Edoardo Mortara set the pace in first practice for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters at the Norisring, with the Audi driver beating BMW’s Marco Wittmann by a mere 0.057 seconds.
The Italian hit the top of the times with just a few minutes remaining to take the top spot away from former champion Wittmann, who had just minutes earlier himself been fastest.
Audi’s Mattias Ekström ended up in third, with the Swede having been the early pace-setter with a time of 49.255 seconds before improving to 48.968 seconds inside the final ten minutes.
Team Abt’s Nico Müller in fourth, and Team Rosberg’s Adrien Tambay in fifth provided Audi with four of the top five positions at the Nuremberg street circuit.
Robert Wickens was the leading Mercedes-Benz driver in sixth at a circuit which typically suits the Stuttgart manufacturer, with the Canadian just 0.124 seconds off the pace.
In general terms, it was a difficult first session for the three-pointed star, with just two Mercedes drivers making it into the top ten, the other being Maximilian Götz in tenth.
The session featured a brief stoppage after just over ten minutes when a damaged advertising banner needed to be dealt with. Other than that there were no major incidents, with all 24 cars down to last-placed Jamie Green covered by less than nine tenths of a second.
Second practice takes place at 09:15 CEST (08:15 BST) on Saturday, followed shortly by qualifying for the first race at 11:05 CEST (10:05 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 48.878 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 24 | 48.935 | 0.057 |
| 3 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 27 | 48.968 | 0.090 |
| 4 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 37 | 48.971 | 0.093 |
| 5 | 27 | Adrien TAMBAY |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 34 | 48.985 | 0.107 |
| 6 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 31 | 49.002 | 0.124 |
| 7 | 10 | Timo SCHEIDER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 49.009 | 0.131 |
| 8 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 29 | 49.013 | 0.135 |
| 9 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 35 | 49.013 | 0.135 |
| 10 | 84 | Maximilian GÖTZ | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32 | 49.040 | 0.162 |
| 11 | 17 | Miguel MOLINA |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt | Audi RS5 DTM | 36 | 49.046 | 0.168 |
| 12 | 13 | António Félix da COSTA |  |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 49.069 | 0.191 |
| 13 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 24 | 49.095 | 0.217 |
| 14 | 12 | Daniel JUNCADELLA | |
SILBERPFEIL Energy/UBFS Invest Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32 | 49.162 | 0.284 |
| 15 | 3 | Paul di RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 31 | 49.211 | 0.333 |
| 16 | 8 | Christian VIETORIS | |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32 | 49.253 | 0.375 |
| 17 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
BWT Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 34 | 49.253 | 0.375 |
| 18 | 100 | Martin TOMCZYK | |
BMW Team Schnitzer | BMW M4 DTM | 31 | 49.283 | 0.405 |
| 19 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 31 | 49.323 | 0.445 |
| 20 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 28 | 49.380 | 0.502 |
| 21 | 34 | Esteban OCON | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 29 | 49.395 | 0.517 |
| 22 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
EURONICS/FREE MEN’S WORLD Mercedes-AMG | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 31 | 49.418 | 0.540 |
| 23 | 18 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team MTEK | BMW M4 DTM | 28 | 49.432 | 0.554 |
| 24 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 49.681 | 0.803 |