Photo: DTM Media

Marco Wittmann fastest in wet second free practice session

BMW Team RMG driver Marco Wittmann set the fastest time in a very wet second free practice session this morning at the Red Bull Ring.

With rain falling on Spielberg, wet weather tyres proved to be the only option for the entire field.

The seasion didn’t pass without dramas for a number of drivers, with BMW Team RMG’s Augusto Farfus being released from the pits with his left rear not properly attached. Mechanics had to recover the M4 DTM from the pitlane and the Brazilian was reported to the stewards for an unsafe release.

Championship leader Gary Paffet went off at Turn 3 with ten minutes to go, with the Briton managing to keep his Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM going to take the escape route. Less lucky was team-mate Edoardo Mortara, who went off at the same point a few minutes later, getting stuck in the gravel trap, with the race director deploying the Slow Zone 2.

Marco Wittmann rose to the top of the time sheets half way through the session with a best lap time of 1:35.072, beating Audi Sport Team Abt Sportline’s Robin Frijns by just 0.022 seconds.

Wittmann’s team-mate Timo Glock was third, with the Audis of René Rast and Mike Rockenfeller next, with the reigning champion improving in the last minutes of the session.

Paffett was sixth followed by team-mate Daniel Juncadella, 0.450 seconds off the pace, with Frijns’ team-mate Nico Müller in eighth position.

Mercedes-AMG drivers Pascal Wehrlein and Lucas Auer completed the top ten, with the Austrian seven-tenths off the pace.

Sébastien Ogier had a quiet session at the wheel of the seventh, wild card entry, Mercedes-AMG, 19th and last with a best time two seconds off the pace.

Rain is expected to keep falling during the qualifying session for Race 1, scheduled for 10:30 CEST.