Mercedes Benz driver Paul Di Resta set the early pace for the 2017 DTM season’s opening race weekend at Hockenheim this morning. The 2010 DTM champion found 0.110 seconds on track to fellow Mercedes pilot Gary Paffet, who ended his day in second position.
Team Phoenix’s Mike Rockenfeller put his Audi RS5 DTM into 3rd, just in front of the Rosberg Audi of Jamie Green.
Tom Blomqvist marked the best of the BMW drivers in eighth position, 0.602 seconds adrift of first place. If the Bavarian car make really is set to struggle this weekend remains to be seen, with most teams having run race simulations this morning.
Blomqvist was followed by Robert Wickens and Timo Glock in ninth and tenth place respectively. Both pilots have each previously led the final sessions of pre-season testing a month ago.
Last year’s drivers’ champion Marco Wittman placed his BMW M4 DTM in 14th, with a time of 1:33.841. Vice champion to Wittmann, new Mercedes signing Edoardo Mortara, only posted the 16th quickest lap, making him the slowest of the six Mercedes’ in the field so far.
Maxime Martin found himself in the 18th – and thus last – position, with no time posted. The Belgian BMW Team RBM driver only managed to get two laps done this morning – a cause for this has not been communicated by either BMW or Martin himself yet.
The 30-minute long session ended with a restart simulation. This season will see drivers lining up in rows of two for every safety car restart – a change that is set to improve the show and make for a tumultuous turn one.
Second practice takes place on Saturday at 09:55 CEST (08:55 BST), followed by qualifying for race 1 at 11:35 CEST (10:35 BST). Race 1 itself starts on Sartuday at 14:48 CEST (13:48 BST).
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 17 | 1:32.763 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 17 | 1:32.873 | 0.110 |
| 3 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:33.155 | 0.392 |
| 4 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:33.209 | 0.446 |
| 5 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 15 | 1:33.240 | 0.477 |
| 6 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 1:33.265 | 0.502 |
| 7 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 1:33.321 | 0.558 |
| 8 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:33.365 | 0.602 |
| 9 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 22 | 1:33.524 | 0.761 |
| 10 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:33.580 | 0.817 |
| 11 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:33.597 | 0.834 |
| 12 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 23 | 1:33.661 | 0.898 |
| 13 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 15 | 1:33.799 | 1.036 |
| 14 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 1:33.841 | 1.078 |
| 15 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:33.864 | 1.101 |
| 16 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:33.950 | 1.187 |
| 17 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 1:34.181 | 1.418 |
| 18 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 3 | No time | N/A |