In pouring rain, Mercedes-AMG took the first two positions in first free practice of the DTM at the Nürburgring on Friday.

With a time of 1m39.959s, Gary Paffett ended up 91 hundredths of a second faster than his fellow Mercedes-AMG driver Paul Di Resta (1m37.050s).

“When coming to the Eifel, you know you have to expect weather conditions like this. This is a good result, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us." Mercedes-AMG team principal Ulrich Fritz said

"The pressure is there, but also the determination to strike back here after Zandvoort,” . 

With Augusto Farfus (1m38.098s) and Marco Wittmann (1m37.352s), two BMW drivers followed in third and fourth place.

“Initially, it was very slippery. For us, this was good preparation for tomorrow. I like the Eifel and the Nürburgring. I have won here twice. Tomorrow, we will drive with maximum attack,” Marco Wittmann commented.

René Rast was the best-placed Audi driver, classified fifth with 1m37.735s. “I haven’t been out on track too much with a DTM car in the rain,” Rast said.

“The more laps I did, the better it went. Eventually, I was feeling very well in the car.”

All six BMW drivers ended up in the top ten, with Mike Rockenfeller (1m38.292s) just missing out on a top ten result in his home event in eleventh place.

“We still have room for improvement, it will be difficult, no matter if in the wet or in the dry. We didn’t have a lot of grip with the rain tyres."

There is no such thing as a home advantage on the track, but we are doing what we can,” the Audi driver said.