DTM

Champion Tomczyk Begins Finale Weekend On Top

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Martin Tomczyk - Photo Credit: dtm.com

Martin Tomczyk - Photo Credit: dtm.com

Newly-crowned DTM champion Martin Tomczyk laid down a marker for the final race weekend of the current generation of cars, by setting the pace in first free practice at Hockenheim. The session started an hour later than scheduled due to heavy fog at the circuit.

The older-spec Phoenix Audi driver knocked older-spec Persson Mercedes driver Christian Vietoris off top spot at the end of the session. Vietoris was relegated to third by the end of the session when another driver of an older Mercedes, Maro Engel, slotted into second place. The Mucke Motorsport driver was 0.168 seconds shy of Tomczyk's time.

Mike Rockenfeller was the best of the drivers of current-spec machinery in fourth, ahead of Vietoris' teammate Renger van der Zande and the Abt Audi duo of Mattias Ekstrom and Timo Scheider.

Filipe Albuquerque was eighth, ahead of a new name in the DTM. Susie Stoddart married Williams F1 shareholder Toto Wolff since the previous round at Valencia, and she finished her first session as Susie Wolff in ninth. Fellow Scot David Coulthard completed the top ten.

Bruno Spengler was the best of the HWA Mercedes quartet in 12th just behind Edoardo Mortara. Spengler's teammates Gary Paffett and Jamie Green were 15th and 16th, with Ralf Schumacher 18th and last. The former Grand Prix winner was yesterday confirmed with Mercedes for 2012.

First free practice times:

Pos. Driver / Entrant Laps Time Gap
1. Martin Tomczyk
Audi Sport Team Phoenix
Schaeffler Audi A4 DTM
30 1:33.621
2. Maro Engel
GQ AMG Mercedes
GQ AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
33 1:33.789 0.168
3. Christian Vietoris
Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes
Junge Sterne AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
28 1:33.884 0.263
4. Mike Rockenfeller
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
E-POSTBRIEF Audi A4 DTM
36 1:33.983 0.362
5. Renger van der Zande
stern AMG Mercedes
stern AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
39 1:34.039 0.418
6. Mattias Ekström
Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline
Red Bull Audi A4 DTM
23 1:34.089 0.468
7. Timo Scheider
Audi Sport Team Abt
AUTO TEST Audi A4 DTM
24 1:34.259 0.638
8. Filipe Albuquerque
Audi Sport Team Rosberg
TV Movie Audi A4 DTM
32 1:34.337 0.716
9. Susie Wolff
TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes
TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
28 1:34.485 0.864
10. David Coulthard
Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes
Deutsche Post AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
32 1:34.504 0.883
11. Edoardo Mortara
Audi Sport Team Rosberg
Playboy Audi A4 DTM
32 1:34.511 0.890
12. Bruno Spengler
Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG
Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Klasse
27 1:34.553 0.932
13. Miguel Molina
Audi Sport Team Abt Junior
Red Bull Audi A4 DTM
32 1:34.602 0.981
14. Oliver Jarvis
Audi Sport Team Abt
Audi Sport performance cars A4 DTM
31 1:34.632 1.011
15. Gary Paffett
Thomas Sabo AMG Mercedes
Thomas Sabo AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
34 1:34.747 1.126
16. Jamie Green
AMG Mercedes
AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
33 1:34.819 1.198
17. Rahel Frey
Audi Sport Team Phoenix
Glamour Audi A4 DTM
33 1:34.930 1.309
18. Ralf Schumacher
Salzgitter AMG Mercedes
Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Klasse
34 1:34.986 1.365
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Peter joined the TCF team in September 2010 and covers GP2 and GP3 along with WTCC and Formula Two. You can find him on twitter at @PeteAllen_
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