Robin Frijns put his Audi at the top of the timesheets in the first DTM practice session at Zolder in Belgium, as the Ingolstadt marque secured the top seven places in the 45-minute session.
Frijns was just over three tenths ahead of title rival René Rast, as the session took place on a drying circuit.
With first practice usually being the focus of practice race-distance runs, Frijns had continually improved his pace during the session as the circuit dried more.
Having been fastest with a lap of 1 minute 22.332 seconds early on, Frijns ultimately ended up with a 1:20.075, which was over a second faster than the quickest pole time from last year.
Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller was third fastest, ahead of championship leader Nico Müller in fourth.
Jamie Green put his Team Rosberg Audi RS5 in fifth, whilst WRT’s Ferdinand von Habsburg was again on the pace, the Austrian ending up in sixth, eight tenths off the pace.
Loïc Duval, who is set to only take part in the first of two back-to-back Zolder meetings, was seventh, ahead of the leading BMW of Timo Glock in eighth, the German putting his M4 almost a second from the top time.
The top ten was completed by WRT’s Harrison Newey and BMW’s Marco Wittmann, meaning that the Munich marque could only get two drivers into the top ten.
Second practice is scheduled to get underway at 16:30 CEST (15:30 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 1:20.075 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 1:20.401 | 0.326 |
| 3 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 25 | 1:20.868 | 0.793 |
| 4 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 1:20.872 | 0.797 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 23 | 1:20.891 | 0.816 |
| 6 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 29 | 1:20.913 | 0.838 |
| 7 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:20.949 | 0.874 |
| 8 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 1:21.048 | 0.973 |
| 9 | 10 | Harrison NEWEY | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 1:21.139 | 1.064 |
| 10 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 24 | 1:21.262 | 1.187 |
| 11 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 28 | 1:21.600 | 1.525 |
| 12 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 29 | 1:21.611 | 1.536 |
| 13 | 8 | Robert KUBICA |  |
BMW Team ART | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 1:21.699 | 1.624 |
| 14 | 13 | Fabio SCHERER | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 1:21.714 | 1.639 |
| 15 | 22 | Lucas AUER | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 26 | 1:21.884 | 1.809 |
| 16 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 28 | 1:22.165 | 2.090 |