Lucas Auer will start on pole position for the first DTM Series race at the Lausitzring this weekend.
The entire session had been led by BMW rookie Philipp Eng but Auer jumped to first in the dying seconds.
Eng had been looking comfortable at the top of the board having a margin of around three tenths over second place early in the session to bank a strong lap.
This meant drivers had a large chunk of time to try and make up but they fell short.
Auer displaced the BMW driver with just seconds on the clock to take over at the top in a lap that he said came out of nowhere.
As a result Eng will line up second in just his third DTM race for an all Austrian front row.
Completing the top three on the grid will be Bruno Spengler.
As was the case at Hockenheim, Mercedes and BMW had a clear advantage over Audi with the top eight positions belonging to the manufacturers.
Friday pacesetter Pascal Wehrlein will line up in fourth ahead of championship leader Timo Glock.
Glock will be joined on the third row of the grid by team-mate Marco Wittmann who will be hoping to get his season back on track after a difficult weekend at the Hockenheim.
Mercedes duo Edoardo Mortara and Paul di Resta are seventh and eighth.
Nico Müller is the best placed Audi with Mike Rockenfeller alongside him.
The star of the opening weekend Joel Eriksson starts in eleventh.
Robin Frijns and Loïc Duval will start twelfth and thirteenth.
Seconded placed man in the championship Gary Paffett could only manage fourteenth – with championship leader Glock starting fifth not the result the Briton would have wanted.
Defending champion René Rast‘s woes continues and will start down in fifteenth place.
Augusto Farfus joins the Audi on the eighth row of the grid.
With Jamie Green and Dani Juncadella rounding off the grid.
Racing action gets underway at 13.30 local time and will last 55 minutes plus one lap.
2018 DTM Series Results: Lausitzring – Qualifying 1
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