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Mike Rockenfeller sets fastest time at wet Hockenheim

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The 2013 DTM season kicked off with Mike Rockenfeller setting the fastest time in the first free practice session of the year.

The Phoenix Audi driver set a fastest time of 1m50.334s during the final stages of the 90 minute session at a soaking Hockenheim. This put him ahead of stablemate Mattias Ekstrom, who despite a last-minute attempt to knock Rockenfeller from the top of the timing boards, eventually had to settle for second.

RBM’s BMW Augusto Farfus finished third despite an off at the Sachs corner after locking a brake in the tricky conditions, making him the fastest of the reigning champions’ drivers.

Rockenfeller’s teammate, Timo Scheider, finished fourth with – like Ekstrom – yet another last minute quick lap, which put him ahead of Martin Tomczyk. The BMW driver had sat at the top of the top of the timesheets almost an hour into the session after the German put in a lap of 1m51.700s and then improved a lap later by almost 7/10ths of a second.

Audi’s latest addition, Jamie Green, finished sixth for the Abt Sportsline outfit and saw the Brit finish ahead of HWA Mercedes’ Christian Vietoris, who was the quickest of the Stuttgart team’s runners. Gary Paffett finished eighth, ahead of  stablemate Pascal Wehrlein who impressed in his DTM debut by adapting to the tricky conditions to finish ninth.

Roberto Merhi rounded out the top-10 behind the wheel of the third HWA Mercedes.