Nico Müller led an Audi 1-2-3-4 in first practice for the DTM at the Hockenheimring, continuing the dominance of the Ingolstadt marque from testing as the Class One era began in Germany.
Müller’s lap of 1 minute 30.476 seconds was good enough to give the Swiss racer a comfortable margin of more than three tenths of a second over Team Rosberg’s René Rast, who is looking to extend his six-race winning streak this weekend.
Müller’s lap was also below the lap record already, as the new faster Class One cars made their mark early on in the weekend.
Team Abt Sportsline’s Robin Frijns was third fastest with a late lap to put him ahead of WRT’s Jonathan Aberdein, who impressed on both his and the Belgian team’s first weekend in the DTM.
Team Abt Sportsline’s Robin Frijns was third fastest with a late lap to put him ahead of WRT’s Jonathan Aberdein, who impressed on both his and the Belgian team’s first weekend in the DTM.
Two-time champion Marco Wittmann was the best of the BMW drivers in fifth, the German being the only driver for the Munich marque to be within a second of the pace.
He was followed by another three Audi drivers, with Mike Rockenfeller in sixth, Loïc Duval in seventh and Jamie Green in eighth, meaning that DTM newcomer Pietro Fittipaldi in 12th was the only Audi driver not to break into the top eight.
The top ten was completed by BMW’s Timo Glock and Philipp Eng, both over a second from the pace.
The new R-Motorsport Aston Martins propped up the timesheet, with Daniel Juncadella the best-placed driver in the new car in 14th.
Brits Jake Dennis and Paul di Resta, 16th and 17th respectively, were just under two seconds off the pace, ahead of Ferdinand von Habsburg in 18th.
BMW’s Joel Eriksson was sandwiched in the times in 15th by the Vantage drivers, but the Swede had gone off into the gravel early in the session and spent much of the middle part of the 45-minute practice in the pitlane.
Second practice gets underway at 16:30 CEST (15:30 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:30.476 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 8 | 1:30.837 | 0.361 |
| 3 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 1:30.932 | 0.456 |
| 4 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:31.068 | 0.592 |
| 5 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:31.168 | 0.692 |
| 6 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 28 | 1:31.239 | 0.763 |
| 7 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 1:31.384 | 0.908 |
| 8 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 11 | 1:31.392 | 0.916 |
| 9 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 25 | 1:31.544 | 1.068 |
| 10 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 24 | 1:31.661 | 1.185 |
| 11 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 23 | 1:31.727 | 1.251 |
| 12 | 21 | Pietro FITTIPALDI |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 26 | 1:31.809 | 1.333 |
| 13 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 20 | 1:31.972 | 1.496 |
| 14 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 29 | 1:32.227 | 1.751 |
| 15 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:32.298 | 1.822 |
| 16 | 76 | Jake DENNIS | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 27 | 1:32.472 | 1.996 |
| 17 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 12 | 1:32.474 | 1.998 |
| 18 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 24 | 1:33.264 | 2.788 |