Friday test: Schneider heads Alesi

Schneider lapped his Merc CLK in 1m25.662s on the short version of the Nurburgring track, with Alesi just 0.06s in arrears.

Opel kept up its upsurge in form going, with Alain Menu setting the third quickest time. He headed marque colleague Peter Dumbreck by three-tenths. Menu said: "For the first day this is very promising. I reached my fastest lap time twice, which means I can improve a little bit more."

Audi led the way in the first session, but fell back in the afternoon period. Mattias Ekstrom was fastest in test one in his Audi TT-R, but fell back to fifth in the second. Adria winner Christijan Albers (Mercedes) kept up his recent top form with the sixth fastest time, ahead of the final AMG Mercedes of Marcel Fassler.

DTM debutant Gary Paffett was 18th fastest overall, but was an encouraging 14th this morning in his Team Rosberg-run Mercedes, when he headed his team-mate Stefan Mucke by a tenth.

Reigning champion Laurent Aiello, a renowned Nurburgring master over the past few years, was a lowly 14th overall in his Audi.

Bernd Schneider Mercedes 1m25.662s
Jean Alesi Mercedes 1m25.722s
Alain Menu Opel 1m25.833s
Peter Dumbreck Opel 1m26.150s
Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1m26.195s
Christijan Albers Mercedes 1m26.250s
Marcel Fassler Mercedes 1m26.284s
Christian Abt Audi 1m26.398s
Joachim Winkelhock Opel 1m26.416s
Timo Scheider Opel 1m26.448s