With just one day remaining of the only official Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) test at Hockenheim, two-time champion Mattias Ekström was able to post the fastest time of the day in the afternoon session
The Swede set a 1:32.964 around the 4.574-km circuit, just 0.177 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Daniel Juncadella, with all three brands represented thanks to 2011 champion Martin Tomczyk rounding out the top three.
Juncadella topped the times in the morning session, with the Baden-Württemberg track saturated by further rain showers. The Spaniard, who was there to test for official tyre supplier Hankook, completed the second biggest lap count behind 2014 champion Marco Wittmann, who completed 129 laps.
Wittmann would post the seventh fastest time of the day, over seven tenths off the pace set by Ekström, and would find himself behind Timo Scheider, Miguel Molina and Gary Paffett.
“The morning was a little disappointing. It rained, and we had no opportunity to test in the dry,” said Paffett, who will partner DTM rookie Esteban Ocon at ART Grand Prix for this season.
“Luckily, the whole afternoon stayed fine, so we made some progress with the car. I’m now looking forward to more work on the car tomorrow.”
2012 champion Bruno Spengler would be the eighth fastest out of all 15 that took part, ahead of Adrien Tambay and Nico Müller making it five Audi RS5 DTMs in the top ten.
Robert Wickens, Paul Di Resta, Augusto Farfus, Maxime Martin and Christian Vietoris would round off the times, with Vietoris being 1.339 seconds off the top time.
The final day of DTM testing commences at 09.00 local time tomorrow.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 118 | 1:32.964 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 123 | 1:33.141 | 0.177 |
| 3 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 104 | 1:33.259 | 0.295 |
| 4 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 99 | 1:33.285 | 0.321 |
| 5 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 111 | 1:33.413 | 0.449 |
| 6 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 110 | 1:33.417 | 0.453 |
| 7 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 129 | 1:33.525 | 0.561 |
| 8 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 107 | 1:33.593 | 0.629 |
| 9 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 104 | 1:33.616 | 0.652 |
| 10 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 79 | 1:33.637 | 0.673 |
| 11 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 105 | 1:33.652 | 0.688 |
| 12 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 88 | 1:33.751 | 0.787 |
| 13 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 105 | 1:33.837 | 0.873 |
| 14 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 111 | 1:33.972 | 1.008 |
| 15 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 94 | 1:34.303 | 1.339 |