Mercedes dominates free practice

Mercedes-Benz took over control in free practice in the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben: three generations of the C-Class in first through third place. With six minutes to go in the 60 minutes’ session, Jamie Green set the fastest race lap in 1:22.997 minutes. Paul di Resta was only one thousandth slower, while Gary Paffett came out third, 0.065 seconds down on Green.

Behind the British Mercedes trio in front, the two drivers of the Audi Sport Team Rosberg ranked fourth and fifth. The fastest current Audi A4 DTM was driven by Timo Scheider, who was sixth. Mattias Ekström, who dominated proceedings at the 3.696 kilometres long track on Friday, had to park his Audi A4 DTM in the pits after driving over the curbs and incurring damage to the floor section of his car. The Swede was ninth fastest with 1:23.294 minutes.

Bernd Schneider caused a brief yellow-flag phase. After 25 minutes, the five times’ DTM champion drove his current AMG Mercedes C-Class into the gravel trap at the Hotel corner. After his car was pulled out and a brief check in the pits, he continued his session and came out twelfth. Vanina Ickx also came off the track, her Audi A4 DTM landed in the gravel trap after a spin in the chicane coming onto the back stretch. Just like Schneider, the lady racer from Belgium could continue. After 60 minutes, she was 19th, ahead of Frank Biela.