Glock claims first top time in the DTM for McLaren

• Team-mate Ben Dörr sets second-fastest lap at the Nürburgring
• Ferrari driver Jack Aitken posts best time in FP1 in the morning
• Small margins in the Eifel Mountains: whole field within a second of each other

Nürburg. Timo Glock (Kreuzlingen/Dörr Motorsport) has hit the ground running after the DTM summer break: the former Formula 1 driver, at the wheel of a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, set Friday's fastest practice time of 1:26.209 minutes at round five of the season at the Nürburgring. "It was obviously just free practice, but a result like that still feels good. For us as a team, the challenge of the DTM is a continuous process and we are heading in the right direction. Despite that, we must not forget that Dörr Motorsport is only in its second year in the series. I am looking forward to a mega DTM weekend at the Nürburgring," said Glock.

Just 0.044 seconds off Glock's time was his team-mate Ben Dörr (Butzbach) in second place. Thierry Vermeulen (NL/Emil Frey Racing) was third fastest in his Ferrari 296 GT3. A mere 0.02 seconds slower, in fourth place, was Ricardo Feller (CH/Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2) from the Land-Motorsport team. Ayhancan Güven (TR) guided the Porsche 911 GT3 R of local team Manthey EMA to fifth place.

The top times came in Free Practice 2 on Friday afternoon, in temperatures around 25 degrees Celsius. Glock was among the fastest drivers from the word go. However, the fastest times only really started to drop in the final 15 minutes, when many drivers headed out for qualifying simulations on fresh Pirelli tyres. Vermeulen initially took his place at the top of the timings sheet, but was replaced by Dörr shortly thereafter. Glock literally completed his fastest lap of the day in the final second. The start of the second half of the season at the Nürburgring once again showed how evenly matched the DTM field is, with the top 15 drivers separated by half a second.

Jack Aitken (GB/Emil Frey Racing) came out on top in the morning's first free practice. "We did some testing here a few weeks ago, which possibly gave us a slight advantage coming into the weekend," said the Ferrari driver. "I always particularly look forward to the DTM race at the Nürburgring. The circuit has an unbelievable tradition. However, we have not won a race here yet - and that is something we want to change. I have already seen a few British fans, who obviously give me extra motivation."

The first qualifying at the Nürburgring starts at 09:35 on Saturday. Fans can follow the race against the clock 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 13:00 on Saturday and Sunday. The two races are also streamed live and free of charge on Joyn, ServusTV ON and the YouTube channel @DTM.

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