Gounon makes a perfect start to the DTM weekend at the Dekra Lausitzring

• Frenchman tops both practice sessions
• McLaren driver Ben Dörr goes second fastest in Lusatia
• Small margins: Just 0.5 seconds separates the top 15

Klettwitz. Jules Gounon (F) made a big statement at the Dekra Lausitzring: the Mercedes-AMG driver was the fastest man in both free practices at round two of the DTM on Thursday, and his time of 1:20.595 minutes in the second session was the best of the day. "A good start to the weekend! It was important to set the car up perfectly for qualifying. We manged to do precisely that. I like the Lausitzring. It is very unique, with its slow and technically demanding corners, fast straights, and the treacherous wall," said the 30-year-old from Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter.

Ben Dörr (Butzbach) ended free practice in second place in the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, just 0.011 seconds slower than Gounon. "I put together a super lap. We have put a lot of work into the set-up of the car over the past few months. Bit by bit, that is paying dividends. We also hit the tyre's peak perfectly. That is something we often struggled with last year. It was obviously only practice, but we are heading in the right direction and that feels good," said Dörr. Third was Lucas Auer (A) from Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf, with fourth place going to Thierry Vermeulen (NL) from Emil Frey Racing in a Ferrari 296 GT3. Local favourite Maximilian Paul (Dresden) set the fifth-fastest time for Paul Motorsport in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.

Most teams used Free Practice 1 on Thursday afternoon to adjust the set-up of the cars to suit the layout at the Lausitzring. Gounon was fastest with a time of 1:20.623 minutes. The second session, later in the afternoon, also included qualifying sessions. Auer set the early pace and topped the timings sheet for a long time. With roughly eight minutes remaining, Dörr took the lead, before Gounon recorded the day's top time shortly thereafter. The differences between the cars were remarkably small in both practice sessions, with just 0.5 seconds separating the first 15 drivers.

The first qualifying at the Dekra Lausitzring gets underway at 09:05 on Saturday. Fans can follow the session in a livestream at ran.de. ProSieben is showing all 16 of this season's races live on free-to-air TV, with coverage starting at 12:00 on Saturday and 13:00 on Sunday. The races are also streamed live and free of charge online at Joyn and on the YouTube channel @DTM.

All the results from the Lausitzring can be found at dtm.com/en/results.