Edoardo Mortara quickest again in Red Bull Ring second practice

The second free practice session for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) at the Red Bull Ring this morning saw Audi Sports’s Edoardo Mortara again post the fastest time around the 4.326-km track, with current points leader Jamie Green and Mercedes’ Pascal Wehrlein rounding out the top three. All three drivers broke the 1m25s lap time barrier, with the Italian posting a 1:24.793.

With the field split by just 1.139 seconds, the drivers were working out the best set-up for the challenging Styrian track in bright sunshine, ahead of qualifying for race one this afternoon.

For the first third of the session, it was Briton’s Gary Paffett that led the charge for Mercedes, with Wehrlein closely behind in term of one lap pace. However, both Mortara and Green showed their pace just after the 20-minute mark, with the Team Abt driver being able to improve his lap time later on in the session.

Team Rosberg’s Nico Müller posted the fourth fastest time, just 0.057 seconds ahead of Paffett, with 2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller making it four Audis in the top six.

Paul Di Resta, Robert Wickens and Christian Vietoris were seventh, eighth and tenth respectively, making it five Mercedes in the top ten. Defending champion Marco Wittmann was the only BMW driver to end up in the top ten, posting the ninth fastest time overall, 0;335 seconds off pace setter Mortara.

The drivers were exploring the track limits in Spielberg, with several drivers going wide at the final turn. Miguel Molina had a close call to hitting the barriers, as the Spaniard outbraked himself into turn 2, which sent his RS5 DTM into a spin onto the grass.

Qualifying for the first race of the weekend starts at 1500 CEST (1400 BST)

Session results

POS	NO	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	48	Edoardo MORTARA		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	21	1:24.793	0.000
2	53	Jamie GREEN		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	22	1:24.859	0.066
3	94	Pascal WEHRLEIN		gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	22	1:24.944	0.151
4	51	Nico MÜLLER		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	Audi RS5 DTM	23	1:25.056	0.263
5	2	Gary PAFFETT		EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	20	1:25.113	0.320
6	99	Mike ROCKENFELLER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	23	1:25.120	0.327
7	3	Paul di RESTA		SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	22	1:25.120	0.327
8	6	Robert WICKENS		SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	21	1:25.124	0.331
9	1	Marco WITTMANN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	20	1:25.128	0.335
10	8	Christian VIETORIS		gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	18	1:25.199	0.406
11	27	Adrien TAMBAY		Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi RS5 DTM	24	1:25.240	0.447
12	5	Mattias EKSTRÖM		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	22	1:25.286	0.493
13	12	Daniel JUNCADELLA		PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	22	1:25.303	0.510
14	17	Miguel MOLINA		Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi RS5 DTM	18	1:25.306	0.513
15	10	Timo SCHEIDER		Audi Sport Team Phoenix	Audi RS5 DTM	14	1:25.348	0.555
16	84	Maximilian GÖTZ		PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	23	1:25.520	0.727
17	77	Martin TOMCZYK		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	20	1:25.566	0.773
18	13	António Félix da COSTA		BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW M4 DTM	21	1:25.570	0.777
19	18	Augusto FARFUS		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	16	1:25.571	0.778
20	36	Maxime MARTIN		BMW Team RMG	BMW M4 DTM	21	1:25.638	0.845
21	7	Bruno SPENGLER		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	17	1:25.675	0.882
22	31	Tom BLOMQVIST		BMW Team RBM	BMW M4 DTM	18	1:25.717	0.924
23	16	Timo GLOCK		BMW Team MTEK	BMW M4 DTM	18	1:25.857	1.064
24	22	Lucas AUER		EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG	Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM	20	1:25.932	1.139

Complete session results.