With the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters heading under the floodlights for the first time at Misano World Circuit, Audi Sport locked out the top five positions, headed by Jamie Green.
The Briton set his best lap time of a 1:29.407 around the 4.226-km circuit in the last two minutes of the session, with Dutch driver Robin Frijns having topped the time sheets for the majority. The pair were separated by only 0.027 seconds after 30 minutes, with defending champion René Rast over a further two tenths off the pace.
Loïc Duval and Nico Müller completed the top five, whilst BMW rookie Joel Eriksson was fractionally behind the Swiss driver in sixth place.
Edoardo Mortara was the best of the Mercedes drivers in seventh place, ahead of Stuttgart stablemate Lucas Auer, whilst two-time champion Marco Wittmann was ninth, ahead of title protagonist Paul Di Resta, who completed the top ten.
Philipp Eng was only 0.081 seconds behind the Scot, whilst 2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller was only able to post the 12th fastest time, 0.908 seconds behind pace setter Green.
Bruno Spengler was 13th quickest, 0.004 seconds ahead of Munich brand stablemate Timo Glock, whilst points leader Gary Paffett completed the top fifteen, with just 1.058 seconds covering the majority of the field.
Pascal Wehrlein, Daniel Juncadella and Augusto Farfus completed the running order of the current drivers, whilst guest entrant Alex Zanardi kept increasing his pace and improved lap after lap to finish 2.681 seconds behind Green in his adapted vehicle.
Second free practice at Misano gets underway at 1715 local time (1615 BST) on Saturday, August 25th, lasting for 30 minutes.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:29.407 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:29.434 | 0.027 |
| 3 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:29.654 | 0.247 |
| 4 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:29.726 | 0.319 |
| 5 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:29.866 | 0.459 |
| 6 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 1:29.983 | 0.576 |
| 7 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:29.997 | 0.590 |
| 8 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG Motorsport | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:30.137 | 0.730 |
| 9 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:30.201 | 0.794 |
| 10 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 1:30.219 | 0.812 |
| 11 | 25 | Philipp ENG | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 1:30.300 | 0.893 |
| 12 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:30.315 | 0.908 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:30.380 | 0.973 |
| 14 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:30.384 | 0.977 |
| 15 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 1:30.465 | 1.058 |
| 16 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport PETRONAS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 20 | 1:30.548 | 1.141 |
| 17 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport REMUS | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:30.629 | 1.222 |
| 18 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:30.782 | 1.375 |
| 19 | 12 | Alessandro ZANARDI | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:32.088 | 2.681 |