Farfus tops first Oschersleben practice

The Brazilian, who lies just six points behind championship leader Yvan Muller, set his best time in the last five minutes of the wet half hour session and was the only driver to dip below the 1m51s mark.

Rob Huff was second quickest for Chevrolet, posting his best time of the practice on the very last lap to displace top SEAT Tiago Monteiro by just half a tenth.

Monteiro had been quickest throughout the session, until Farfus and Huff pumped in their times in the closing minutes.

Last minute improvements also lifted former champion Andy Priaulx and reigning champion Yvan Muller to fourth and fifth fastest, with the SEATs of Gabriele Tarquini and Jordi Gene sixth and seventh.

Jorg Muller was eighth for BMW, ahead of the fifth SEAT of Rickard Rydell and the second Chevrolet of Nicola Larini.

Sergio Herndanez also improved late on to pip the first of the independent class runners, Stefano D'Aste to 11th place, with Alain Menu and Alex Zanardi between D'Aste and his nearest class rival, Tom Coronel, in 15th.

In the absence of James Thompson - due to his V8 Supercar commitments in Australia - Jaap van Lagen was fastest of the three Lada Prioras in 16th place.

Pos Driver                 Car             Time          Gap
 1. Augusto Farfus         BMW             1m50.841s
 2. Robert Huff            Chevrolet       1m51.046s  +0.205
 3. Tiago Monteiro         SEAT            1m51.092s  +0.251
 4. Andy Priaulx           BMW             1m51.146s  +0.305
 5. Yvan Muller            SEAT            1m51.217s  +0.376
 6. Gabriele Tarquini      SEAT            1m51.387s  +0.546
 7. Jordi Gene             SEAT            1m51.587s  +0.746
 8. Jorg Muller            BMW             1m51.672s  +0.831
 9. Rickard Rydell         SEAT            1m51.769s  +0.928
10. Nicola Larini          Chevrolet       1m52.119s  +1.278
11. Sergio Hernandez       BMW             1m52.325s  +1.484
12. Stefano D'Aste         BMW             1m52.582s  +1.741
13. Alain Menu             Chevrolet       1m52.603s  +1.762
14. Alex Zanardi           BMW             1m52.708s  +1.867
15. Tom Coronel            SEAT            1m52.798s  +1.957
16. Jaap van Lagen         Lada            1m52.913s  +2.072
17. Tom Boardman           SEAT            1m53.120s  +2.279
18. Jason Watt             SEAT            1m53.172s  +2.331
19. Michel Nykjaer         Chevrolet       1m53.700s  +2.859
20. Viktor Shapovalov      Lada            1m53.720s  +2.879
21. Philip Geipel          BMW             1m53.841s  +3.000
22. Jean-Marie Clairet     SEAT            1m54.062s  +3.221
23. Kristian Poulsen       BMW             1m54.080s  +3.239
24. Kirill Ladygin         Lada            1m54.124s  +3.283
25. Franz Engstler         BMW             1m54.340s  +3.499
26. Marin Colak            SEAT            1m54.360s  +3.519
27. Felix Porteiro         BMW             1m54.950s  +4.109