DTM points leader Gary Paffett set himself up for a great result at his local circuit of Brands Hatch by claiming pole position.
The Bromley-born Mercedes driver, who won the season opener at Hockenheim and was then second last time out at Lausitz, finished up 0.144 seconds clear of his rivals in the four-way Q4 shootout for top spot – a comfortable margin given the closeness of the cars around the short Indy layout.
Fellow Mercedes driver Christian Vietoris will start alongside Paffett on the front row of the grid after narrowly edging out Bruno Spengler (BMW) and Mike Rockenfeller (Audi) in the final segment.
Martin Tomczyk was knocked out in Q3 in his BMW, despite setting exactly the same time as fourth-placed Vietoris – with the top five separated by just 0.081 seconds.
Joining Tomczyk in going out in Q3 were Audi trio Filipe Albuquerque, Adrien Tambay and Mattias Ekstrom, as well as BMW man Augusto Farfus and Mercedes' Jamie Green – who lies second in the points ahead of his home race.
Audi duo Edoardo Mortara and Miguel Molina were the first of those eliminated at the end of Q2 and will start on row six, just in front of BMW drivers Joey Hand and Andy Priaulx.
Timo Scheider ended up a lowly 15th after going off at Surtees in his Audi, with Mercedes youngster Roberto Merhi in 16th.
Robert Wickens went out in Q1, together will fellow Mercedes pilot Ralf Schumacher, BMW's Dirk Werner, Mercedes' David Coulthard and the female duo of Susie Wolff and Rahel Frey. All 22 cars were covered by just over four tenths of a second.