Lucas Auer starts the Lausitzring weekend on top
Action is on at the Lausitzring, host of the third round of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season. At the twilight first free practice session, held this afternoon, Mercedes AMG’s Lucas Auer led the time sheets.
The young Austrian from Team Mücke lapped the Lausitzring with a time 1:17.587 at the wheel of his C63 DTM. Audi’s Nico Müller led the most part of the session, but he was pipped at the end by Auer. The Swiss driver from Team Abt finished 0.392 seconds off the pace.
Edoardo Mortara was third for Audi, ahead of team-mates Mattias Ekström and Miguel Molina, who was 0.495 seconds behind Auer. The Austrian’s team-mate Christian Vietoris was sixth, just ahead of Jamie Green.
Maximilian Götz was eighth for Mercedes AMG, with Audi Sport Team Phoenix’ Mike Rockenfeller in ninth. Gary Paffett managed to climb up to tenth place in the final minutes of the session, 0.775 seconds behind Lucas Auer.
BMW Motorsport struggled with balance, with Tom Blomqvist being the best placed driver for the Bavarian manufacturer in 13th place, already 0.887 seconds off the pace.
The session was largely trouble free, although Miguel Molina had a puncture in the early stages of the session, and Edoardo Mortara missed the braking point at Turn 1, taking the escape route through the banking to rejoin the DTM layout at Turn 5.
The DTM is back on track tomorrow morning at 8:50 CEST for the second free practice session.
