Kristensen sets practice pace for Audi

The Dane, who is a two-time winner at the German circuit, snatched the top spot from Mattias Ekstrom in the final couple of minutes of the session, as the majority of drivers improved their times towards the end when they switched their focus to qualifying setups.

Martin Tomczyk made it three Abt Sportsline cars at the head of the times, while Zandvoort pole-sitter Oliver Jarvis impressed again to take fourth in his 2008-spec Audi, having headed the times before the 2009 cars upped their pace.

Paul di Resta was the best Mercedes in fifth place, after a tricky session for the HWA squad that runs the 2009-spec C-class, which is 20 kilograms heavier than its Audi counterpart this weekend.

The first issue came early on when di Resta appeared to suffer rear suspension damage after running over a kerb. While he lost time, he was able to get plenty of running in once his car was fixed, and was the only Mercedes to get near the pace of the Audis.

Bruno Spengler and championship leader Gary Paffett both had lengthy stays in the garage in the crucial latter stages of the session, which left them with less time than their rivals to perfect a qualifying setup.

Spengler rejoined the fray with just six minutes remaining and could only get up to ninth, while Paffett hit the track two minutes later, and could only climb from 17th to 12th.

Ralf Schumacher was also spotted touring back to the pits late on, but he was back out on track shortly after and able to get into the top 10.

Pos Driver               Car         Time          Gap
 1. Tom Kristensen       Audi        1m22.247s
 2. Mattias Ekström      Audi        1m22.281s  +0.034
 3. Martin Tomczyk       Audi        1m22.483s  +0.236
 4. Oliver Jarvis        Audi        1m22.584s  +0.337
 5. Paul Di Resta        Mercedes    1m22.590s  +0.343
 6. Alexandre Prémat     Audi        1m22.649s  +0.402
 7. Timo Scheider        Audi        1m22.707s  +0.460
 8. Mike Rockenfeller    Audi        1m22.834s  +0.587
 9. Bruno Spengler       Mercedes    1m23.019s  +0.772
10. Ralf Schumacher      Mercedes    1m23.025s  +0.778
11. Jamie Green          Mercedes    1m23.055s  +0.808
12. Gary Paffett         Mercedes    1m23.163s  +0.916
13. M.Winkelhock         Audi        1m23.219s  +0.972
14. Maro Engel           Mercedes    1m23.413s  +1.166
15. Katherine Legge      Audi        1m23.768s  +1.521
16. Mathias Lauda        Mercedes    1m23.773s  +1.526
17. Susie Stoddart       Mercedes    1m24.041s  +1.794
18. Tomas Kostka         Audi        1m25.304s  +3.057
19. Johannes Seidlitz    Audi        1m25.693s  +3.446