Practice 3: Winkelhock reigns in Holland

The session started in damp but drying conditions, and Winkelhock lapped the seaside venue in 1m49.204s, ahead of fellow Opel pilot Manuel Reuter, who also visited the gravel. Title aspirant Laurent Aiello (Audi) was the best of the rest, half a second shy of Smokin' Jo. His championship rival, Bernd Schneider, was only 12th fastest, but a heavy rain shower midway through the session meant times were pretty much irrelevant.

Timo Scheider and Alain Menu also ended the session in the top 10, in fourth and seventh respectively, with the Audis of Christian Abt and Karl Wendlinger also on the pace. Marcel Fassler leapt up to fifth late on, despite the foul conditions. DTM returnee Eric Helary continues to impress, not only with his prowess for smoking early morning cigarettes, and the Frenchman ended up ninth fastest.

The rain was so heavy that it even washed the new paint off the kerbs at the Hugenholtz hairpin, causing local hero Christijan Albers a big slide. The forecast for later is much brighter, although Opel will be happy if it just keeps on raining.