Qualifying was red-flagged several times, but with barely a minute-and-a-half to go before the end, the Italian from Knaus HTP-Winward Motorsport went into the lead. His time of 1:23.163 minutes was good enough to enable the Mercedes-AMG driver to win his first Pirelli Pole Position Award. As a reward for his efforts, Marciello receives an exclusive pair of Pirelli skis.

“It went just great,” said the 25-year-old who shares the car with Philip Ellis. “The red flags and low temperatures made things tricky but the car ran well. Our pace is good this weekend. We want to end the season on a successful note. We took a podium yesterday and pole today, so let’s see how we do in today’s race. Overtaking here is difficult, so being in pole position is really excellent.”

Audi drivers Mirko Bortolotti and Rolf Ineichen (Team WRT) will also start the race from the front row. Bortolotti was 0.157 seconds down on P1. By coming third, championship leaders Christian Engelhart and Michael Ammermüller (SSR Performance) also secured a very promising position for the start of the final race and are the best-placed of all the title contenders. “Qualifying took many twists and turns,” said Engelhart. “We were out on track every time the red flags came out, so qualifying wasn’t optimal, but I stayed calm and managed to post an excellent lap in the end. We are very satisfied with third place. Ours is the best starting position of any of the drivers in title contention. There’s still one race left to run, so a lot can happen, but things are looking good.”

Fourth place went to the Lamborghini of Franck Perera and Albert Costa Balboa (GRT Grasser Racing Team) while Mick Wishofer and Dorian Boccolacci (Team Zakspeed BKK Mobil Oil Racing) booked P5 in the Mercedes-AMG.

Another title contender, Robert Renauer (Precote Herberth Motorsport), who is sharing the Porsche with Mathieu Jaminet this weekend, came next but was well down the timesheets in P7. The two Mercedes-AMG drivers Maro Engel and Luca Stolz (Toksport WRT) also still hope to claim the title and were eighth.

Currently in second place in the standings, Kelvin van der Linde and Patric Niederhauser (Rutronik Racing) had a tough session. Van der Linde led the quali for a while but only achieved eleventh place after a spin.

SPORT1 will broadcast the final ADAC GT Masters race live and in full at 13:00 CET.