW     1m21.911s  + 0.995s
 5.  Mattias Ekstrom     Abt Audi          1m20.927s  Q3
 6.  Martin Tomczyk*     RMG BMW           1m20.999s  Q3
 7.  Edoardo Mortara     Rosberg Audi      1m21.048s  Q3
 8.  Mike Rockenfeller   Phoenix Audi      1m21.059s  Q3
 9.  Miguel Molina       Phoenix Audi      1m21.155s  Q3
10.  Augusto Farfus      RBM BMW           1m21.949s  Q3
11.  Ralf Schumacher     HWA Mercedes      1m21.157s  Q2
12.  Andy Priaulx        RBM BMW           1m21.173s  Q2
13.  Robert Wickens      Mucke Mercedes    1m21.176s  Q2
14.  Filipe Albuquerque  Rosberg Audi      1m21.280s  Q2
15.  Timo Scheider       Abt Audi          1m21.286s  Q2
16.  Christian Vietoris  HWA Mercedes      1m21.583s  Q2
17.  Adrien Tambay       Abt Audi          1m21.654s  Q1
18.  Rahel Frey          Abt Audi          1m21.875s  Q1
19.  Roberto Merhi       Persson Mercedes  1m22.026s  Q1
20.  Joey Hand           RMG BMW           1m22.035s  Q1
21.  David Coulthard     Mucke Mercedes    1m22.169s  Q1
22.  Susie Wolff         Persson Mercedes  1m22.422s  Q1

* Five place grid penalty