DTM Zandvoort: Mike Rockenfeller tops first practice for Audi

With the Dutch circuit the highest degradation venue on the calendar and hosting a 40-minute race without mandatory tyre changes on Saturday, drivers focused on long runs.

As a result, the majority of the times were set early in the 45-minute session, including Rockenfeller's 1m32.009s.

While Audi won the first four races of 2015, Rockenfeller is only 11th in the standings with a best race result of fifth.

The 2013 champion claimed his first DTM race win at the circuit in 2011 and was on pole position last year.

"For Audi it has been a great season so far, but personally I have not had such a good season," he said.

"So I am fighting for myself, obviously to get better, find a rhythm and get a good set-up.

"Zandvoort has been a place where I've always been quite competitive, so I hope we find the route back and I can have a good result."

Behind Rockenfeller, BMW enjoyed its most competitive session of the season, after a troubled start.

Antonio Felix da Costa was second, just 0.008 seconds off top spot, while Augusto Farfus improved to third late.

Marco Wittmann, Tom Blomqvist and Maxime Martin completed the top six in their M4s

Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekstrom were seventh and eighth for Audi, with championship leader Jamie Green 16th having been among those to conduct a full race simulation.

A fortnight after dominating at the Norisring, Mercedes wasn't a factor.

Gary Paffett was its best runner in ninth, while its other seven drivers all finished inside the bottom eight.

Norisring winners Pascal Wehrlein and Robert Wickens were 19th and 23rd respectively.

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