Robin Frijns used his local knowledge of the TT Circuit Assen to go quickest in second DTM practice, with the Audi driver edging out in-form stable-mate René Rast by 0.151 seconds.
Frijns had earlier been third fastest in first practice, but the Dutch local went seven tenths faster than he had earlier in the afternoon to top the second practice session.
The 27-year-old is the only Audi driver to have raced around the 4.545 km circuit before, and he used his local knowledge to put in the best time of the day so far.
Rast was second, ahead of Nico Müller, first practice pace-setter Loïc Duval and Mike Rockenfeller, as Audi locked out the top five places and no other brands was within half a second of the pace.
Timo Glock was once again the best of the BMW drivers in sixth, ahead of Marco Wittmann in seventh, Joel Eriksson in eighth and Sheldon van der Linde in ninth.
Independent Audi team WRT’s Jonathan Aberdein completed the top ten, whilst Daniel Juncadella was the best of the Aston Martin drivers in 11th, this time outside of the top ten.
Qualifying for race one gets underway at 09:15 BST (10:15 CEST) on Saturday.
Session results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 4 | Robin FRIJNS |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:26.277 | 0.000 |
| 2 | 33 | René RAST |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:26.428 | 0.151 |
| 3 | 51 | Nico MÜLLER |  |
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:26.589 | 0.312 |
| 4 | 28 | Loïc DUVAL |  |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 19 | 1:26.642 | 0.365 |
| 5 | 99 | Mike ROCKENFELLER | |
Audi Sport Team Phoenix | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:26.691 | 0.414 |
| 6 | 16 | Timo GLOCK | |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:26.911 | 0.634 |
| 7 | 11 | Marco WITTMANN | |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 14 | 1:26.980 | 0.703 |
| 8 | 47 | Joel ERIKSSON |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:27.054 | 0.777 |
| 9 | 31 | Sheldon VAN DER LINDE |  |
BMW Team RBM | BMW M4 DTM | 15 | 1:27.214 | 0.937 |
| 10 | 27 | Jonathan ABERDEIN | |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 18 | 1:27.394 | 1.117 |
| 11 | 23 | Daniel JUNCADELLA |  |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 17 | 1:27.501 | 1.224 |
| 12 | 21 | Pietro FITTIPALDI |  |
Audi Sport Team WRT | Audi RS5 DTM | 16 | 1:27.653 | 1.376 |
| 13 | 53 | Jamie GREEN |  |
Audi Sport Team Rosberg | Audi RS5 DTM | 14 | 1:27.685 | 1.408 |
| 14 | 7 | Bruno SPENGLER |  |
BMW Team RMG | BMW M4 DTM | 16 | 1:27.716 | 1.439 |
| 15 | 25 | Philipp ENG |  |
BMW Team RMR | BMW M4 DTM | 13 | 1:27.726 | 1.449 |
| 16 | 3 | Paul DI RESTA | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 15 | 1:27.765 | 1.488 |
| 17 | 76 | Jake DENNIS | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 18 | 1:27.831 | 1.554 |
| 18 | 62 | Ferdinand VON HABSBURG | |
R-Motorsport | Aston Martin Vantage DTM | 17 | 1:27.928 | 1.651 |