Edoardo Mortara tops first free practice
The 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season officially started today, with the first free practice session taking place at Hockenheim. Edoardo Mortara was fastest for Audi, setting a best time of 1:50.182.
Mortara completed 21 laps around the Baden-Wüttemberg circuit in a very wet session, the same than his team mate Mattias Ekström, who set a fastest lap just 0.114 seconds off the Italian’s register.
Robert Wickens was third overall and fastest man for Mercedes, setting a best lap time of 1:50.409, 0.227 seconds behind Mortara.
Reigning champion Marco Wittmann was fourth overall and fastest for BMW in his M4 DTM, completing 18 laps and finishing 0.317 off the pace.
The three manufacturers were mixed in the results. Audi’s Miguel Molina was fifth, followed by BMW’s Timo Glock. Christian Vietoris was seventh in his Mercedes AMG C63 DTM, with Aud’s Mike Rockenfeller and Timo Scheider and Mercedes’ Gary Paffett completing the top 10.
Daniel Juncadella went off track in his Mercedes, causing the only red flag of the session. Nevertheless, he had good pace and finished 11th overall.
All the drivers were very active on track, with the only exception of Lucas Auer, who couldn’t take part in the session due to a mechanical failure.
The DTM on track action resumes at 9:00 CEST tomorrow morning, with the second free practice session. Qualifying for Race 1 will take place at noon, with the race itself starting at 14:48h.
