Cooler conditions on the streets of Nuremberg saw Mercedes-AMG Motorsport’s Lucas Auer take the top spot in second free practice for the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters this weekend.
The Austrian would end up 0.143 seconds quicker than current championship leader René Rest, and Stuttgart stablemate Gary Paffett rounding out the top three.
For the first half of the session, drivers were using scrubbed tyres from the previous free practice session, with Tom Blomqvist leading the way.
The Anglo-Swede would find himself drop down the order just after the halfway point, as Auer would gradually pick up the pace to go fastest with a 47.814 second lap, leading a train of five Audi RS5 DTMs.
With the run up to qualifying becoming more intense towards the end of the 20-minute session, Mike Rockenfeller and Nico Müller would make it three from Ingolstadt into the top five, ahead of first practice pace setter Bruno Spengler in sixth.
Spengler was the only BMW driver to end up in the top ten, whilst Blomqvist would be the next best-placed driver from Munich down in 13th, despite only being behind 0.458 seconds off the pace set by Auer.
Edoardo Mortara led a trio of C63 AMG Coupés in seventh place, ahead of Robert Wickens and Maro Engel, whilst Mattias Esktröm completed the top ten.
Defending champion Marco Wittmann was 15th fastest, with another good showing from the Stuttgart ranks, as Paul Di Resta was the only Mercedes driver to not make it into the top ten, posting the 12th fastest time.
Qualifying for the first race of the weekend at the Norising gets underway at 1120 local time, lasting for 20 minutes.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 22 | Lucas AUER |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 24 | 47.814 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 47.957 | 0.143 |
| 3 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 28 | 48.006 | 0.192 |
| 4 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 48.009 | 0.195 |
| 5 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 48.089 | 0.275 |
| 6 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 23 | 48.090 | 0.276 |
| 7 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 32 | 48.097 | 0.283 |
| 8 | 6 | Robert WICKENS | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 24 | 48.101 | 0.287 |
| 9 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 24 | 48.152 | 0.338 |
| 10 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 48.168 | 0.354 |
| 11 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 28 | 48.197 | 0.383 |
| 12 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 24 | 48.216 | 0.402 |
| 13 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 23 | 48.272 | 0.458 |
| 14 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 48.278 | 0.464 |
| 15 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 23 | 48.307 | 0.493 |
| 16 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 27 | 48.349 | 0.535 |
| 17 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 30 | 48.460 | 0.646 |
| 18 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 22 | 48.601 | 0.787 |