BMW Team RMR’s Timo Glock topped a rain affected first DTM practice at Hockenheim as the SuperGT competitors explored the limits of the German circuit as the two series shared the track for the first time this weekend.

Glock set a time of 1 minute 47.841 seconds in the final moments of the session to go quicker than BMW Team RMG’s Marco Wittmann who had set the pace for the majority of the running.

Continual rain throughout the morning had left the track completely wet, and despite the rain easing slightly in the latter half of the session, drivers only used the full wet Hankook tyres.

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Nick Cassidy in the #37 Team Tom’s Lexus was the first driver to suffer an incident, skating off the track at the Sachskurve within the first ten minutes, before being lifted from the gravel under Slow Zone conditions.

The New Zealander was not the only SuperGT competitor to explore that same gravel trap, as the #35 Nissan Nismo of Tsugio Matsuda suffered a similar fate ten minutes later. The Japanese driver did make contact with the outside barrier but was able to resume running.

All 20 cars were lapping for the majority of the session, which helped shift some of the water from the wet track surface and helped improve grip.

Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline’s Robin Frijns set the early pace before 2019 DTM champion Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s René Rast set about lowering the 1 minute 55.182 second target to 1 minute 51.146 seconds with consecutive laps.

With 18 minutes to go Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver Mike Rockenfeller jumped to the top of the standings with a time of 1 minute 49.757 seconds, and looked set to go quicker but aborted his final run.

Wittmann then topped the timesheets, consistently bettering his time throughout the final ten minutes to finish with a 1 minute 48.010 second lap, before Glock went quicker as the checkered flew.

Rockenfeller finished the session third fastest, ahead of BMW Team RBM driver Sheldon van der Linde who escaped an awkward double spin after attempting to rejoin the circuit. The South African rookie set a lap time of 1 minute 48.347 seconds, half a second off Glock’s fastest.

Rast was fifth fastest ahead of the R-Motorsports Aston Martin of Jake Dennis. The British driver’s lap of 1 minute 48.681 seconds was the fastest of the Astons, 0.840 seconds off the fastest lap.

BMW Team RBM’s Joel Eriksson was seventh fastest with a time of 1 minute 48.691 seconds, 0.019 seconds ahead of Frijns who was a further 0.018 seconds quicker than Team Abt Sportsline teammate Nico Müller in ninth.

R-Motorsport’s Paul Di Resta rounded out the top ten with a time of 1 minute 48.995 seconds, and was the first driver outside a second to Glock’s best.

Jenson Button was the fastest of the SuperGT competitors, as the Honda Team Kunimitsu driver set a time of 1 minute 50.489 seconds, 2.648 seconds slower that Glock, but faster than Matsudi and Cassidy who finished the session 19th and 20th respectively.

Practice 2 gets underway at 16:25 CEST (BST 15:25)

Session result