Jamie Green leads Norisring DTM Saturday morning practice for Mercedes
Jamie Green went fastest in the second DTM free practice session at the Norisring on Saturday morning
The HWA Mercedes driver, who has been dubbed 'Mr Norisring' in deference to his three wins in the past four years at the Nuremberg street track, set the pace in 48.755s during the second half of the 90-minute session and was never seriously challenged.
Martin Tomczyk came closest to knocking Green off the top spot; a 48.764s lap at the end of the session moving the champion to within 0.009s of the Briton and hauling his RMG BMW up from seventh spot to second.
Championship leader Gary Paffett made it a pair of HWA cars inside the top three while Bruno Spengler put his Schnitzer BMW fourth.
Mattias Ekstrom headed the standings at the midway point of the session in his Abt Audi, at which point the track surface at the Scholler 'S', which had been relaid overnight after problems on Friday, was doused with water in a bid to cool down the fresh asphalt. Ekstrom fell to fifth by the end, but was still Audi's best performer.
Ralf Schumacher (HWA), Augusto Farfus (RBM BMW) and Dirk Werner (Schnitzer) were next up with Spielberg winner Edoardo Mortara ninth despite a spin at the final corner in the last minute. His Rosberg Audi team-mate Filipe Albuquerque completed the top 10.
The unluckiest driver of all was Britain's Andy Priaulx. Approaching Turn 1, the right-front suspension on his RBM BMW appeared to collapse, leaving the former World Touring Car champion powerless to prevent his car sliding off the circuit.
Priaulx did at least manage to avoid collecting Mike Rockenfeller's Phoenix Audi ahead of him, and after recovering to the track, pulled off at the following turn. He wound up 21st fastest as one of only two drivers not to improve their time in the second half of the session.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Jamie Green HWA Mercedes 48.755s 2. Martin Tomczyk RMG BMW 48.764s + 0.009s 3. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 48.801s + 0.046s 4. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 48.807s + 0.052s 5. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 48.818s + 0.063s 6. Ralf Schumacher HWA Mercedes 48.826s + 0.071s 7. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 48.833s + 0.078s 8. Dirk Werner Schnitzer BMW 48.846s + 0.091s 9. Edoardo Mortara Rosberg Audi 48.864s + 0.109s 10. Filipe Albuquerque Rosberg Audi 48.916s + 0.161s 11. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 48.935s + 0.180s 12. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 48.947s + 0.192s 13. David Coulthard Mucke Mercedes 49.032s + 0.277s 14. Miguel Molina Phoenix Audi 49.047s + 0.292s 15. Timo Scheider Abt Audi 49.111s + 0.356s 16. Roberto Merhi Persson Mercedes 49.113s + 0.358s 17. Susie Wolff Persson Mercedes 49.179s + 0.424s 18. Joey Hand RMG BMW 49.180s + 0.425s 19. Rahel Frey Abt Audi 49.191s + 0.436s 20. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 49.215s + 0.460s 21. Andy Priaulx RBM BMW 49.327s + 0.572s 22. Robert Wickens Mucke Mercedes 49.458s + 0.703s
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