Defending champion René Rast continued his Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters form by topping the timesheets in opening practice at Hockenheim.

Rast, who has won the previous four races and has an outside shot at the title this weekend, set a 1:33.780 to put him 0.171s ahead of fellow Audi racer Jamie Green.

Next was the Mercedes duo of Daniel Juncadella and Pascal Wehrlein, hoping to go well in the brand’s final weekend of competing in the series.

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Rast set the early pace, setting his fastest time in the first half of the session, while championship rivals Paul Di Resta and Gary Paffett struggled in 13th and 15th respectively.

Loic Duval completed the top five ahead of Timo Glock in the fastest of the BMWs.

Glock led a trio of BMW drivers with Joel Eriksson in seventh, Philip Eng in eighth and Augusto Farfus in ninth.

Spielberg podium finisher Nico Müller rounded out the top ten.

The second practice session for the Hockenheim season finale gets underway at 08:00 CEST [07:00 BST] tomorrow [13th October].

Session results