Martin Tomczyk took his first DTM pole position for nearly two years with a brilliant display of wet-weather driving in qualifying at Spielberg.
The Phoenix Audi driver was the third of four drivers to go out in Q4, and his 1m40.001s lap not only knocking Oliver Jarvis off the top spot, but also proving good enough to take pole.
It is the first time since the Zandvoort event in 2009 that an old-spec car has taken pole position, Tomczyk's time of 1m40.001s being 0.352sec quicker than that of Abt driver Jarvis.
Behind Jarvis – who qualified on the front row for the first time since that Zandvoort race – Ralf Schumacher's HWA Mercedes and Edoardo Mortara's Rosberg Audi filled the second row. Mortara had been quickest in Q3 despite a wild spin at the Jochen Rindt Kurve, but although he could not replicate his form in Q4, fourth still represented his best DTM qualifying performance.
Behind fifth placed Mike Rockenfeller (Abt) were Mucke Mercedes driver Maro Engel – for whom sixth will mark his best start of the year – Timo Scheider (Abt) and HWA's British pair Gary Paffett and Jamie Green.
All set their Q3 times after Q2 had been red-flagged due to the amount of water on the track. Q2 was abandoned with all 14 remaining drivers allowed to progress to an expanded Q3.
Before the red flag, Q1 had thrown up a bizarre incident involving Abt teammates Mattias Ekstrom and Miguel Molina at the pit entrance. After nosing off the track and into the pit entry lane, Ekstrom aquaplaned onto the grass and then into the tyres, causing heavy damage to the front of his A4 and ending his session.
Just as his car was rebounding out of the barrier, Molina's similarly Red Bull-liveried car had the same moment, just missing Ekstrom and then brushing the tires gently. While the Spaniard was able to get back on-track, damage to the front of his car restricted his lap times. Molina will start the race 17th with Ekstrom one place farther back – the two-time champion's worst grid spot since the Lausitz race in 2001.