Fastest in Free Practice: Cairoli flies through the Zandvoort dunes

• Italian tops both DTM practice sessions on Friday
• McLaren driver Ben Dörr impresses with strong performance
• Mirko Bortolotti takes a step forward in the new Lamborghini

Zandvoort. Matteo Cairoli (Emil Frey Racing) is has landed in the DTM and was on top form at Circuit Zandvoort on Friday. The newcomer from Italy set the fastest lap time of 1:34.289 minutes in FP1. The Ferrari driver was then the only racer to dip below the 1:34.000-minute mark in the afternoon's second session, stopping the clock at 1:33.803 minutes. "I like coming to Zandvoort, the circuit is just awesome. The car feels much better than at the opening round. We have taken a big step forward, particularly when it comes to the balance. That puts me in a positive frame of mind for the weekend. We want to start as far up the grid as possible in both races, then we could even be looking at a place on the podium," said Cairoli.

Ben Dörr (Butzbach/Dörr Motorsport) also made a strong start to the second DTM weekend, and set the second-fastest time of the day. "Our focus in free practice was less on experimenting on the set-up, but definitely on getting plenty of driving time. Towards the end, I did multiple fast laps on fresh tyres, in order to prepare as well as possible for qualifying. I feel well equipped for the weekend and am optimistic that we can compete towards the front of the field," said a determined Dörr. Thomas Preining (A/Manthey) ended free practice in third place in a Porsche 911 GT3 R. Mirko Bortolotti (I/TGI Team by GRT) was fourth fastest in the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3 - a stark improvement on the season opener in Spielberg, Austria. Ricardo Feller (CH/Manthey) guided the Manthey team's second 911 to fifth place. Championship leader Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol) was sixth, underlining his fine form of late, which also saw him take victory at last weekend's ADAC Ravenol 24h Nürburgring.

Glorious sunshine and temperatures as high as 25 degrees accompanied the field during free practice at the Formula 1 circuit in the Netherlands on Friday. While most drivers used the opening session to test different settings, they switched to qualifying mode and set top times towards the end of the afternoon's second session. Cairoli clocked his fastest time on his 15th lap, while Dörr climbed into second place on his final lap.

The first qualifying session at Circuit Zandvoort gets underway at 09:45 on Saturday. Fans can follow the race against the clock in a livestream on ran.de. ProSieben is showing all 16 of this season's races live on free-to-air TV, with coverage beginning at 13:00 on Saturday and Sunday. The two races can also be seen in a free stream on Joyn, ServusTV ON and the YouTube channel @DTM.

All the results from Circuit Zandvoort are available at dtm.com/en/results.