Photo: DTM

Mike Rockenfeller tops opening practice for season finale

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Mike Rockenfeller topped the times for Audi in first practice ahead of the DTM season finale at Hockenheim as Audi locked out the top six places on the timesheets.

The Team Phoenix driver led the way with a time of 1:29.594s in what was a relatively quiet start to proceedings ahead of the final weekend of the Class 1 era, with the 45 minutes of track action passing without major drama across the field.

Rockenfeller would end up just over a tenth of a second clear of championship leader René Rast as he laid down an early marker in the race for the title, with Ferdinand Habsburg slotting into third as he looks to build on the podium finish scored last time out at Zolder.

Jamie Green and Loïc Duval followed behind, with the top six rounded out by Nico Müller – who was three tenths of a second off the fastest lap but showed strong race pace across a longer run in the latter stages of a session that saw him complete a total of 28 laps.

Timo Glock was the best of the BMW drivers in seventh spot, with the top ten completed by Harrison Newey, Fabio Scherer and Sheldon Van der Linde.

Robin Frijns, the only other driver who can still win the title this season, ended up down in 14th of the 16 drivers.

FP2 is scheduled for 16:20 local time.