Augusto Farfus tops today’s final practice at Brands Hatch

BMW’s Augusto Farfus was fastest of all in the final practice session of the day ahead of qualifying on the DTM’s return to the UK, leading the Audis of Robin Frijns and Nico Müller at the end of the 25-minute session.

No cars were on circuit for the first five minutes, as the teams worked on the cars’ set-ups following the preceding practice session and start practice which had finished just moments before as part of the tight morning schedule.

When the cars ventured out, BMW Team RMG’s Augusto Farfus was the first driver to break the 1:19 mark, with a time of 1:18.669 set just after ten minutes, with FP1 pace-setter Robin Frijns close behind, also dipping under 1:19 with a time two-tenths from Farfus just a moment later.

There was a lull in the middle of the session as the drivers parked up for final adjustments, before everyone headed out with just over five minutes remaining.

It was then Nico Müller who took over at the top in his Abt Audi RS 5 DTM, before Farfus then grabbed the spot back on his next lap, setting the new DTM record around the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit with a time of 1:18.517 which stood to the end, over a second faster than Frijns’ time from the first session.

Frijns himself improves to second fastest, just 11-thousandths behind Farfus, with Muller completing the top three.

The Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella and Pascal Wehrlein followed in fourth and fifth, both within a tenth of Farfus’ time.

Championship leader Gary Paffett was the top of the local drivers in eighth, just under five-tenths of a second behind.

The session was again incident-free, outside of a brief off at Paddock Hill bend by the HWA Mercedes-AMG C63 of Edoardo Mortara.

Qualifying for Race 1 follows at 11:20 BST (12:20 CEST).