Auer, who won the opening round of the 2022 season in Portimao and has three DTM victories to his name at the east German track, posted the benchmark time of 1m30.654s in the opening half of the 20-minute session but couldn't improve his time further as others around him closed in.
Van der Linde, who had been 0.25s behind the Austrian at the halfway point in the session, produced two laps less than a tenth slower than Auer but had to settle for second on the grid as the only non-Mercedes driver in the top four.
The South African's late effort demoted Maro Engel to third, the GruppeM Mercedes driver 0.067s slower than stablemate Auer in an ultra-tight session, with Luca Stolz fourth in the leading HRT Mercedes.
Stolz however faces an investigation for crossing the white line at the pit exit.
Felipe Fraga had been third in the closing stages of the session before behind shuffled back to fifth in the Red Bull Ferrari, and will share the third row with Stolz's teammate Arjun Maini.
Philipp Eng will line up seventh in the second Schubert BMW, ahead of reigning ADAC GT Masters champion Ricardo Feller in the leading Abt Audi entry.
The Swiss set an identical laptime, 1m31.147s, to championship leader Mirko Bortolotti's Grasser Racing Lamborghini but will start ahead courtesy of posting his effort first.
Three-time DTM champion Rene Rast rounded out the top 10, 0.494s down on Auer and only a thousand of a second slower than Feller and Bortolotti.
The best Porsche was Dennis Olsen's SSR Performance example in 11th, as Nick Cassidy took 12th on his first appearance of the season in the second Red Bull Ferrari.
Portimao race two winner Nico Muller waited until the final eight minutes of the session to venture out of the pits for the first time, but couldn't repeat Bortolotti's successful adoption of the tactic in Portimao.
The Swiss could only muster the 14th-quickest time in his Team Rosberg Audi, just behind defending champion Maximilian Gotz's Winward Mercedes.
A similar strategy for David Schumacher in the third Winward Mercedes yielded the 17th-quickest time.
Lausitzring DTM - Qualifying results:
| Pos | Nº | Driver | Car / Engine | Time | Delay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Lucas Auer | Mercedes | 1'30.654 | |
| 2 | 31 | Sheldon van der Linde | BMW | 1'30.679 | 0.025 |
| 3 | 88 | Maro Engel | Mercedes | 1'30.721 | 0.067 |
| 4 | 4 | Luca Stolz | Mercedes | 1'30.864 | 0.210 |
| 5 | 74 | Felipe Fraga | Ferrari | 1'30.971 | 0.317 |
| 6 | 36 | Arjun Maini | Mercedes | 1'30.987 | 0.333 |
| 7 | 25 | Philipp Eng | BMW | 1'31.118 | 0.464 |
| 8 | 7 | Ricardo Feller | Audi | 1'31.147 | 0.493 |
| 9 | 63 | Mirko Bortolotti | Lamborghini | 1'31.147 | 0.493 |
| 10 | 33 | René Rast | Audi | 1'31.148 | 0.494 |
| 11 | 94 | Dennis Olsen | Porsche | 1'31.159 | 0.505 |
| 12 | 37 | Nick Cassidy | Ferrari | 1'31.172 | 0.518 |
| 13 | 1 | Maximilian Götz | Mercedes | 1'31.184 | 0.530 |
| 14 | 51 | Nico Müller | Audi | 1'31.302 | 0.648 |
| 15 | 55 | Mikaël Grenier | Mercedes | 1'31.304 | 0.650 |
| 16 | 11 | Marco Wittmann | BMW | 1'31.397 | 0.743 |
| 17 | 27 | David Schumacher | Mercedes | 1'31.437 | 0.783 |
| 18 | 18 | Maximilian Buhk | Mercedes | 1'31.461 | 0.807 |
| 19 | 3 | Kelvin van der Linde | Audi | 1'31.528 | 0.874 |
| 20 | 24 | Thomas Preining | Porsche | 1'31.540 | 0.886 |
| 21 | 10 | Esteban Muth | BMW | 1'31.575 | 0.921 |
| 22 | 92 | Laurens Vanthoor | Porsche | 1'31.666 | 1.012 |
| 23 | 95 | Nicki Thiim | Lamborghini | 1'31.799 | 1.145 |
| 24 | 12 | Dev Gore | Audi | 1'31.806 | 1.152 |
| 25 | 66 | Marius Zug | Audi | 1'31.812 | 1.158 |
| 26 | 19 | Rolf Ineichen | Lamborghini | 1'32.220 | 1.566 |
| 27 | 85 | Clemens Schmid | Lamborghini | 1'32.483 | 1.829 |
| 28 | 26 | Esmee Hawkey | Lamborghini | 1'33.252 | 2.598 |
| 29 | 6 | Alessio Deledda | Lamborghini | 1'34.366 | 3.712 |
