Thomas Preining sets the opening day’s fastest time at the Norisring

• Championship leader underlines his favourite credentials with fastest practice lap
• Porsche impresses at round three of the DTM, with three cars in the top five
• The fastest five drivers are separated by just 0.1 seconds

Munich. Porsche impressed with a strong all-round performance on Friday, as the Norisring hosts round three of this season’s DTM. Thomas Preining (A) took just 49.201 seconds to complete his fastest lap of the 2.2-kilometre track in the afternoon’s second free practice session. In doing so, he clocked the best time of the day in his Porsche 911 GT3 R. The 24-year-old from the Manthey EMA team thus secured his place in the first start group in Saturday’s qualifying. Due to the large field, the two qualifying sessions at Germany’s only street circuit will each be held in two groups. Based on the times from the two practice sessions, the drivers in the odd positions will start their 20-minute race against the clock at 09:35. The drivers in the even positions then follow from 10:00.

“As expected, it is a close affair at the Norisring and we are only 0.01 seconds faster than the second-placed car. It has been a positive start to the weekend. The narrow track and the hard braking manoeuvres suit me and the Porsche. The serious business really starts in qualifying on Saturday. I coped well with the high temperatures, as I often go to the sauna in the winter and am thus prepared for such conditions,” said Preining, who claimed the first DTM victory for Porsche at the Norisring last season.

Just one thousandth of a second slower than the Austrian was fellow Porsche driver Ayhancan Güven (TR) from Team75 Motorsport. Mirko Bortolotti (I) set the third fastest time of the day in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 run by SSR Performance. Local favourite Marco Wittmann (Fürth) from DTM newcomers Project 1 slotted into fourth place in the BMW M4 GT3. Würzburg’s Laurin Heinrich was also in good form on his home track at the wheel of the third Porsche 911 GT3 R in the top five. Lucas Auer (A), who had set the fastest time of the opening session at midday, was seventh in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 behind Porsche driver Dennis Olsen (N).

While it took more than ten minutes for a driver to crack the 50-second mark in Friday’s first free practice, the same feat took just a few laps in the second session. Temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius gave the drivers a taste of what they can expect at the weekend, when even more heat is forecast. The crowds at the track in the heart of Nuremberg witnessed some great motor racing, with Preining on the attack from the word go. The Porsche works driver set the fastest time of the day on lap 19, with Güven coming up just 0.01 seconds short on his 28th lap. After a collision involving Audi driver Luca Engstler (Wiggensbach) and Lamborghini racer Franck Perera (F), the second free practice drew to a close with a full course yellow for the final three minutes. The small time differences highlighted just how evenly matched the DTM was at the only street circuit in Germany. The first five cars were within 0.1 seconds of each other. The full results of both sessions can be found at dtm.com/en/results.

The first qualifying group opens proceedings from 09:35 to 09:55 on Saturday. Group two then goes in pursuit of fast lap times from 10:00 to 10:20. The battle for the best grid positions will be streamed live at ran.de. TV partner ProSieben is showing all 16 of this season’s races live and on free-to-air television.

Qualifying group 1:
Thomas Preining (A/Manthey EMA)
Mirko Bortolotti (I/SSR Performance)
Laurin Heinrich (D/Team75 Motorsport)
Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward)
Luca Stolz (D/Mercedes-AMG Team HRT)
Maro Engel (D/Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter)
Christian Engelhart (D/Toksport WRT)
Franck Perera (F/SSR Performance)
Alessio Deledda (I/SSR Performance)
Ricardo Feller (CH/Abt Sportsline)
Luca Engstler (D/Liqui Moly Team Engstler)
Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing)
Mick Wishofer (A/GRT Grasser-Racing-Team)
Mattia Drudi (I/Tresor Orange 1)

Qualifying group 2:
Ayhancan Güven (TR/Team75 Motorsport)
Marco Wittmann (D/Project 1)
Dennis Olsen (N/Manthey EMA)
Kelvin van der Linde (ZA/Abt Sportsline)
Sheldon van der Linde (ZA/Schubert Motorsport)
René Rast (D/Schubert Motorsport)
Arjun Maini (IND/Mercedes-AMG Team HRT)
Tim Heinemann (D/Toksport WRT)
David Schumacher (D/Mercedes-AMG Team Winward)
Clemens Schmid (A/GRT Grasser-Racing-Team)
Thierry Vermeulen (NL/Emil Frey Racing)
Patric Niederhauser (CH/Tresor Orange 1)
Jusuf Owega (D/Mercedes-AMG Team BWT)