Mercedes’ best hope for another drivers’ title in the DTM, Lucas Auer, continued his good form at the Nüburgring by leading a Stuttgart 1-2-3 in the final free practice session of the weekend.
The race one winner set the best time of the half-hour session under dry conditions with a 1:21.258, ahead of 2005 champion Gary Paffett and Canada’s Robert Wickens.
The trio were separated by 0.148 seconds, with the best efforts from all drivers happening in the final three minutes of the session.
Defending champion Marco Wittmann was the best of the BMW contingent in fourth, leading a trio of M4 DTMs, with Tom Blomqvist and Timo Glock completing the top six.
René Rast, who received a five-place grid penalty for race two following his contact with Maro Engle yesterday, was the best of the Audi Sport contingent in seventh.
Bruno Spengler was eighth, ahead of Auer’s BWT team mate Edoardo Mortara, with 2013 champion Mike Rockenfeller completing the top ten, who were separated by 0.439 seconds.
Qualifying for the second race of the weekend gets underway at 12:00 local time (11:00 BST), 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 | 18 | 1:21.258 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 2 | Gary PAFFETT |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:21.351 | 0.093 |
| 3 | 6 | Robert WICKENS |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Mercedes me | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 23 | 1:21.406 | 0.148 |
| 4 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:21.486 | 0.228 |
| 5 | 31 | Tom BLOMQVIST | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:21.520 | 0.262 |
| 6 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:21.549 | 0.291 |
| 7 | 33 | René RAST | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 22 | 1:21.557 | 0.299 |
| 8 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER | |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 17 | 1:21.558 | 0.300 |
| 9 | 48 | Edoardo MORTARA |  |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport BWT | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 19 | 1:21.611 | 0.353 |
| 10 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 21 | 1:21.697 | 0.439 |
| 11 | 15 | Augusto FARFUS |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 18 | 1:21.708 | 0.450 |
| 12 | 63 | Maro ENGEL | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 21 | 1:21.729 | 0.471 |
| 13 | 5 | Mattias EKSTRÖM |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:21.795 | 0.537 |
| 14 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 20 | 1:22.016 | 0.758 |
| 15 | 53 | Jamie GREEN | |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 17 | 1:22.263 | 1.005 |
| 16 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
Mercedes-AMG Motorsport SILBERPFEIL Energy | Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM | 14 | 1:22.667 | 1.409 |
| 17 | 77 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:22.727 | 1.469 |
| 18 | 36 | Maxime MARTIN |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:23.651 | 2.393 |