Red Bull Ring DTM: Edoardo Mortara leads Gary Paffett in practice
Edoardo Mortara led the way for Audi in Friday practice for this weekend's DTM round at the Red Bull Ring, despite a late flurry from Gary Paffett
Mortara, who won at the Austrian Formula 1 circuit from pole in 2012, set his time of 1m25.585s in the first third of the session and it was never bettered.
As the end of the 45 minutes of running loomed, the Italian's time was still 0.445 seconds clear, with less than one second covering the other 23 drivers.
Mercedes' Paffett then got close with his final two laps.
With two minutes remaining, he moved to within two tenths of Mortara, and found more the next time around, finishing the session just 0.073s shy.
Timo Scheider was third in an otherwise quiet session for Audi, with championship leader Jamie Green 17th.
Scheider was followed by a fleet of Mercedes, with Daniel Juncadella, Paul di Resta, Christian Vietoris and Lucas Auer occupying fourth through to seventh, and 10th-placed Maximillian Gotz giving the brand six cars inside the top 10.
The defending Red Bull Ring winner, Marco Wittmann was the best BMW driver in eighth, with the DTM's newest victor Antonio Felix da Costa 11th ahead of Tom Blomqvist.
PRACTICE ONE TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edoardo Mortara | Abt | Audi | 1m25.585s | - | 25 |
| 2 | Gary Paffett | ART | Mercedes | 1m25.658s | 0.073s | 20 |
| 3 | Timo Scheider | Phoenix | Audi | 1m25.837s | 0.252s | 24 |
| 4 | Daniel Juncadella | Mucke | Mercedes | 1m26.030s | 0.445s | 26 |
| 5 | Paul Di Resta | HWA | Mercedes | 1m26.081s | 0.496s | 22 |
| 6 | Christian Vietoris | HWA | Mercedes | 1m26.106s | 0.521s | 17 |
| 7 | Lucas Auer | ART | Mercedes | 1m26.113s | 0.528s | 24 |
| 8 | Marco Wittmann | RMG | BMW | 1m26.119s | 0.534s | 19 |
| 9 | Adrien Tambay | Abt | Audi | 1m26.122s | 0.537s | 22 |
| 10 | Maximilian Gotz | Mucke | Mercedes | 1m26.188s | 0.603s | 23 |
| 11 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Schnitzer | BMW | 1m26.202s | 0.617s | 21 |
| 12 | Tom Blomqvist | RBM | BMW | 1m26.293s | 0.708s | 21 |
| 13 | Mike Rockenfeller | Phoenix | Audi | 1m26.298s | 0.713s | 27 |
| 14 | Augusto Farfus | RBM | BMW | 1m26.302s | 0.717s | 24 |
| 15 | Mattias Ekstrom | Abt | Audi | 1m26.334s | 0.749s | 20 |
| 16 | Nico Muller | Rosberg | Audi | 1m26.341s | 0.756s | 26 |
| 17 | Jamie Green | Rosberg | Audi | 1m26.405s | 0.820s | 28 |
| 18 | Robert Wickens | HWA | Mercedes | 1m26.470s | 0.885s | 20 |
| 19 | Miguel Molina | Abt | Audi | 1m26.508s | 0.923s | 25 |
| 20 | Bruno Spengler | MTEK | BMW | 1m26.559s | 0.974s | 22 |
| 21 | Pascal Wehrlein | HWA | Mercedes | 1m26.584s | 0.999s | 11 |
| 22 | Maxime Martin | RMG | BMW | 1m26.593s | 1.008s | 21 |
| 23 | Timo Glock | MTEK | BMW | 1m26.825s | 1.240s | 25 |
| 24 | Martin Tomczyk | Schnitzer | BMW | 1m26.978s | 1.393s | 19 |
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