Martin Tomczyk led a BMW one-two in the opening free practice session ahead of this weekend's second round of the DTM at Lausitz. The 2011 champion, who was an early retiree from the Hockenheim season opener, put his RMG BMW at the top of the times with a lap in 1m20.118s with 22 minutes of the 90 remaining, knocking Mattias Ekstrom's Abt Audi off the top spot in the process.
Tomczyk's RMG teammate Joey Hand was only 0.017 seconds slower. The American ALMS veteran making just his second DTM appearance showed impressive speed in the final few minutes of the session to push Ekstrom down to third spot. Christian Vietoris was the best of the Mercedes drivers in fourth place for HWA, while David Coulthard followed up his Hockenheim speed with fifth.
Sixth went to Miguel Molina's Phoenix Audi, with RBM BMW's Augusto Farfus, Persson Mercedes' Roberto Merhi and the best of the Rosberg Audis – that of Filipe Albuquerque – next up. Timo Scheider (Abt) completed the top 10.
HWA Mercedes duo Gary Paffett and Jamie Green, who lie first and second in the championship, were 12th and 13th, respectively. Andy Priaulx was 20th fastest in his RBM BMW, but was significantly less than a second off Tomczyk's pacesetting time.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 1m20.118s
2. Joey Hand RMG BMW 1m20.135s + 0.017s
3. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m20.142s + 0.024s
4. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m20.204s + 0.086s
5. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 1m20.253s + 0.135s
6. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi 1m20.330s + 0.212s
7. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m20.341s + 0.223s
8. Roberto Merhi Persson Mercedes 1m20.358s + 0.240s
9. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 1m20.361s + 0.243s
10. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 1m20.379s + 0.261s
11. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 1m20.399s + 0.281s
12. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m20.399s + 0.281s
13. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 1m20.417s + 0.299s
14. Robert Wickens Persson Mercedes 1m20.450s + 0.332s
15. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m20.487s + 0.369s
16. Susie Wolff Mucke Mercedes 1m20.507s + 0.389s
17. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 1m20.782s + 0.664s
18. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m20.807s + 0.689s
19. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m20.856s + 0.738s
20. Andy Priaulx RBM BMW 1m21.080s + 0.962s
21. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW 1m21.788s + 1.670s
22. Rahel Frey Abt Audi 1m21.843s + 1.725s