Free practice kicked off today at the Lausitzring with Nico Mueller topping the timesheets. Elsewhere, an illegal push-to-pass move costs Rene Rast his Spa-Francorchamps victory.
Rast started Sunday’s race from pole position. He and Mueller both led the race, but in the final stages, it was the two-time champion leading. The pair battled until the finish line, with Rast crossing the line first. However, earlier this week, it was announced he was under investigation for using his push-to-pass in the final laps of the race, which is not allowed for a race leader. He was summoned to the stewards ahead of this weekend’s races, and it was decided to give him a 10-second penalty. This means the German drops to third, handing the victory to his biggest competitor – Nico Mueller. Robin Frijns, also from team Abt Sportsline, moves up to second.
A statement on the DTM website says: ‘As the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (DMSB), the authority responsible for ensuring that the regulations are adhered to, announced after the hearing on Friday, 14th August, Rast had activated the push-to-pass system twice during the race at Spa on Sunday while in the lead. According to the regulations, this is not allowed. In the post-race verification of the vehicle data, which is always done in the week after the race, the infringement became apparent. Subsequently, Rast was given a ten seconds’ time penalty as a replacement for a pit stop penalty.’
On to today’s practice sessions. In FP1, points leader Mueller topped the timesheets with a best time of 1:16.714. The Swiss driver showed that he has no problem at all with switching between driving his DTM car or his Formula E car, like the past one and a half week. WRT’s Ferdinand Habsburg followed close behind, only 0.085 seconds slower. Marco Wittmann was the best of the BMW’s in third, 0.217 seconds behind Mueller.
Later today, Mueller once again showed how comfortable he feels. He improved his time to a 1:15.831, securing the top spot once more. He was followed closely by Audi Team Phoenix’ Mike Rockenfeller, with a gap of only 0.043 seconds. Just like in FP1, Wittmann finished third again. Second of the BMW’s was Philipp Eng in fourth. Jamie Green and Habsburg completed the top six.
Mueller commented: ‘It is enjoyable to drive here at Lausitzring, the car is working well. The trick will be to find the right compromise between short runs and long runs in order to be in a good shape for qualifying and the race. That is what we will be doing tonight.’
Wittmann says that he is ‘quite positive’ after today. ‘It looks like the gap is not as big as recently at Spa. A little bit of time is still lacking, we have to make up for that. But it is definitely looking better. The time gaps are very small. Now, it is about finding the odd tenth of a second overnight, so that we can fully attack tomorrow.’
Tomorrow’s qualifying will start at 10.45 local time (09.45 UK time). The race at 13.30 local time (12.30 UK time)
