Qualifying: Schneider bins it, then wins it

Spots of rain in the opening phases of the 45-minute session had seen times nearly 10 seconds slower than the free practice benchmark of 1m00.053s set - surprise, surprise... - by Schneider around the short circuit.

But with a dry line appearing in the dying minutes, timing was everything. Schneider finally stopped the clocks at 1m00.828s. just 0.163s ahead of Dumbreck. However, the Scot, DTM rookie Patrick Huisman, Uwe Alzen and Audi's Laurent Aiello had all also sat momentarily atop the pile in the closing stages.

Schneider had looked far from being a pole contender in the opening minute of the session. Like most of the field, the reigning champion had rushed out of the pits to set a banker times as on as the session began, but rammed Darren Turner from behind as the Englishman slowed to warm the brakes on his Team Rosberg Merc. A new bonnet was fitted to the silver Mercedes, but it stayed in the pits until the closing minutes.

"Darren braked unexpectedly," said Schneider, "but I should have been more careful. Maybe I was a little bit asleep? It's certainly not entirely his fault, but it wasn't something I was expecting him to do on his first lap out."

Driver to driver discussions would have to wait, though, since Turner was immediately in action carrying out passenger rides in McLaren's two-seater after the session finished.

New rules have put DTM qualifying on a par with Formula 1: each driver is allowed only 12 laps, including in- and out-laps, in which to qualify, and timing is everything. But the drizzle at the beginning meant nearly all of Mercedes' big guns had conserved their allocation and could put in a multi-lap blast in those hectic closing minutes.

When the chequered flag finally appeared, Schneider and Dumbreck were ahead of Tomas Jager (2000-spec Mercedes), Pedro Lamy (2000-spec Mercedes) and Turner (2000-spec Mercedes), with Alzen down to eighth, such was the speed with which things changed in the final minutes.

"I'm happy with second," said Dumbreck. "I hope this is a sign of things to come for the future. We gambled on the track drying out and it paid off."

But the new rules mean that Schneider's pole isn't yet guaranteed for the 100-kilometre feature race. Firstly, the field, starting in qualifying order, races over 35-kilometres to decide the order for the points-paying feature race.

After their tribulations in untimed practice, Opel made a rally of sorts, with Manuel Reuter finishing the session sixth overall, just two spots of DTM rookie Alain Menu. The reigning BTCC champion had been second overall at one point, but it was an excellent debut for the Opel Euroteam driver.

Reuter said: "I thought it would be tough to break into the top 10, but we profited a little from circumstances. I don't think I will stay sixth tomorrow, though, if there are normal conditions."

Speaking of former BTCC champions, Laurent Aiello finished best of the Audis in sixth overall, despite holding pole for the middle portion of the session. The Frenchman's car looked particularly stable when the session was at its dampest.

"I was surprised, I wasn't even pushing when it was wet," he said. "We had planned to come in to change tyres at the end but we haven't had time to fit a radio in the car, so I didn't know when to come in."

With the cold weather scheduled to continue into Sunday, albeit in the form of snow, perhaps Aiello will be the dark horse for tomorrow's 35-kilometre sprint and 100-kilometre pitstop race.

With the damp conditions catching many out, five drivers failed to get in on their time set - and because of exceeding the permissible 12 laps, in the case of Mattias Ekstrom - but with the prospect of Jo Winkelhock and Michael Bartels not starting the season-opener looming, series organiser ITR is likely to let them race.

Click here for the qualifying times.