After over 200 days of waiting, the first free practice session of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season saw Audi Sport’s Edoardo Mortara lead the times around the famed Hockenheimring, posting a 1:34.217 around the 4.574-km circuit.
The Italian, who finished fourth in last year’s drivers standings, would lead for the majority of the half-hour session, after going 0.490 seconds quicker than last year’s runner-up, Britain’s Jamie Green.
The top three were separated by just over half a second, as BMW’s 2012 champion, Bruno Spengler, would be just 75 thousandths of a second slower than Green.
Mattias Ekström and Nico Müller would make it four Audi RS5 DTMs in the top six, as Spengler’s MTEK team mate, Augusto Farfus, would be 0.666 seconds behind the pace set by Mortara.
Mercedes-AMG DTM’s Daniel Juncadella was the fastest in the new C63 AMG DTM in seventh place, 0.733 seconds off the pace. The Spaniard, who made the switch to HWA this season, was fractionally faster that the remainder of the top ten, with Tom Blomqvist, two-time champion Timo Scheider and Paul Di Resta separated by 0.133 seconds.
The only major incident of the session was Maximilian Götz hitting the barriers, with the German posting the 23rd fastest time, a fraction ahead of BMW’s Maxime Martin. All 24 drivers were separated by 1.790 seconds, with débutant Esteban Ocon finishing in 21st place at the chequered flag.
Free practice two starts at 11:20am local time (10:20am BST),
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 1:34.217 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:34.707 | 0.490 |
| 3 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 1:34.782 | 0.565 |
| 4 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:34.848 | 0.631 |
| 5 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:34.850 | 0.633 |
| 6 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | 1:34.883 | 0.666 |
| 7 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:34.950 | 0.733 |
| 8 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:35.007 | 0.790 |
| 9 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:35.021 | 0.804 |
| 10 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 16 | 1:35.120 | 0.903 |
| 11 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
gooix / Original-Teile Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:35.230 | 1.013 |
| 12 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 14 | 1:35.235 | 1.018 |
| 13 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:35.253 | 1.036 |
| 14 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:35.276 | 1.059 |
| 15 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | 1:35.278 | 1.061 |
| 16 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
EURONICS / BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 16 | 1:35.305 | 1.088 |
| 17 | 77 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | 1:35.463 | 1.246 |
| 18 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 17 | 1:35.468 | 1.251 |
| 19 | 1 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:35.528 | 1.311 |
| 20 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 1:35.621 | 1.404 |
| 21 | 34 | Esteban OCON | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 15 | 1:35.733 | 1.516 |
| 22 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA | |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 1:35.736 | 1.519 |
| 23 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
PETRONAS Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 3 | 1:35.916 | 1.699 |
| 24 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 12 | 1:36.007 | 1.790 |