Augusto Farfus put his BMW M4 DTM at the top of the timesheets in second free practice for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at Brands Hatch, with a very close set of lap times from the top five drivers.
Farfus set his bet lap of a 1:18.517 around the 3.908-km circuit in the last sixty seconds of the 25-minute session in the run up to qualifying
The Brazilian ended up ahead of first practice pace setter Robin Frijns, Nico Müller, Daniel Juncadella and Pascal Wehrlein. All five drivers were separated by just 0.086 seconds at the end of the session.
Edoardo Mortara, who took a trip through the gravel after going wide at Paddock Hill Bend with ten minutes to go, would still muster the sixth best lap time of the 18-strong grid.
Lucas Auer would finish in seventh position, ahead of Britain’s Gary Paffett, with the top nine drivers being the only ones breaking the 1m19s barrier.
Defending champion René Rast was ninth fastest ahead of BMW’s Marco Wittman and Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s Jamie Green, with the Briton completing the top ten.
Philipp Eng found more pace in his BMW M4 DTM to finish 0.046 seconds behind the Briton.
Timo Glock was behind the Austrian in 14th, ahead of Paul DiResta and Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller, who was 16th fastest.
The Audi Sport driver was faster than 2012 champion Bruno Spengler, whilst Joel Eriksson was 1.216 seconds adrift at the end of the session.
Qualifying for the first DTM race of the weekend at Brands Hatch gets underway at 1120 local time, lasting for 20 minutes.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:18.517 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:18.528 | 0.011 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:18.562 | 0.045 |
| 4 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:18.588 | 0.071 |
| 5 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 13 | 1:18.603 | 0.086 |
| 6 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:18.859 | 0.342 |
| 7 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:18.960 | 0.443 |
| 8 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 12 | 1:18.964 | 0.447 |
| 9 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:18.990 | 0.473 |
| 10 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:19.010 | 0.493 |
| 11 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:19.038 | 0.521 |
| 12 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:19.059 | 0.542 |
| 13 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 8 | 1:19.105 | 0.588 |
| 14 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:19.156 | 0.639 |
| 15 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 10 | 1:19.164 | 0.647 |
| 16 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:19.227 | 0.710 |
| 17 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:19.344 | 0.827 |
| 18 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 10 | 1:19.733 | 1.216 |