Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller topped the times on the final day of the official Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters pre-season testing at the Hockenheimring, ahead of fellow Audi racer Edoardo Mortara.
Rockenfeller’s time of 1:33.197 was the third best of the week, placing the former champion behind pace-setters Mattias Ekström and Mercedes’ Daniel Juncadella in the overall order.
Third fastest on Friday was Ekström, with the Swede’s lap time being half a second slower than his best lap a day previously.
Audi’s Dieter Gass left the Hockenheimring pleased with the fact that his drivers had been on top in two out of the four days of testing.
“Following a long winter and this final pre-season test, I can hardly wait for the season to finally start,” said Gass, Head of DTM at Audi Sport. “Last winter, we again did a lot of detailed work on our Audi RS 5 DTM. That was mainly hard and meticulous work in the set-up area, as that’s all that the regulations permit at the moment.
“The test went well. But we’re only going to see in qualifying for the first race at Hockenheim how good a job our competitors did. It’s going to be a real thriller because in the DTM everything is done to have a balanced field and to deliver spectacular races to the fans.”
The fastest Mercedes-Benz driver on Friday was Canadian Robert Wickens in fourth, just over two tenths off the pace.
A more challenging day for BMW saw their best-placed driver in sixth with António Félix da Costa, just ahead of Brit Tom Blomqvist, who had earlier topped the times on Wednesday.
The combined classification ultimately put 23 of the 24 drivers within a second of each other, with only Christian Vietoris slower than a second from the best lap of the week. That was partly due to problems for the German, who completed the least running of any driver during the four-day test.
Friday session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 113 | 1:33.197 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 139 | 1:33.222 | 0.025 |
| 3 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 102 | 1:33.401 | 0.204 |
| 4 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 97 | 1:33.458 | 0.261 |
| 5 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 83 | 1:33.539 | 0.342 |
| 6 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 119 | 1:33.583 | 0.386 |
| 7 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 117 | 1:33.604 | 0.407 |
| 8 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 128 | 1:33.615 | 0.418 |
| 9 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 120 | 1:33.625 | 0.428 |
| 10 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 91 | 1:33.709 | 0.512 |
| 11 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 146 | 1:33.815 | 0.618 |
| 12 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 57 | 1:33.857 | 0.660 |
| 13 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 114 | 1:34.353 | 1.156 |
| 14 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 41 | 1:34.452 | 1.255 |
| 15 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 102 | 1:35.083 | 1.886 |
Combined results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 348 | 1:32.964 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 348 | 1:33.141 | 0.177 |
| 3 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 244 | 1:33.197 | 0.233 |
| 4 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 251 | 1:33.214 | 0.250 |
| 5 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 233 | 1:33.222 | 0.258 |
| 6 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 215 | 1:33.259 | 0.295 |
| 7 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 299 | 1:33.285 | 0.321 |
| 8 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 310 | 1:33.326 | 0.362 |
| 9 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 217 | 1:33.413 | 0.449 |
| 10 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 167 | 1:33.417 | 0.453 |
| 11 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 202 | 1:33.458 | 0.494 |
| 12 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 248 | 1:33.485 | 0.521 |
| 13 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 248 | 1:33.510 | 0.546 |
| 14 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 186 | 1:33.539 | 0.575 |
| 15 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 324 | 1:33.593 | 0.629 |
| 16 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 216 | 1:33.615 | 0.651 |
| 17 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 192 | 1:33.616 | 0.652 |
| 18 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 183 | 1:33.637 | 0.673 |
| 19 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 252 | 1:33.647 | 0.683 |
| 20 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 199 | 1:33.652 | 0.688 |
| 21 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 189 | 1:33.804 | 0.840 |
| 22 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 178 | 1:33.815 | 0.851 |
| 23 | 34 | Esteban OCON | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 215 | 1:33.878 | 0.914 |
| 24 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 135 | 1:34.303 | 1.339 |