Red Bull Ring DTM: Augusto Farfus sets the pace in practice for BMW
Augusto Farfus set the fastest time across the two DTM practice sessions at the Red Bull Ring
The BMW driver jumped to the top of the timing screen seven minutes before the end of the second hour-long session with a 1m25.641s lap, only to be immediately knocked off top spot by Mercedes driver Robert Wickens.
But Farfus followed up with a string of faster laps, lowering the benchmark to an unbeatable 1m25.247s four minutes from time, more than 1.2 seconds faster than the best time he managed in FP1.
Christian Vietoris wound up being second fastest in FP2, and best of the Mercedes drivers, with a 1m25.475s effort inside the final minutes of the session.
He wasn't the only late improver - Miguel Molina also did his fastest lap right at the death to finish third.
Jamie Green finished the second session fourth fastest, despite being second fastest two minutes from the end, while Wickens wound up fifth.
BMW's Martin Tomczyk was sixth, ahead Antonio Felix da Costa, while Pascal Wehrlein capped off a much improved showing for Mercedes with eighth, making it three Mercs in the top 10.
In the first session, Moscow winner Maxime Martin was quickest for BMW with a 1m25.985s, ahead of Molina and Wickens.
However, unlike the other two, Martin could not make any serious gains in FP2, and wound up 20th fastest, having improved on his earlier time by less than six-hundredths of a second.
Still, Martin's afternoon was more productive than Paul di Resta's. The Scot's FP2 was over before he was able to set a proper lap, thanks to a trip into the barriers on the run down to the last corners.
Di Resta's HWA crew now faces a race against time to have the car fixed for Saturday evening's qualifying session.
Practice 1:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps
1. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m25.985 27
2. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m26.133 +0.148s 30
3. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m26.259 +0.274s 22
4. Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 1m26.343 +0.358s 28
5. Nico Muller Rosberg Audi 1m26.369 +0.384s 28
6. Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 1m26.444 +0.459s 27
7. Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 1m26.447 +0.462s 32
8. Paul di Resta HWA Mercedes 1m26.459 +0.474s 30
9. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m26.476 +0.491s 21
10. Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 1m26.495 +0.510s 26
11. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m26.563 +0.578s 27
12. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m26.584 +0.599s 26
13. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m26.612 +0.627s 31
14. Vitaly Petrov Mucke Mercedes 1m26.666 +0.681s 17
15. Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 1m26.689 +0.704s 26
16. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m26.822 +0.837s 26
17. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m26.829 +0.844s 30
18. Maxime Martin RMG BMW 1m26.858 +0.873s 21
19. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m26.878 +0.893s 28
20. Antonio Felix da Costa MTEK BMW 1m26.950 +0.965s 25
21. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m26.994 +1.009s 19
22. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m27.218 +1.233s 31
23. Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 1m27.252 +1.267s 18
Practice 2:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps
1. Augusto Farfus RBM BMW 1m25.247s 26
2. Christian Vietoris HWA Mercedes 1m25.455s +0.208s 23
3. Miguel Molina Abt Audi 1m25.475s +0.228s 25
4. Jamie Green Rosberg Audi 1m25.528s +0.281s 23
5. Robert Wickens HWA Mercedes 1m25.571s +0.324s 21
6. Martin Tomczyk Schnitzer BMW 1m25.573s +0.326s 24
7. Antonio Felix da Costa MTEK BMW 1m25.583s +0.336s 23
8. Pascal Wehrlein HWA Mercedes 1m25.586s +0.339s 22
9. Timo Glock MTEK BMW 1m25.623s +0.376s 25
10. Bruno Spengler Schnitzer BMW 1m25.655s +0.408s 24
11. Nico Muller Rosberg Audi 1m25.666s +0.419s 27
12. Daniel Juncadella Mucke Mercedes 1m25.732s +0.485s 20
13. Marco Wittmann RMG BMW 1m25.734s +0.487s 21
14. Mattias Ekstrom Abt Audi 1m25.737s +0.490s 23
15. Mike Rockenfeller Phoenix Audi 1m25.749s +0.502s 26
16. Adrien Tambay Abt Audi 1m25.766s +0.519s 23
17. Timo Scheider Phoenix Audi 1m25.769s +0.522s 24
18. Vitaly Petrov Mucke Mercedes 1m25.868s +0.621s 24
19. Edoardo Mortara Abt Audi 1m25.880s +0.633s 26
20. Maxime Martin RMG BMW 1m25.926s +0.679s 21
21. Joey Hand RBM BMW 1m25.949s +0.702s 26
22. Gary Paffett HWA Mercedes 1m26.372s +1.125s 9
23. Paul di Resta HWA Mercedes No time set 1
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