Championship leader Nico Müller topped the times in the second DTM practice session at the Nürburgring, edging out team-mate and rival Robin Frijns by a mere 0.017 seconds.
Lap times were around six tenths faster than in the earlier, longer, session, as drivers focussed more on their single lap pace for the weekend’s qualifying sessions.
Müller, who had been joint fastest in the day’s first session together with BMW’s Marco Wittmann, hit the top of the times with his fast lap in the first half of the session, just 0.017 seconds ahead of Dutchman Frijns, who also put in his best lap early on.
René Rast, slowest of all in the first session, was third quickest, once again unable to match the pace of the Abt Sportsline cars as the Team Rosberg driver ended up 0.262 seconds adrift of Müller.
Team Phoenix’s Loïc Duval was fourth, ahead of the leading BMW of Wittmann in fifth, three tenths off the pace.
Rast’s team-mate Jamie Green was sixth, following on from the Brit’s fifth earlier in the day, ahead of Lucas Auer in seventh, the BMW driver four tenths off the pace.
The top 12 drivers were covered by less than a second, whilst the slowest – WRT’s Harrison Newey in 16th – was just 1.3 seconds from the fastest time.
It is the first time the DTM is racing on the current configuration of the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit, and qualifying for the first race will get underway at 10:35 CEST (09:35 BST) on Saturday.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:47.543 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 15 | 1:47.560 | 0.017 |
| 3 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:47.805 | 0.262 |
| 4 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:47.860 | 0.317 |
| 5 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:47.869 | 0.326 |
| 6 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:47.936 | 0.393 |
| 7 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:47.959 | 0.416 |
| 8 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 15 | 1:47.975 | 0.432 |
| 9 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:48.079 | 0.536 |
| 10 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:48.162 | 0.619 |
| 11 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:48.260 | 0.717 |
| 12 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:48.424 | 0.881 |
| 13 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:48.547 | 1.004 |
| 14 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 13 | 1:48.679 | 1.136 |
| 15 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | Audi RS5 DTM | 12 | 1:48.834 | 1.291 |
| 16 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 15 | 1:48.888 | 1.345 |