Hockenheim DTM: Wittmann and Glock set pace, Button is top SUPER GT
BMW's Marco Wittmann set the fastest time in practice at Hockenheim as the DTM and SUPER GT cars hit the track together for the first time this weekend
Wittmann's 1m29.881s lap came after R-Motorsport Aston Martin's Paul di Resta suffered a crash at the final corner, skating across the gravel and hitting the outside wall.
Onboard footage showed his steering column dislodging slightly as di Resta turned in, and the team are investigating the incident.
When the track returned to green flag conditions, two-time DTM champion Wittmann improved on his best time twice to set a lap that was just over 0.6s clear of 2019 champion Rene Rast.
Timo Glock, who topped the morning's wet running in first practice, finished third.
The first practice session proved dramatic for the SUPER GT field as TOM'S Lexus driver Nick Cassidy crashed at the Sachskurve, before the NISMO-run Nissan of Tsugio Matsuda suffered a similar incident.
That left 2009 Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button to rack up the laps for the SUPER GT field as it comes to grips with the DTM's Hankook control tyre and helps inform the Balance of Performance that could be used this weekend and at the Fuji joint-races.
- SUPER GT VERSUS DTM
- Button's chances might be out of his hands
Button progressively moved up the leaderboard before slipping to 16th overall and 2.6s off Glock's morning benchmark time of 1m47.841s.
The Kunimitsu Honda driver improved right at the end of the second session to again place as the lead SUPER GT driver by taking 15th, which was 2.1s off Wittmann's top time.
Ryo Hirakawa took over Cassidy's Lexus in the second session - with the car running with an unpainted bonnet after Cassidy's morning crash showed spare parts are at a premium - and was 17th.
Multiple SUPER GT champion Ronnie Quintarelli placed his Nissan 21st and last.
Audi's Jamie Green was fourth ahead of Audi stablemates Nico Muller and Mike Rockenfeller.
The top 10 in the second session was rounded out by Philipp Eng, WRT Audi's Pietro Fittipaldi, Bruno Spengler and Audi's Loic Duval.
R-Motorsport, which will not take part in the Fuji joint-races, had Daniel Juncadella place as its leading driver in 12th.
The session finished with a practice safety car and a DTM-style restart to help the SUPER GT adaptation period.
Practice one times
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Timo Glock | RMR | BMW | 1m47.841s | - | 21 |
2 | Marco Wittmann | RMG | BMW | 1m48.010s | 0.169s | 21 |
3 | Mike Rockenfeller | Phoenix | Audi | 1m48.258s | 0.417s | 24 |
4 | Sheldon van der Linde | RBM | BMW | 1m48.347s | 0.506s | 19 |
5 | Rene Rast | Rosberg | Audi | 1m48.399s | 0.558s | 22 |
6 | Jake Dennis | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m48.681s | 0.840s | 22 |
7 | Joel Eriksson | RBM | BMW | 1m48.691s | 0.850s | 25 |
8 | Robin Frijns | Abt | Audi | 1m48.710s | 0.869s | 25 |
9 | Nico Muller | Abt | Audi | 1m48.728s | 0.887s | 24 |
10 | Paul Di Resta | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m48.995s | 1.154s | 22 |
11 | Daniel Juncadella | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m49.115s | 1.274s | 24 |
12 | Ferdinand Habsburg | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m49.403s | 1.562s | 21 |
13 | Loic Duval | Phoenix | Audi | 1m49.684s | 1.843s | 23 |
14 | Jonathan Aberdein | WRT | Audi | 1m50.137s | 2.296s | 22 |
15 | Bruno Spengler | RMG | BMW | 1m50.150s | 2.309s | 23 |
16 | Jenson Button | Team Kunimitsu | Honda | 1m50.489s | 2.648s | 18 |
17 | Philipp Eng | RMR | BMW | 1m50.632s | 2.791s | 21 |
18 | Jamie Green | Rosberg | Audi | 1m50.741s | 2.900s | 20 |
19 | Tsugio Matsuda | Nismo | Nissan | 1m53.871s | 6.030s | 17 |
20 | Nick Cassidy | TOM'S | Lexus | 2m14.501s | 26.660s | 3 |
Practice two times
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Marco Wittmann | RMG | BMW | 1m29.881s | - | 16 |
2 | Rene Rast | Rosberg | Audi | 1m30.489s | 0.608s | 18 |
3 | Timo Glock | RMR | BMW | 1m30.583s | 0.702s | 16 |
4 | Jamie Green | Rosberg | Audi | 1m30.656s | 0.775s | 17 |
5 | Nico Muller | Abt | Audi | 1m30.916s | 1.035s | 16 |
6 | Mike Rockenfeller | Phoenix | Audi | 1m30.962s | 1.081s | 18 |
7 | Philipp Eng | RMR | BMW | 1m31.026s | 1.145s | 16 |
8 | Pietro Fittipaldi | WRT | Audi | 1m31.113s | 1.232s | 16 |
9 | Bruno Spengler | RMG | BMW | 1m31.151s | 1.270s | 16 |
10 | Loic Duval | Phoenix | Audi | 1m31.253s | 1.372s | 18 |
11 | Robin Frijns | Abt | Audi | 1m31.689s | 1.808s | 15 |
12 | Daniel Juncadella | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m31.855s | 1.974s | 13 |
13 | Ferdinand Habsburg | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m31.950s | 2.069s | 15 |
14 | Joel Eriksson | RBM | BMW | 1m31.960s | 2.079s | 15 |
15 | Jenson Button | Team Kunimitsu | Honda | 1m31.986s | 2.105s | 16 |
16 | Jonathan Aberdein | WRT | Audi | 1m32.291s | 2.410s | 16 |
17 | Ryo Hirakawa | Lexus Gazoo Racing Team KeePer TOM'S | Lexus | 1m32.339s | 2.458s | 15 |
18 | Sheldon van der Linde | RBM | BMW | 1m32.531s | 2.650s | 16 |
19 | Paul Di Resta | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m32.541s | 2.660s | 6 |
20 | Jake Dennis | R-Motorsport | Aston Martin | 1m33.301s | 3.420s | 15 |
21 | Ronnie Quintarelli | Nismo Team Motul Autech GT Sport | Nissan | 1m33.527s | 3.646s | 16 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments