Bruno Spengler scored his fourth pole position from five DTM rounds in 2011 as he led a Mercedes 1-2-3 in qualifying at the Norisring.
Having been third quickest in Q3 the Canadian went second in the final Q4 shootout, beating first-to-run Gary Paffett by just under two tenths of a second.
Jamie Green was next to run but could not beat either of his HWA teammates. Mattias Ekstrom was the final man having topped Q3, but the Abt Audi man would have to settle for fourth behind the Mercedes trio.
A rain shower hit the Nuremburg street circuit half way through the Q3 session, effectively ending the session early. That left Ralf Schumacher, Maro Engel, Timo Scheider and Edoardo Mortara outside of the top four and not making it through to Q4. They will line up in positions five to eight on the grid.
Miguel Molina was the quickest of those knocked out in Q2 and will line up ninth as a result, just ahead of Martin Tomczyk, the championship leader and winner of the previous two rounds.
Oliver Jarvis had been amongst the pacesetters in both practice sessions but he will start 11th, just ahead of Christian Vietoris, David Coulthard and Renger van der Zande.
The four drivers knocked out in the first session were Susie Stoddart, Filipe Albuquerque, the returning Mike Rockenfeller and Rahel Frey. They will make up the back two rows of the grid.
| Pos. | Driver / Entrant | Team/Car | Time | Session/Gap |
| 1. | Bruno Spengler | HWA Mercedes | 48.222 | Q4 |
| 2. | Gary Paffett | HWA Mercedes | 48.418 | +0.196 |
| 3. | Jamie Green | HWA Mercedes | 48.532 | +0.310 |
| 4. | Mattias Ekström | Abt Audi | 48.593 | +0.371 |
| 5. | Ralf Schumacher | HWA Mercedes | 48.124 | Q3 |
| 6. | Maro Engel | Mucke Mercedes | 48.189 | Q3 |
| 7. | Timo Scheider | Abt Audi | 48.214 | Q3 |
| 8. | Edoardo Mortara | Rosberg Audi | 48.257 | Q3 |
| 9. | Miguel Molina | Abt Audi | 48.332 | Q2 |
| 10. | Martin Tomczyk | Phoenix Audi | 48.353 | Q2 |
| 11. | Oliver Jarvis | Abt Audi | 48.398 | Q2 |
| 12. | Christian Vietoris | Persson Mercedes | 48.415 | Q2 |
| 13. | David Coulthard | Mucke Mercedes | 48.527 | Q2 |
| 14. | Renger van der Zande | Persson Mercedes | 48.575 | Q2 |
| 15. | Susie Stoddart | Persson Mercedes | 48.552 | Q1 |
| 16. | Filipe Albuquerque | Rosberg Audi | 48.600 | Q1 |
| 17. | Mike Rockenfeller | Abt Audi | 48.617 | Q1 |
| 18. | Rahel Frey | Phoenix Audi | 48.907 | Q1 |
