Martin Tomczyk claimed pole position for the sixth round of the 2009 DTM season, topping the final group in knock-out qualifying at the Nürburgring.

The Audi driver lapped the 3.629-kilometre 'short' long circuit in 1min 23.489secs to see of the threat of the best of the Mercedes drivers, with Bruno Spengler set to join Tomczyk on the front row for Sunday's race.

“Of course, I am delighted with pole, especially as the Nürburgring is one of my favourite circuits," Tomczyk commented, "After free practice this morning, I was really confident, but setting the fastest lap in qualifying was the icing on the cake.”

Spengler's position remained provisional after the Canadian was placed under investigation, but he led the Mercedes charge by lapping just under a couple of tenths off Tomczyk's pace.

“To be honest, I am very happy with second place," he admitted, "That was far from easy today, but I gave my best and the balance of the car was good. Now I will try to complete a race without any mistakes.”

Spengler's appearance in second spot denied Audi a sweep of the leading positions akin to that witnessed at Oschersleben last time out, with Mattias Ekström and reigning champion Timo Scheider set to line up on row two. The Swede looks well-placed to break the tie he currently finds himself in with Gary Paffett after the Briton managed only 16th after his Mercedes was plagued by a misfire in the opening phase of qualifying, although Scheider - just a point off the series lead - may have something to say to that.

Leading the group that missed out on the final phase of the session, Oliver Jarvis was the best-placed driver of a year-old car, taking fifth place ahead of fellow Briton Paul di Resta, while Markus Winkelhock and Tom Kristensen completed a top eight dominated by Audi.

Mike Rockenfeller and Maro Engel rounded out the top ten but, for Ralf Schumacher, qualifying was again a short-lived experience, the former F1 pilot out in phase one and lining up alongside Mercedes stable-mate Paffett on row eight.

Katherine Legge, the first driver out on track when the session started, progressed through to phase two, but succumbed along with Rockenfeller, Engel, Jamie Green, Alex Prémat and Matthias Lauda.