Audi’s Edoardo Mortara set the pace in first practice for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, finishing less than a tenth of a second ahead of Mercedes’ Gary Paffett.
Mortara was the fastest driver by 0.073 seconds, but it was Mercedes’ who made the strongest impact in the session, with the manufacturer getting five cars into the top seven positions.
Audi’s Timo Scheider was third quickest, ahead of four C63 AMG drivers, headed by Spaniard Daniel Juncadella in fourth. Paul di Resta was fifth, and the last driver within half a second of Mortara, ahead of Christian Vietoris and Lucas Auer.
Reigning champion Marco Wittmann was the top BMW driver in eighth, with Audi’s Adrien Tambay and Mercedes’ Maximilian Götz completing the top ten.
Championship contenders Jamie Green and Pascal Wehrlein had a difficult session, with the Audi driver in 17th position, and the Mercedes driver just 21st. Wehrlein completed the fewest laps of any driver in the afternoon, suffering from a problematic left-rear wheel bearing on his car.
In total 22 cars were covered by less than a second, with only BMW trio Maxime Martin, Timo Glock and Martin Tomczyk outside the window.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 1:25.585 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 1:25.658 | 0.073 |
| 3 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 24 | 1:25.837 | 0.252 |
| 4 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 26 | 1:26.030 | 0.445 |
| 5 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 22 | 1:26.081 | 0.496 |
| 6 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 17 | 1:26.106 | 0.521 |
| 7 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 24 | 1:26.113 | 0.528 |
| 8 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:26.119 | 0.534 |
| 9 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:26.122 | 0.537 |
| 10 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 23 | 1:26.188 | 0.603 |
| 11 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 21 | 1:26.202 | 0.617 |
| 12 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 21 | 1:26.293 | 0.708 |
| 13 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 1:26.298 | 0.713 |
| 14 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 24 | 1:26.302 | 0.717 |
| 15 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 1:26.334 | 0.749 |
| 16 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 1:26.341 | 0.756 |
| 17 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 28 | 1:26.405 | 0.820 |
| 18 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 1:26.470 | 0.885 |
| 19 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 24 | 1:26.508 | 0.923 |
| 20 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 22 | 1:26.559 | 0.974 |
| 21 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 11 | 1:26.584 | 0.999 |
| 22 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 21 | 1:26.593 | 1.008 |
| 23 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 1:26.825 | 1.240 |
| 24 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:26.978 | 1.393 |