Maro Engel makes strong start at the Norisring

• Mercedes-AMG drivers is Friday’s fastest man at the street circuit in Nuremberg
• Three-time champion René Rast ends the practice sessions in second place in a BMW
• Excitement guaranteed: just 0.202 seconds separate the top ten drivers

Nuremberg. Strong start from Maro Engel (Monaco) at the DTM’s 40th anniversary weekend at the Norisring. The experienced Mercedes-AMG driver from Mercedes-AMG Team Winward was not only the fastest man in Friday’s second free practice session, but his time of 49.060 seconds was also the fastest time of the day. “All the corners at the Norisring are really challenging. Every thousandth of a second can make the difference between one row of the grid and the next here. That is what makes the circuit so special. I am sure that we will see even faster lap times in different conditions in qualifying. We must take the next step then, if we want to compete at the top of the time sheet,” said Engel, who will contest his 100th DTM race on Sunday.

René Rast (Bregenz) was second in the Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, just 0.014 seconds slower than Engel. The third-fastest lap of the street circuit in Nuremberg came courtesy of Lamborghini driver Nicki Thiim (DK/SSR Performance), whose team-mate Mirko Bortolotti (I) ended the day in fourth place. Sheldon van der Linde (ZA) guided another Schubert Motorsport BMW to fifth place on the opening day of the fourth DTM race weekend of the season.

With temperatures around 24 degrees, Friday’s second free practice session was significantly faster than the opening session in the morning. It only took a few minutes for the drivers to start dipping below the 50-second mark for the 2.162-kilometre track. Rast’s fastest lap was good enough to occupy first place for a long time. However, with seven minutes of the session remaining, Engel set the day’s best time on his 30th lap. The time differences at the Norisring were extremely small, with just 0.202 seconds separating the top ten.

The morning’s opening practice session saw championship leader Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) from Abt Sportsline set the fastest time in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2. “It feels good to arrive at the Norisring as championship leader and to promptly clock the best time in the first session. The weather will probably change over the weekend, so things could look different again. I really like being at the Norisring. Winning here would be special for me,” said the South African.

The two qualifying sessions at the Norisring were each held in two groups. Based on their times in the practice sessions, the drivers in the odd positions will start their 20-minute qualifying session at 09:00 on Saturday. The drivers in the even positions follow at 09:25. The groups start Sunday’s qualifying in reverse order. This system is intended to neutralise the different track conditions that may be experienced due to the split sessions. Fans can follow qualifying via a livestream at ran.de. ProSieben is showing all 16 of this season’s races live on free-to-air TV. Coverage begins half an hour before the start of the races on Saturday and Sunday. The DTM races are broadcast live or replayed in full in over 150 territories.