Audi’s Jamie Green headed a British 1-2 in first practice for the DTM at the Moscow Raceway, with Mercedes’ Gary Paffett in second and Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller in third.
Green posted a time which was just half a tenth faster than long-time rival Paffett, who had been fastest before Green pipped his time in the final third of the session.
Rockenfeller was an impressive third, despite racing with a special racing shoe adaptation after he fractured the fifth metatarsal of his left foot in a shunt at the previous round.
“I’m quite happy to be in the car, and that I could drive,” said Rockenfeller after the session. “I think we can improve a little bit – the pedal assembly and the way they are set up – to improve the performance. But in general I think I can be quite happy with how things ran in the session.”
Mercedes’ Paul di Resta was fourth, having topped the times early on in the half-hour session, ending up just over a tenth off the pace.
The leading BMW driver was Team RMG’s Augusto Farfus in fifth, ahead of Audi’s championship leader Mattias Ekström in sixth.
Almost all cars were covered by less than a second, with just Mercedes duo Robert Wickens and Maro Engel not covered by the margin in 17th and 18th respectively.
Second practice takes place at 10:50 local time (08:50 BST, 09:50 CEST) on Saturday morning.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:29.287 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 17 | 1:29.337 | 0.050 |
| 3 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:29.362 | 0.075 |
| 4 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 16 | 1:29.401 | 0.114 |
| 5 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:29.470 | 0.183 |
| 6 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:29.582 | 0.295 |
| 7 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 14 | 1:29.634 | 0.347 |
| 8 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:29.726 | 0.439 |
| 9 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 1:29.759 | 0.472 |
| 10 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:29.771 | 0.484 |
| 11 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:29.809 | 0.522 |
| 12 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 1:29.934 | 0.647 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 1:30.032 | 0.745 |
| 14 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 1:30.057 | 0.770 |
| 15 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:30.176 | 0.889 |
| 16 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:30.177 | 0.890 |
| 17 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 23 | 1:30.890 | 1.603 |
| 18 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 21 | 1:31.417 | 2.130 |