Nico Müller has taken pole position for the first DTM round at the Norisring.
The Swiss driver, driving for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, posted a time of 00:46:337 to take the top spot in a session where all fast laps were posted in the first stint. Müller's pole continues to show the strong form he's been enjoying, picking up where he left off after his victory in Misano.
The pole time was barely enough to hold off the BMW M4 DTM of Philipp Eng, who was just seven-hundredths of a second back with 00:46:412. The second row for this afternoon's race will be filled by Audi's Loic Duval and BMW's Bruno Spengler, who were both under two-tenths slower than polesitter Müller.
In fifth place, Rene Rast had a difficult and frustrating session in Nuremberg. The German repeatedly tried to improve his time in the second stint but found himself caught up in traffic multiple times, leading to him venting his frustration over team radio. His 00:46:524 put him just 0.002s ahead of Joel Eriksson, who came sixth.
The top ten was completed by local hero Marco Wittmann, Mike Rockenfeller, Jonathan Aberdein and a returning Jamie Green. Green sat out the last round in Misano after being diagnosed with appendicitis.
Aston Martin visibly struggled on the Nuremberg streets, with the four R-Motorsport drivers locking out the final three positions on the grid, with Paul di Resta ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg and Jake Dennis. Daniel Juncadella qualified in 13th place.
