Scheider on pole at Oschersleben

The Audi driver, who has topped every session so far this weekend, was nearly eliminated in the first part of qualifying when the right-front corner of his bodywork came loose after he hit a kerb.

He got back out on track with just one chance at making it through to the second segment, and calmly set the fastest time.

"To be on pole again is a great feeling," said Scheider. "We've been able to bring out performance from Hockenheim to this track, it has been perfect since the first lap again. The first session was not ideal, but it was important to stay cool."

Tom Kristensen pipped the German to the top spot in the second session, but the Dane had to settle for second on the grid in the session that mattered.

Kristensen said: "I knew there was a chance for pole, but I didn't quite have the speed of Timo. I'm on the inside for the first corner though, so it's not too bad."

The third part of qualifying featured 14 drivers instead of the usual eight, after the second segment was red flagged with just 90 seconds remaining.

Several drivers, including Martin Tomczyk and Paul di Resta, had not made it into the top eight when Alexandre Premat crashed exiting the penultimate corner, but officials decided to let all of the drivers through to the pole-deciding session.

Tomczyk took advantage of his second chance to snap up third place on the grid, while Oliver Jarvis starred again in his one-year-old Audi, taking fourth position.

Bruno Spengler was the top Mercedes runner in fifth, but the Canadian was half a second adrift of Scheider's pole time.

"P5 is disappointing, but anything is still possible," said Spengler. "We had a good long run in practice, so we can be there if we make a good start. I'm confident we can still make the podium."

Di Resta and Jamie Green were fractionally slower than their HWA teammate, but behind them, championship leader Mattias Ekstrom could only manage eighth, failing to match the pace he set earlier in the weekend.

Ralf Schumacher improved on his Hockenheim performance by making it through to the second session for the first time in his DTM career, but he had to settle for 13th on the grid as the slowest runner in the final session.

Starting grid:

Pos  Driver             Make      Time
 1.  Timo Scheider      Audi      1:21.146
 2.  Tom Kristensen     Audi      1:21.278 + 0.132
 3.  Martin Tomczyk     Audi      1:21.598 + 0.452
 4.  Oliver Jarvis      Audi      1:21.714 + 0.568
 5.  Bruno Spengler     Mercedes  1:21.718 + 0.572
 6.  Paul Di Resta      Mercedes  1:21.740 + 0.594
 7.  Jamie Green        Mercedes  1:21.757 + 0.611
 8.  Mattias Ekstrom    Audi      1:21.772 + 0.626
 9.  M.Winkelhock       Audi      1:21.970 + 0.824
10.  Bernd Schneider    Mercedes  1:22.025 + 0.879
11.  M.Rockenfeller     Audi      1:22.255 + 1.109
12.  Gary Paffett       Mercedes  1:22.692 + 1.546
13.  Ralf Schumacher    Mercedes  1:23.166 + 2.020
14.  Alexandre Premat   Audi      1:21.996 + 0.850
15.  Maro Engel         Mercedes  1:22.666 + 1.520
16.  Mathias Lauda      Mercedes  1:22.913 + 1.767
17.  Christijan Albers  Audi      1:23.001 + 1.855
18.  Susie Stoddart     Mercedes  1:23.087 + 1.941
19.  Katherine Legge    Audi      1:23.300 + 2.154