Brazilian Augusto Farfus put BMW on top of the times in the second Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters free practice session at the Nürburgring, as five of the six BMW drivers made it into the top ten.
Click here for the full second practice times.
Having been just 13th fastest in Friday’s first practice session, in which only one BMW driver made it into the top ten, Farfus put in a late lap in the session to pip Audi’s Edoardo Mortara to the top of the timesheets.
Mortara had been fastest half way through the session and ended up 0.236 seconds slower than Farfus when the chequered flag was waved.
After a difficult practice session on Friday, the complete opposite could be said of BMW’s session on Saturday as all except Joey Hand made it into the top ten (indeed Hand was 11th fastest). Reigning champion Martin Tomczyk put his RMG BMW tihrd fastest, ahead of the Audi of former double champion Timo Scheider.
Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller was fifth fastest, despite having been the quickest driver until the final 5 minutes of the session.
Sixth and seventh were BMW Team RBM’s Andy Priaulx and BMW Team Schnitzer’s Bruno Spengler.
The fastest driver from Friday’s session, Audi’s Filipe Albuquerque, was eighth fastest, half a second off the pace of Farfus. Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Miguel Molina and BMW Team Schnitzer’s Dirk Werner completed the top ten.
It was a difficult session for the Mercedes-Benz drivers, with Jamie Green the quickest down in 14th position. Indeed Mercedes drivers found themselves occupying eight of the slowest nine times in the session, with only Audi’s Adrien Tambay seperating them. However Tambay experienced problems haflway through the session that saw his A5 DTM stop on the circuit, limiting his competitive running.
Qualifying takes place at 13:40 Berline time (12:40 GMT).