DTM at the Lausitzring: Porsche dominates free practice in the dry and the wet

• Preining goes fastest in practice at the Dekra Lausitzring, team-mate Güven shines in the rain
• Kelvin van der Linde impresses with fast times in different conditions
• Teams test Pirelli’s new wet tyre in the afternoon session

Klettwitz. Porsche has made a strong start to the second round of the DTM season at the Dekra Lausitzring. The 911s belonging to the Manthey EMA team were unbeatable in both dry and wet conditions during Friday’s free practice. Thomas Preining went fastest in the first session at midday, stopping the clock at 1:20.782 minutes to set the best time of the day. In doing so, he was also the only driver to dip below the 1:21.000-minute mark. After a mediocre start to the season in Oschersleben, this was a clear improvement for the defending champion. “Free practice may not be hugely significant, but after Oschersleben it was important for our team to be back among the fastest out there. It was like the car was on rails, and it is great to drive a car like that on a track that is technically so demanding, with its hard bumps,” said the 25-year-old.

In temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius, Maro Engel (Monaco) set the second-fastest time of 1:21.061 minutes in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. Third place went to Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) from Abt Sportsline. The runner-up in last year’s championship, Mirko Bortolotti (I), was fourth in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, while Ayhancan Güven (TR) guided the Manthey EMA’s second Porsche 911 GT3 R to fifth place.

Rain, heavy at times, started to fall in Lusatia at the start of the afternoon’s second free practice session. The drivers took this opportunity to put the Cinturato WHB wet tyre, newly developed by Pirelli for this season, through its paces. After a cautious start, the session soon turned into a fascinating race against the clock on the wet 3.478-kilometre track. Güven set the fastest time of 1:35.573 minutes on his 20th lap. The Porsche driver: “Two years ago, I won my first ADAC GT Masters race here at the Lausitzring, also in the rain. As far as I am concerned, the weather can stay like this at the weekend. These conditions suit me. Furthermore, we were able to make full use of the practice session and find out how the new Pirelli wet tyres behave with different amounts of water on the track.” Kelvin van der Linde was a good tenth of a second slower in second place in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2. Jack Aitken (GB), who claimed his first DTM victory at the Lausitzring last year, ended Friday afternoon’s wet session in third place in a Ferrari 296 GT3.

The first qualifying session at the Lausitzring will get underway at 13:30 on Saturday. Fans can follow the qualifying in a livestream at ran.de. ProSieben is showing all 16 of this season’s races live on free-to-air TV. Coverage starts half an hour before the race start on Saturday and Sunday. The DTM races are broadcast live or replayed in full in more than 150 territories around the world.