Fastest time for Mika Häkkinen

In the first test of the DTM at Brands Hatch, Mika Häkkinen caught the attention twice. First of all, the two times’ Formula 1 world champion employed by Mercedes-Benz, set the fastest time at the 1.929 kilometres long track. Then, with 20 minutes left in the Friday morning session, the Finn was responsible for a brief interruption as he got off the track at Druids, parking his AMG Mercedes C-Class in the gravel trap. After the recovery of his car, Häkkinen made it back to the pit box all by himself.

A surprise was caused by Adam Carroll, who occupied second place in thr first test on Friday with the 2005-spec Audi A4 DTM on home soil. Eventually, the DTM rookie came 0.148 seconds short of Häkkinen’s fastest time while he stayed 0.005 seconds clear of third-placed Timo Scheider. Fourth place was occupied by Alexandre Prémat (Audi), with Jamie Green (Mercedes-Benz) fifth. Scotsman Paul di Resta, who came to Brands Hatch as the leader in the points’ standings, was ranked ninth after the first 90 minutes of track action.

Testing only got underway at 11.15 with a 30 minutes’ delay. Because of low clouds, the rescue helicopter, that would have been required in case of an emergency, couldn’t take off. The time schedule was revised accordingly, the second test is scheduled to start at 15.10 h local time.