Di Resta lands first blow at finale
Paul di Resta scored the first blow ahead of this weekend's DTM title showdown by snatching the top spot in the dying seconds of free practice on Friday
In a rare session that bucked the trend of usual DTM Fridays, all of the frontrunners in 2008 machinery were setting competitive times throughout the 90 minutes.
Audi seemed set for a top four lock-out with two minutes remaining, but di Resta strung a lap together at the end to go fastest by three tenths of a second.
The morning pacesetter Martin Tomczyk - sporting a revised Red Bull Cola livery for this weekend - was second in the afternoon ahead of reigning champion Mattias Ekstrom, while di Resta's title rival Timo Scheider ended up fourth after being fastest for a long time.
The championship contenders, who are separated by just two points (in Scheider's favour) heading into this weekend's finale, nearly had a chance to face off at the end of the session, when all drivers are allowed to make practice starts on the grid.
The cars can take off two at a time, but as Scheider sat on the pole position grid slot, di Resta and his teammate Bernd Schneider opted to leave him to start alone, before taking off together once he was gone.
Behind Tom Kristensen in fifth, the Mercedes of Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green, and the retiring Schneider completed the top eight. Gary Paffett and Oliver Jarvis rounded out the top ten in their 2007-spec cars.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Paul di Resta Mercedes 1:32.783 2. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1:33.095 +0.312 3. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1:33.165 +0.382 4. Timo Scheider Audi 1:33.182 +0.399 5. Tom Kristensen Audi 1:33.551 +0.768 6. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1:33.667 +0.884 7. Jamie Green Mercedes 1:33.685 +0.902 8. Bernd Schneider Mercedes 1:33.760 +0.977 9. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1:33.788 +1.005 10. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1:33.967 +1.184 11. Christijan Albers Audi 1:33.988 +1.205 12. Alexandre Premat Audi 1:34.297 +1.514 13. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 1:34.300 +1.517 14. Markus Winkelhock Audi 1:34.519 +1.736 15. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1:34.753 +1.970 16. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1:34.812 +2.029 17. Maro Engel Mercedes 1:34.848 +2.065 18. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 1:35.199 +2.416 19. Katherine Legge Audi 1:35.808 +3.025
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