Rockenfeller stays on top in practice

Audi's Rockenfeller took the top spot with just two minutes remaining, deposing Mercedes' Paul di Resta, who had been the pace setter for a long time before that.

Before the late flurry of activity as several drivers attempted qualifying runs, di Resta had been heading a Mercedes 1-2-3, with Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green close behind.

While di Resta's time was good enough for him to hang on to second, Spengler dropped to seventh while Green went out again and improved slightly for sixth.

Of those to improve in the final minutes, Coulthard was the most notable. The Scot had already been comfortably in the top 10 before going out for his final run, and he improved to finish the session just two tenths of a second off the pace.

Mattias Ekstrom was just behind him in fourth for Audi, while Maro Engel's fifth place, just ahead of Green, meant that there were three 2008-spec Mecedes in the top six.

There did not appear to be too much concern among the 2009-spec runners though, as Spengler, Timo Scheider and Gary Paffett all stayed in the pits at the end, while Martin Tomczyk abandoned a lap that would have moved him up the order as the chequered flag came out.

Pos  Driver             Car       Time       Gap
 1.  Mike Rockenfeller  Audi      1m18.858s
 2.  Paul di Resta      Mercedes  1m18.954s  + 0.096s
 3.  David Coulthard    Mercedes  1m19.062s  + 0.204s
 4.  Mattias Ekstrom    Audi      1m19.076s  + 0.218s
 5.  Maro Engel         Mercedes  1m19.147s  + 0.289s
 6.  Jamie Green        Mercedes  1m19.190s  + 0.332s
 7.  Bruno Spengler     Mercedes  1m19.198s  + 0.340s
 8.  Martin Tomczyk     Audi      1m19.292s  + 0.434s
 9.  Timo Scheider      Audi      1m19.322s  + 0.464s
10.  Gary Paffett       Mercedes  1m19.420s  + 0.562s
11.  Miguel Molina      Audi      1m19.500s  + 0.642s
12.  Alexandre Premat   Audi      1m19.516s  + 0.658s
13.  Oliver Jarvis      Audi      1m19.615s  + 0.757s
14.  Franky Cheng       Mercedes  1m19.723s  + 0.865s
15.  Susie Stoddart     Mercedes  1m19.839s  + 0.981s
16.  Ralf Schumacher    Mercedes  1m19.884s  + 1.026s
17.  Markus Winkelhock  Audi      1m19.972s  + 1.114s
18.  Katherine Legge    Audi      1m20.523s  + 1.665s