Audi’s Filipe Albuqeurque set the fastest time in free practice for the DTM at the Nürburgring, beating championship leader Mike Rockenfeller and BMW rookie Marco Wittmann to the top of the timesheets.
Click here for the full free practice results.
Portugese Albuqeurque had been close to the top of the times throughout the hour and a half session, including holding the top spot half-way through the session, with a lap of 1:23.711 followed by a 1:23.656 that stood for 20 minutes. The Audi driver then went fastest again with just two minutes remaining.
Phoenix Audi’s Rockenfeller was second fastest, with the German having also briefly been quickest inside the final ten minutes of the session. Rockenfeller was a mere 0.003 seconds slower than Albuquerque at the end of the session.
BMW’s Wittmann was third fastest, having improved his time inside the final minutes of the session.
Fourth fastest was Frenchman Adrien Tambay, ahead of fellow Audi driver Miguel Molina, with both having enjoyed spells as the fastest driver during the second half of the session.
Timo Scheider was sixth fastest, ahead of Edoardo Mortara and Mattias Ekström, who made it seven out of eight Audi’s inside the top eight. Scheider was unable to join the session initially due to problems with his car’s on-board fire extinguisher.
A less-than-spectacular session for reigning champion Bruno Spengler saw the Canadian end the session in ninth, having never had the pace to exchange times at the top of the leaderboard. Fellow BMW racer Augusto Farfus completed the top ten.
The top Mercedes-Benz driver was Christian Vietoris down in 11th, after all of the marque’s drivers struggled for pace during the session.
A difficult session for the DTM’s three Brits saw Mercedes’ Gary Paffett end the session as the fastest down in 16th, ahead of Audi’s Jamie Green in 17th and BMW’s Andy Priaulx in 18th.
Qualifying takes place at 14:40 CEST (13:40 BST).