Tomczyk fastest in 'Ring practice

The German was one of several Audi drivers to be towards the top of the times throughout the session, and the manufacturer eventually locked out the top six places as Mercedes struggled to get on the pace.

Tomczyk's Abt Sportsline team-mate Timo Scheider was second fastest, while Markus Winkelhock's 2008 car was third ahead of Mattias Ekstrom, who moved up to fourth with his final lap of the session.

Team Phoenix drivers Alexandre Premat and Oliver Jarvis completed the top six in their year-old cars, while Jamie Green was the best of the Mercedes drivers in his 2008 C-class.

The Norisring race winner was half a second adrift of Tomczyk's time though, while the drivers of the 2009-spec Mercedes seemed to struggle even more.

Late runs from Bruno Spengler and Paul di Resta made sure that a couple of the HWA cars were in the top 10, while Ralf Schumacher and championship leader Gary Paffett were down in 13th and 14th place respectively, and nearly a second off the pace.

Di Resta only just made the top 10 after an interesting scrap with Tom Kristensen right at the end of practice. The pair swapped places three times as each completed their final run, but the Scot's final effort in the dying seconds was enough to demote the Audi driver.

Pos Driver               Car         Time          Gap
 1. Martin Tomczyk       Audi        1m24.112s  
 2. Timo Scheider        Audi        1m24.141s  +0.029
 3. Markus Winkelhock    Audi        1m24.237s  +0.125
 4. Mattias Ekstrom      Audi        1m24.271s  +0.159
 5. Alexandre Premat     Audi        1m24.467s  +0.355
 6. Oliver Jarvis        Audi        1m24.486s  +0.374
 7. Jamie Green          Mercedes    1m24.606s  +0.494
 8. Mike Rockenfeller    Audi        1m24.657s  +0.545
 9. Bruno Spengler       Mercedes    1m24.672s  +0.560
10. Paul di Resta        Mercedes    1m24.694s  +0.582
11. Tom Kristensen       Audi        1m24.749s  +0.637
12. Mathias Lauda        Mercedes    1m24.914s  +0.802
13. Ralf Schumacher      Mercedes    1m25.018s  +0.906
14. Gary Paffett         Mercedes    1m25.045s  +0.933
15. Katherine Legge      Audi        1m25.176s  +1.064
16. Maro Engel           Mercedes    1m25.277s  +1.165
17. Susie Stoddart       Mercedes    1m25.487s  +1.375
18. Christian Bakkerud   Audi        1m25.643s  +1.531
19. Johannes Seidlitz    Audi        1m25.880s  +1.768
20. Tomas Kostka         Audi        1m26.083s  +1.971