Valencia DTM: Augusto Farfus gets first pole as title contenders struggle

Farfus topped three of the four portions of qualifying in his RBM-run M3, going to the head of the timesheets in the single-lap Q4 in 1m26.446s.

When Adrien Tambay, the only man who could potentially have denied Farfus glory, broke the timing beam in 1m26.789s a minute later and wound up fourth, the Brazilian's maiden DTM pole was confirmed.

Farfus became the first South American driver to take a DTM pole since Johnny Cecotto - also in a BMW - at the Nurburgring 20 years ago.

Edoardo Mortara was second fastest, ahead of his Rosberg Audi team-mate Filipe Albuquerque and Tambay's Abt-run A5. The Italian was initially under investigation for cutting a corner in Q1, but was later cleared of any rules infringement.

Mike Rockenfeller was the best of the drivers who failed to make Q4 and will start fifth in his Phoenix Audi. Behind him Britain's Andy Priaulx took the best grid spot of his DTM career in sixth.

Abt duo Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekstrom were next up with Dirk Werner and Miguel Molina completing the top 10.

A disastrous day for Mercedes featured six of its eight C-coupes being eliminated in Q1. Among them was Green's HWA machine, which was knocked out of the Q2 spots thanks to a late flyer from Tomczyk.

Green's championship-leading team-mate Paffett was another to snatch a Q2 spot on his final lap, but could progress no further and will start 16th, four places behind Spengler's Schnitzer BMW.

Mucke driver Robert Wickens was, for the first time, the top Mercedes qualifier in 14th, while Rahel Frey took her best grid spot of the year a place further back in her Abt Audi.

Former grand prix drivers David Coulthard and Ralf Schumacher will start 21st and 22nd.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car          Time       Gap
 1.  Augusto Farfus      RBM BMW           1m26.446s
 2.  Edoardo Mortara     Rosberg Audi      1m26.756s  + 0.310s
 3.  Filipe Albuquerque  Rosberg Audi      1m26.894s  + 0.448s
 4.  Adrien Tambay       Abt Audi          1m26.981s  + 0.535s
 5.  Mike Rockenfeller   Abt Audi          1m26.789s  Q3
 6.  Andy Priaulx        RBM BMW           1m26.824s  Q3
 7.  Timo Scheider       Abt Audi          1m26.849s  Q3
 8.  Mattias Ekstrom     Abt Audi          1m26.936s  Q3
 9.  Dirk Werner         Schnitzer BMW     1m27.039s  Q3
10.  Miguel Molina       Phoenix Audi      1m27.040s  Q3
11.  Martin Tomczyk      RMG BMW           1m26.813s  Q2
12.  Bruno Spengler      Schnitzer BMW     1m26.818s  Q2
13.  Joey Hand           RMG BMW           1m26.977s  Q2
14.  Robert Wickens      Mucke Mercedes    1m27.128s  Q2
15.  Rahel Frey          Abt Audi          1m27.260s  Q2
16.  Gary Paffett        HWA Mercedes      1m27.288s  Q2
17.  Roberto Merhi       Persson Mercedes  1m27.377s  Q1
18.  Jamie Green         HWA Mercedes      1m27.380s  Q1
19.  Christian Vietoris  HWA Mercedes      1m27.454s  Q1
20.  Susie Wolff         Persson Mercedes  1m27.533s  Q1
21.  David Coulthard     Mucke Mercedes    1m28.012s  Q1
22.  Ralf Schumacher     HWA Mercedes      1m28.090s  Q1