Nico Müller tops second practice on his final run
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters saw another very competitive second practice session this morning at the Lausitzring, host of the third round of the 2016 season. Audi Sport’s Nico Müller topped the time sheets, marginally ahead of Mercedes AMG’s Lucas Auer.
The Team Abt driver set the best time of 1:17.386 in his final run. Yesterday’s pace setter Lucas Auer was just 0.009 seconds away from the Swiss driver.
The Audi RS 5 DTMs were particularly competitive in this session, with Mattias Ekström in third final place, 0.047 seconds away from his team-mate, after spending most of the session on top. Chris Vietoris was fourth at Team Mücke’s home track, 0.051 seconds off the pace.
Audi drivers Miguel Molina and Mike Rockenfeller were next on the classifications, followed by the Mercedes contingent formed by Team ART’s Esteban Ocon and Gary Paffet, and by HWA’s Daniel Juncadella.
Marco Wittmann was the fastest man for BMW Motorsport in tenth place, 0.319 seconds behind Müller. The Bavarian manufacturer struggled again with balance in this bumpy track.
Standings leader Paul Di Resta was 15th in his C63 DTM, with Audi’s Edoardo Mortara just two positions ahead, 0.415 seconds behind the pace.
Mercedes AMG driver Maximilian Götz had technical issues forcing him to cut his session very short, causing a slow zone. The session was momentarily red-flagged because of debris on track at Turn 1.
Next call for the DTM is the qualifying session for race 1, taking place at 10:30 CEST.
