Augusto Farfus has taken pole position for tomorrow's first World Touring Car race at Oschersleben in a qualifying session disrupted by rain.
The two BMW Team RBM drivers, three Chevrolet drivers and four SR-Sport drivers all made it through to Q2, along with Zengo Dension driver Norbert Michelisz. The rain began to arrive during the early part of Q2, where BMW drivers Augusto Farfus and Andy Priaulx went fastest. Chevrolet's Rob Huff improved on his second attempt to move onto the front row alongside Farfus. On his next lap, as the rain started to fall heavier, Huff ran wide and collected teammate Alain Menu as he rejoined, causing them both to spin.
Gabriele Tarquini was also caught out by the conditions, hitting the barrier at Turn 5, prompting a red flag with three minutes left on the clock. The session was not restarted, handing Farfus his second pole position of the season. He will share the front row with Huff, with Priaulx third and Menu fourth. Michelisz was fifth fastest, but will start 15th tomorrow due to a 10-place grid penalty carried over from the previous round at Brno. Tarquini will therefore start fifth, ahead of Tom Coronel, championship leader Yvan Muller and Jordi Gene. Tiago Monteiro did not take his place in Q2 after clipping the tyres at the chicane during Q1 and damaging the front-right wheel on his SEAT.
Stefano D'Aste was the fastest Independent in 13th, ahead of Proteam teammate Segio Hernandez and German driver Franz Engstler. Yukinori Taniguchi, who has replaced Harry Vaulkhard at Bamboo Engineering, was 19th out of the 21 runners.