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Spengler on pole, Scheider only 16th

Bruno Spengler led a Mercedes one-two in DTM qualifying at Dijon, as the championship fight was blown wide open with leader Timo Scheider down in 16th

Paul di Resta backed his team-mate up in the crucial fourth segment of qualifying to complete the lockout, while the Audis of Tom Kristensen and Mattias Ekstrom had to settle for row two.

The session took place with drizzle in the air, leading to constantly changing track conditions in each of the four segments.

That caught out several drivers through qualifying, but Scheider was the most-high profile to struggle as he battled a wet set-up on a dry track at the end of Q1.

With the Audi driver out of action early on it was a golden opportunity for Ekstrom and Gary Paffett to get up front and have a chance of prolonging the title fight beyond this weekend, but neither was able to grab top spot.

While Ekstrom (who is 12 points back) at least did enough to make the pole shoot-out, Paffett (14 adrift) missed the best of the track conditions in Q3 and could manage no better than eighth.

Mercedes appeared to be in a very strong position heading into Q3, with only two Audis getting into the top eight. However, Ekstrom and Kristensen made sure that two Audis also made it into the top four, minimising the damage.

Maro Engel and Ralf Schumacher were initially on course to make Q4 before Spengler and di Resta snuck in at the end, but the pair will line up together on the third row with each taking the best qualifying performance of their DTM careers.

Jamie Green had starred in the first two segments in his 2008-spec C-class, but after struggling like Paffett in Q3 he will line up just ahead of his countryman in seventh.

Pos  Driver              Car       Time
 1.  Bruno Spengler      Mercedes  1m19.914s
 2.  Paul di Resta       Mercedes  1m20.446s
 3.  Tom Kristensen      Audi      1m20.908s
 4.  Mattias Ekstrom     Audi      1m21.149s
 5.  Maro Engel          Mercedes  1m21.666s
 6.  Ralf Schumacher     Mercedes  1m21.768s
 7.  Jamie Green         Mercedes  1m22.152s
 8.  Gary Paffett        Mercedes  1m22.312s
 9.  Martin Tomczyk      Audi      1m10.224s
10.  Oliver Jarvis       Audi      1m10.240s
11.  Mathias Lauda       Mercedes  1m10.252s
12.  Alexandre Premat    Audi      1m10.371s
13.  Susie Stoddart      Mercedes  1m10.477s
14.  Markus Winkelhock   Audi      1m10.564s
15.  Mike Rockenfeller   Audi      1m10.998s
16.  Timo Scheider       Audi      1m11.195s
17.  Katherine Legge     Audi      1m11.702s
18.  Tomas Kostka        Audi      1m12.140s
19.  Johannes Seidlitz   Audi      1m12.767s
20.  Christian Bakkerud  Audi

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