Mirko Bortolotti kicks off the DTM weekend at the Nürburgring with the fastest time

• The Lamborghini race is the only driver to dip below 1:26.000 minutes in free practice.
• Championship leader Thomas Preining backs up his recent fine form with fifth place.
• Cool temperatures mean the fastest times come later in Friday’s sessions.

Nürburg. Mirko Bortolotti (I) got round four of this season’s DTM underway with another impressive display in his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 at the Nürburgring. The 33-year-old from the SS Performance team clocked the fastest time of the day – 1:25.977 minutes – in FP2 on Friday afternoon, and was the only driver to dip under the 1:26.000 minute mark. “That was a productive day for us. We successfully completed our programme in the practice sessions. However, we still have the two decisive days ahead of us, when it will be important to convert our good work into good results,” said the Italian.

The second-fastest driver was Dennis Olsen (N), whose time of 1:26.153 minutes was the best of the opening practice session this morning. The Porsche driver lines up for the Manthey EMA team, which is based just a few minutes from the Eifel circuit in Meuspath. Third place went to Lucas Auer (A) in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, with Franck Perera (F) fourth in the second SSR Performance Lamborghini. Championship leader Thomas Preining (A), Olsen’s team-mate, was fifth fastest in his 911. The 25-year-old underlined his ambition to remain at the top of the table when the season reaches the halfway point after races seven and eight at the Nürburgring.

Both of Friday’s practice sessions were held in cool conditions and under overcast skies. With temperatures reaching no higher than 16 degrees Celsius, it took the drivers several laps to get the optimal amount of heat into the Pirelli tyres. The top three drivers each set their fastest times on laps 20, 21 and 22. The only exception was Perera, whose fastest time on the 3.629-kilometre variant of the Grand Prix circuit came on his tenth lap. You can find the full results of both sessions at dtm.com/de/ergebnisse.

Qualifying on Saturday begins at 09:35. 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 on free-to-air TV. The DTM is shown live or in full replay in over 150 territories around the world.