Gary Paffett sets the pace in wet first practice at the Nürburgring
Mercedes AMG driver Gary Paffett was the fastest driver on track this afternoon in the first free practice session held at a very wet Nürburgring.
With typically unpredictable weather, the Eifel region has endured rain all day which, together with strong winds and poor visibility.
Paffett led most of the session, but was pipped with ten minutes to go by fellow Mercedes driver Paul di Resta. The 2005 champion then jumped on top of the classification, despite suffering an off track excursion with five minutes to go. Paffett was the only driver to break the 1:37 barrier, to set the fastest lap time of 1:36.959.
Di Resta was second, just under a tenth behind Paffett, followed by BMW drivers Augusto Farfus and Marco Wittmann, with the reigning champion four-tenths of a second off the pace.
René Rast was the fastest of the Audis, followed by BMW’s Maxime Martin and Tom Blomqvist, the Briton just over a second off the pace. Nico Müller was eighth for Audi, with the BMWs of Bruno Spengler and Timo Glock completing the top ten.
Championship leader Mattias Ekström could only manage 13th, one position behind rival Lucas Auer in the Mercedes.
Despite the tricky conditions, the session was trouble-free, with only the said off-track moment for Paffett, and with Audi’s Loïc Duval spinning off the track at Turn 1, with the Frenchman able to recover without assistance.
The DTM cars are back on track tomorrow morning for the second free practice at 9:00 CET.
