Audi’s Edoardo Mortara set the pace in first practice for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) at a damp Hockenheimring, ahead of stable-mate Mattias Ekström and Mercedes’ Robert Wickens.
In a session which was affected by inclement weather, only the top nine drivers were covered by less than a second, with the top ten featuring five Audi drivers, three Mercedes’ and two BMWs.
Mortara’s fastest lap was 0.114 seconds faster than Ekström, with Wickens a further tenth back.
Reigning champion Marco Wittmann was the fastest BMW driver in fourth with a fast lap late in the session, ahead of Audi’s Miguel Molina in fifth.
Timo Glock had set the early pace for BMW, but ended the session in sixth after Mortara and Ekström went faster inside the opening 20 minutes.
Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris was seventh, ahead of Audi duo Mike Rockenfeller and Timo Scheider in eighth and ninth. Gary Paffett completed the top ten, 1.021 seconds off the pace.
Lucas Auer endured a difficult start to his début with Mercedes, though, as his car had early ground to halt in the rollout session with a transmission problem. The Austrian failed to complete a single lap during practice as the problem was fixed.
Second practice takes place at 08:00 CEST on Saturday morning (07:00 BST).
Free Practice 1 times
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:50.182 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:50.296 | 0.114 |
| 3 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
FREE MAN’S WORLD AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 20 | 1:50.409 | 0.227 |
| 4 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:50.499 | 0.317 |
| 5 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:50.674 | 0.492 |
| 6 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:50.955 | 0.773 |
| 7 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
Original-Teile AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 18 | 1:50.996 | 0.814 |
| 8 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:51.033 | 0.851 |
| 9 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 23 | 1:51.136 | 0.954 |
| 10 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
EURONICS AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 21 | 1:51.203 | 1.021 |
| 11 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
Petronas AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 18 | 1:51.349 | 1.167 |
| 12 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 16 | 1:51.583 | 1.401 |
| 13 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 21 | 1:51.675 | 1.493 |
| 14 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:51.777 | 1.595 |
| 15 | 94 | Pascal WEHRLEIN | |
gooix AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | 19 | 1:52.035 | 1.853 |
| 16 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 1:52.035 | 1.853 |
| 17 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 19 | 1:52.065 | 1.883 |
| 18 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:52.087 | 1.905 |
| 19 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:52.153 | 1.971 |
| 20 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:52.742 | 2.560 |
| 21 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 1:53.575 | 3.393 |
| 22 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 1:54.018 | 3.836 |
| 23 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:54.692 | 4.510 |
| 24 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
AMG Mercedes | DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé | – | No time | N/A |