Tom Kristensen will start from pole position at Oschersleben on Sunday as he bids for his third DTM win at the German track.
The Dane comfortably took first place in the four-way shootout for pole, which was contested exclusively by the Abt Sportsline 2009-spec Audis.
Timo Scheider had just edged Martin Tomczyk by 0.001 seconds to sit on pole very briefly, before Kristensen came round three tenths of a second faster to grab top spot.
Two-time champion Mattias Ekstrom was the slowest of the Abt drivers in the fourth segment of qualifying, meaning that he will line up on the second row of the grid with Tomczyk.
Audi's cause was boosted further by Oliver Jarvis completing the top five in his 2008-spec A4, pushing the top Mercedes of Bruno Spengler down to sixth.
Spengler was the only Mercedes driver to make it through to the third part of qualifying for the top eight, as Audi dominated proceedings throughout the session.
Alexandre Premat and Mike Rockenfeller were next up in seventh and eighth, while Paul di Resta was the second-best Mercedes in ninth.
The Scot will be joined on row five by Norisring winner Jamie Green, while Mercedes' struggles were highlighted by championship leader Gary Paffett only qualifying 12th on the grid, after complaining of a general lack of grip on his final set of tyres.
Pos Driver Car Time Gap
1. Tom Kristensen Audi 1'21.352
2. Timo Scheider Audi 1'21.666 +0.314
3. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1'21.667 +0.315
4. Mattias Ekström Audi 1'21.873 +0.521
5. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1'22.135 +0.465
6. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1'22.249 +0.579
7. Alexandre Prémat Audi 1'22.279 +0.609
8. M.Rockenfeller Audi 1'22.298 +0.628
9. Paul Di Resta Mercedes 1'22.373 +0.489
10. Jamie Green Mercedes 1'22.405 +0.521
11. Maro Engel Mercedes 1'22.512 +0.628
12. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1'22.582 +0.698
13. Markus Winkelhock Audi 1'22.769 +0.885
14. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1'22.849 +0.965
15. Katherine Legge Audi 1'23.305 +1.083
16. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 1'23.353 +1.131
17. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1'23.431 +1.209
18. Tomas Kostka Audi 1'24.122 +1.900
19. Johannes Seidlitz Audi 1'25.212 +2.990