Mattias Ekstrom has secured his second straight DTM pole position in a challenging qualifying session at Lausitz, hit by wet weather conditions.

Ekstrom was lucky to make it through the opening stage of qualifying after rain arrived at the circuit, with Audi reacting to the changing conditions too late and Alex Premat, Martin Tomczyk, Tom Kristensen and Oliver Jarvis all falling in the first segment of qualifying as a result.

They will be joined at the rear of the grid by Ralf Schumacher, who failed to post a time due to engine issues on his Mercedes, while Johannes Seidlitz was forced to sit out the session and will miss the remainder of the weekend after a crash during practice damaged his car.

Conditions were then more constant for the remainder of the session and after his early scare, Ekstrom duly made it through the final stage of the session where he was able to outpace Gary Paffett to take pole. Although he took the second quickest time, Paffett will drop five places on the grid due to a penalty picked up at Hockenheim, which will promote Paul di Resta onto the front row of the grid. Mike Rockenfeller was the final driver to make it through to the final stage of qualifying, although he was unable to take part after spinning off into the gravel.

Outside the top four, Timo Scheider was fifth from Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green and Maro Engel, while Katherine Legge was an impressive ninth. Markus Winkelhock rounded out the top ten.