Marco Wittmann fastest in third free practice at Moscow
BMW Motorsport driver Marco Wittmann set the fastest time at the third free practice session held at the Moscow Raceway this morning. The Team RMG driver clocked a best lap of 1:29.470.
The Moscow Raceway woke up to partly cloudy skies and a dry track for the early practice session, the last one before today’s qualifying and race.
All drivers were eager to make the most of the session, and were out as soon as the lights went green.
Audi driver Mattias Ekström set an early pace, being improved by Mike Rockenfeller and BMW’s Martin Tomczyk. The lap times improved constantly around the Russian track.
Mercedes AMG driver Paul Di Resta went wide at turn 3, to recover without outside assistance. His was the only incident of the session.
Timo Glock went fastest, to be quickly improved by fellow BMW driver Tom Blomqvist. With 10 minutes to go, five M4 DTMs topped the classification.
Miguel Molina went to the top for Audi Sport. The Spaniard held the first position until Marco Wittmann, with 2 minutes to go, set a lap of 1:29.470, taking the final top spot.
Molina was second, 0.093 seconds off the pace, followed by Tom Blomqvist. Mattias Ekström was fourth for Audi Sport, with BMW’s Augusto Farfus in fifth.
Paul Di Resta was, in sixth position, the best driver for Mercedes AMG, with the Stuttgart cars suffering with the extra weight they carry against their rivals.
Audi’s Nico Müller was seventh, followed by BMW’s Timo Glock. Maximilian Götz was ninth for Mercedes AMG, with Timo Scheider completing the top ten for Audi, 0.516 seconds off the pace.
Points leader Robert Wickens was 14th, 0.545 seconds behind Wittmann’s time. The Canadian leads the German by just three points in the championship table.
After the session time was finished, the drivers did practice starts on the main straight, whilst the race direction tested the second slow zone ahead of today’s action.
Qualifying for Race 2 is scheduled for 10:50 local time.
