Rast's final-minute lap, a 1m19.642s, was enough to secure pole, as BMW put up sterner opposition in a bid to secure its first pole since the Brands Hatch opener in August.

While Rast was placed under investigation for speeding in the pitlane, he was only hit with a 50 euro fine for the transgression.

Spengler's 1m19.822s best was enough for second and put him clear of Rast's main title rival Nico Muller.

Muller managed to jump from the fringes of the top 10 to third in the last minute, allowing Rast to grow his title advantage by two points to a margin of 22 with four races remaining.

Mike Rockenfeller - who topped yesterday's second practice session - qualified in fourth ahead of WRT Audi's Jonathan Aberdein, with the pair both taking it in turns to lead the times during the session.

Sheldon van der Linde also briefly topped the times during a flurry of late fast laps at the Nurburgring but was shuffled down to sixth ahead of BMW stablemate Timo Glock.

Loic Duval, Jamie Green and Robin Frijns made it seven Audis in the top 10 by taking eighth, ninth and 10th respectively.

Marco Wittmann was a surprising 11th, having seen an initial bid at a fast lap hindered by coming across Green at the Coca-Cola Kurve right before beginning his effort. He also ran wide at the long Mercedes Arena bend minutes later.

WRT's Pietro Fittipaldi was 12th ahead of BMW's Philipp Eng, who caused a late yellow flag when he pulled off the track with a gearbox-related problem.

Paul di Resta was the leading R-Motorsport Aston Martin driver in 14th.

UPDATE: Following qualifying, both Eng and Jake Dennis, who qualified 16th, were disqualified for "illegal work under parc ferme conditions", according to a DMSB bulletin.

Session results: