Fabrizio Giovanardi has taken pole position for the European Touring Car Cup at the Salzburgring in Austria, beating nearest rival Pepe Oriola by a tenth of a second in qualifying.
Giovanardi (Hartmann Honda) and Oriola (SUNRED SEAT) traded top spot throughout the first half of the session, which began on a damp but drying track.
At the halfway mark Giovanardi was on top, just as the rain began to come down again. This allowed the Italian to hold on to top spot with Oriola unable to improve his time.
Tomas Engstrom was third in his Honda Accord, just under a second away from Giovanardi. Ibrahim Okyay was fourth in his BMW, two and a half seconds away from pole. He was just over a tenth quicker than fellow BMW driver Mehdi Bennani. Giovanardi's teammate Wolfgang Treml was sixth, ahead of Jens-Guido Weimann and Peter Rikli.
Michel Nykjaer spent much of the session in the garage while his team replaced the starter on his Chevrolet Cruze. By the time he got out onto the track the rain had begun, leaving him down in 11th and the last of the Super 2000 runners.
In 12th overall was the top Super 1600 entrant Thomas Muhlenz in his LPG-powered Ford Fiesta. Just behind him was Aleksander Tosic, the top Super Production driver in his Honda Civic.
Qualifying results:
| Pos | Class | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | S2000 | Fabrizio Giovanardi | Honda Accord Euro R | 1:30.612 | 11 | |
| 2 | S2000 | Pepe Oriola | SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI | 1:30.716 | 0.104 | 8 |
| 3 | S2000 | Tomas Engstrom | Honda Accord Euro R | 1:31.538 | 0.926 | 9 |
| 4 | S2000 | Ibrahim Okyay | BMW 320si | 1:33.307 | 2.695 | 10 |
| 5 | S2000 | Mehdi Bennani | BMW 320si | 1:33.420 | 2.808 | 11 |
| 6 | S2000 | Wolfgang Treml | Honda Accord Euro R | 1:33.849 | 3.237 | 10 |
| 7 | S2000 | Jens-Guido Weimann | BMW 320si | 1:34.917 | 4.305 | 6 |
| 8 | S2000 | Peter Rikli | Honda Civic FD | 1:36.270 | 5.658 | 9 |
| 9 | S2000 | Andreas Kast | Audi A4 | 1:38.105 | 7.493 | 9 |
| 10 | S2000 | Christian Fischer | Honda Accord Euro R | 1:38.931 | 8.319 | 8 |
| 11 | S2000 | Michel Nykjaer | Chevrolet Cruze LT | 1:40.862 | 10.250 | 5 |
| 12 | S1600 | Thomas Muhlenz | Ford Fiesta ST (LPG) | 1:44.213 | 13.601 | 8 |
| 13 | SP | Aleksandar Tosic | Honda Civic Type-R | 1:44.592 | 13.980 | 8 |
| 14 | S1600 | Ulrike Krafft | Ford Fiesta 1.6 16V | 1:45.272 | 14.660 | 8 |
| 15 | S1600 | Igor Skuz | Ford Fiesta 1.6 16V | 1:45.530 | 14.918 | 10 |
| 16 | S1600 | Klaus Bingler | Ford Fiesta ST | 1:48.749 | 18.137 | 6 |
| 17 | S1600 | Erwin Lukas | Ford Fiesta ST | 1:52.270 | 21.658 | 4 |
| 18 | SP | Fabio Fabiani | BMW 320i E46 | 1:55.261 | 24.649 | 10 |
