BMW’s Bruno Spengler set the fastest time in the first practice session for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season finale at the Hockenheimring, as no Mercedes-Benz drivers featured inside the top ten.
Click here for the full first practice times.
Spengler’s time was posted late in the session and the Canadian enjoyed a great deal of dominance in the session – his lap was a significant 0.805 seconds faster than second-placed man Martin Tomczyk.
There were woes for championship protagonists Mercedes-Benz, however, with title contenders Gary Paffett and Jamie Green languishing in 16th and 17th fastest. It is the second weekend in a row that Mercedes have shown signs of struggling for pace, and Spengler’s scintilating pace will be causing worry amongst the Mercedes teams.
Mike Rockenfeller was the top Audi driver in third, ahead of stablemate Mattias Ekström and BMW’s Augusto Farfus. Only the top five drivers were within a second of Spengler’s time around the 4.574 km circuit.
Spengler’s Schnitzer team-mate Dirk Werner was sixth fastest, ahead of Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Filipe Albuquerque and Audi Sport Team Phoenix’s Miguel Molina.
BMW Team RBM’s Andy Priaulx and Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Edoardo Mortara completed the top ten, which featured five BMW’s and five Audi’s.
The top Mercedes-Benz driver was David Coulthard in 13th, who was 1.385 seconds off the pace. Eight of the ten bottom positions were filled by Mercedes drivers, with only Adrien Tambay (18th) and Rahel Frey (19th) amongst them. Tambay had a wild ride half-way through the session after being launched into the air off a kerb, although the Frenchman was able to continue in the session with no damage.