Shooting stars set the pace: Engel and Auer top practice with Mercedes-AMG

• Championship leader Engel sets fastest time of practice at the Dekra Lausitzring
• Auer, second in the table, just 0.002 slower than fellow Mercedes-AMG man Engel
• Ford driver Maini impresses with third place in opening session in Lusatia

Klettwitz. Maro Engel (Monaco/Mercedes-AMG Team Ravenol) is keeping his foot on the accelerator. The DTM leader led the way in Friday's free practice at the Dekra Lausitzring, setting the fastest time of 1:20.408 minutes. "The car feels super! After FP 1, we improved a few aspects of the set-up, which paid dividends. The Lausitzring is a circuit that has always suited me. I am looking forward to the weekend and aiming to finish on the podium in both races," said the Mercedes-AMG driver.

Fellow Mercedes-AMG man Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Landgraf), a four-time winner in Lusatia, took second place, a mere 0.002 seconds off Engel's fastest lap. Auer was followed by Arjun Maini (IND/HRT Ford Racing) in third. The Indian, at the wheel of a Ford Mustang GT3, impressed with consistently quick lap times and set the fastest time of the morning session, stopping the clock at 1:20.986 minutes. "It always feels good to end a practice session as the fastest. However, the real yardstick will be qualifying on Saturday morning. One factor could be the weather. Should we start from the front, I am happy for it to remain dry. However, if we start from further back, I would have nothing against a crazy wet race," Maini revealed. Porsche works driver Thomas Preining (A/Manthey) guided his 911 to fourth place, while Ben Dörr (Butzbach/Dörr Motorsport) confirmed his fine form with fifth place in a McLaren 720S GT3 Evo.

Friday's free practice at the Lausitzring took place in temperatures above 33 degrees Celsius, making it a real test for the DTM field. In the morning, the drivers primarily focussed on long runs, gaining valuable information for the race set-up of their cars. The afternoon session was all about fast lap times from the word go. After 15 minutes, Engel recorded the top time on his fifth lap. Auer slotted into second place on his eighth lap. Preining clocked his fastest time shortly before the end of the session, putting him fourth behind Maini.

The first qualifying session at the Lausitzring starts at 09:00 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 starting at 13:00 on Saturday and Sunday. The two races will also be streamed live and free of charge on Joyn, ServusTV ON and the YouTube channel @DTM.

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