Lucas Auer and Mercedes AMG dominate second free practice
Mercedes AMG driver Lucas Auer set the fastest time of the second free practice session held this morning during the DTM season opener at Hockenheim.
The Austrian clocked a best lap of 1:31.712 in the final minutes, beating fellow Mercedes driver Paul Di Resta, who led the timing sheets for the second half of the session. The Scot was 0.103 seconds off Auer.
Edoardo Mortara found his rhythm after a grim first free practice yesterday to be third, 0.184 seconds off the pace, followed by Robert Wickens, a further 0.120 seconds behind.
Nico Müller was fifth and best man for Audi Sport, ahead of reigning champion Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock, the only BMWs to make it into the top ten.
Maro Engel had a solid session for Mercedes, even reaching the top three half way through, to finish eighth fastest, 0.438 seconds behind Auer.
Mike Rockenfeller was ninth, with Mercedes’ Gary Paffett, who led during the initial stages, closing the top ten, 0.570 seconds off the pace.
BMW’s Maxime Martin was able to complete 13 laps after technical problems hampered his running yesterday to be 17th. DTM’s only rookie this season Loic Duval finished just ahead, 0.846 seconds off the pace.
The session was largely incident free, with the results being very representative of each driver’s pace, as qualifying takes place in less than an hour, at 11:35 CET.
