Rockenfeller tops morning practice

The Team Phoenix driver moved to the top of the times with eight minutes remaining in the session, and his time was good enough to hold off last year's winner Martin Tomczyk to the end.

Tomczyk, who topped every session at this track last year, was on course to beat Rockenfeller's time with three minutes remaining following a stunning first two sectors, but he lost out at the end of the lap and had to settle for second.

The battle between Audi and Mercedes had been pretty even for most of the session, but the C-class runners slipped down the order in the final few minutes as the Audis upped their pace.

Mercedes sent most of its drivers out for one hot lap in the final two minutes, but none were able to improve.

Markus Winkelhock, Mattias Ekstrom and Miguel Molina completed the top five, while Paul di Resta was the top Mercedes in sixth.

Ralf Schumacher and Gary Paffett were the only other Mercedes drivers to make it into the top 10. The ex-grand prix driver never featured near the top of the times, but he moved closer to the pace with his best lap in the final five minutes.

Paffett had a troubled session. The 2005 champion lost a considerable amount of track time after he damaged the front of his car on a kerb exiting the final chicane.

His pace looked strong when he returned to the track, but his final flying lap was halted when one of his doors came loose.