Pascal Wehrlein ahead of Gary Paffet in second practice at Zandvoort
Pascal Wehrlein beat Mercedes team-mate Gary Paffett in the closing moments of the second free practice at Zandvoort this morning to set the fastest lap time in the session.
The 2015 champion set a best lap time of 1:30.821, 0.054 seconds faster than Paffett. Audi Sport completed a good session with Jamie Green, Loïc Duval and local hero Robin Frijns next, the Dutch being two-tenths off the pace.
Mercedes AMG’s Paul Di Resta and Lucas Auer followed, with Philipp Eng in eighth, the only BMW driver to make it into the top ten, 0.486 seconds off the pace.
Edoardo Mortara was ninth for Mercedes, with reigning champion René Rast closing the top ten at the wheel of his Audi RS 5 DTM.
Drivers experienced grip problems at the beginning of the session due to the sand blown over the track during the night. Mercedes’ Daniel Juncadella finished the second practice buried in the gravel trap after going off at Turn 9.
Gary Paffett: “The track is getting better and better. The car worked well, the times are getting closer, so I’m looking forward to the qualifying session this afternoon. Still, the cars are very closely matched, so we still have to keep an eye on our rivals.”
The qualifying session for Race 1 is scheduled for 11:15 CEST.
