Photo: Tamara Aller / Touring Car Times

Edoardo Mortara and Audi fastest again at Spielberg

Audi Sport Team Abt’s Edoardo Mortara clocked the fastest time in today’s second free practice, taking place at the Red Bull Ring, host of the fifth round of the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season.

The session was almost a repetition of yesterday’s first free practice, featuring three Audi RS 5 DTMs and five Mercedes AMG C63 DTMs, with only one BMW M4 DTM in the top ten.

Sunny and warm conditions welcomed the DTM drivers for the session, which took place at noon. Mortara set a fastest lap of 1:24.793, which was over seven tenths faster than yesterday’s reference time.

Championship leader Jamie Green was second, just 0.066 seconds behind his team mate. Pascal Wehrlein was fastest for Mercedes in third, 0.151 seconds behind the reference time.

Nico Müller took his RS 5 DTM from Team Rosberg to fourth position, followed by Gary Paffett, who was again very competitive for Mercedes.

Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller was sixth, followed by Mercedes’ Paul Di Resta and Robert Wickens. Marco Wittmann was ninth and best BMW, 0.335 seconds behind Mortara’s best lap. Christian Vietoris completed the top ten.

Local hero Lucas Auer struggled with braking balance in his Mercedes, and was 24th and last. The BMW contingent also encountered difficulties, with all seven remaining M4 DTMs just ahead of the Austrian driver.

The 20-minute qualifying session for Race 1 takes place at 15:00 CEST (GMT + 2).