Ralf Schumacher has taken pole position at the infamous Norisring circuit, ahead of series leader Bruno Spengler securing a 1-2-3 for Mercedes-Benz.
Schumacher was in the top four in each of the four qualifying segments, taking his Mercedes-Benz C-Klasse to the first pole position of his DTM career.
The top Audi was Martin Tomczyk, the only Audi to get into the final qualifying segment. Team mate Mattias Ekstrom, in his first DTM race since his appearance in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, qualified just behind in fifth place - though did set the fastest time of all the drivers in the second segment.
Reigning champion Timo Scheider will start tenth, and former-F1 driver David Coulthard fell at the second segment and will start 13th.
