Mercedes’ Robert Wickens concluded the final four-day Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters test session on top of the times at the Hockenheimring, beating reigning champion Mike Rockenfeller to the fastest lap.
Wickens’ time was the second slowest top time of the four day test, with the Canadian posting a time some seven tenths slower than the fastest time of the four days, a 1:32.132 by BMW’s Marco Wittmann on the second day of testing. Wickens’ time was posted during the morning session.
Reigning champion Rockenfeller, who was second fastest, admitted that he leaves the final test feeling optimistic for his title defence this season.
“It’s been a very important test for us with many lessons learned,” said Rockenfeller. “At the end of the last day, I had a pretty good long run that makes me feel optimistic: we made steps in the right direction. Now we’ve got to take a look at everything, analyze and draw the right conclusions for the first race. I’m eager to see where we stand when everybody shows their abilities.”
Brit Gary Paffett posted the third fastest time for Mercedes, with Jamie Green fifth fastest for Audi. The top BMW driver was BMW Team RBM’s Augusto Farfus in sixth, 0.660 seconds off the pace.
Canadian BMW driver Bruno Spengler completed the most laps on Thursday, circulating 174 times.
Times – day four
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 12 | Robert WICKENS |  |
GRIP Mercedes AMG | DTM Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Coupé | 1:32.845 | |
| 2 | 1 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 1:33.105 | 0.260 |
| 3 | 11 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS Mercedes AMG | DTM Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Coupé | 1:33.180 | 0.335 |
| 4 | 16 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 1:33.287 | 0.442 |
| 5 | 21 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 1:33.319 | 0.474 |
| 6 | 3 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 1:33.505 | 0.660 |
| 7 | 9 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 1:33.617 | 0.772 |
| 8 | 24 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 1:33.747 | 0.902 |
| 9 | 7 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 1:33.753 | 0.908 |
| 10 | 20 | Vitaly PETROV |  |
AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Coupé | 1:33.894 | 1.049 |
| 11 | 18 | António Félix DA COSTA |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 1:34.096 | 1.251 |