BMW Motorsport and Marco Wittmann again topped the overall time sheets of the second day for the final ITR test at Hockenheim, having already done so yesterday. The young BMW driver was sixth tenths ahead of defending champion, Audi Sport’s Mike Rockenfeller, who set the fastest time of the morning.
Christian Vietoris was the best of the Mercedes drivers, rounding out the top three, with the returning Paul di Resta, Daniel Juncadella and Pascal Wehrlein placing eighth, tenth and twelfth respectively.
Augusto Farfus, who was in the title fight until Zandvoort last season, posted the fourth fastest time ahead of the man that has consistently driven the furthest on each test day he has been a part of, ex-F1 driver Timo Glock, who clocked up an impressive 156 laps over the day itself.
The Brazilian driver, who scored three wins last year, was happier with the progress that had been made in at Hockenheim so far: “We have further improved the car in many areas. However, it is still too early to draw any conclusions on how the performance will be in the first race. I have a good feeling, and we are definitely on the right track.”
Rockenfeller, who is now paired with two-time champion Timo Scheider at Team Phoenix, felt that there were improvements after the initial running at Hungary, where he didn’t feel that comfortable with the new RS5 DTM: “We have learned a lot, but there is still a lot of work ahead of us. Both myself and Timo will try and use the next two days as much as possible before the first race.”
Audi Sport’s Jamie Green and Miguel Molina both placed ahead of di Resta, with 2011 Champion Martin Tomczyk down in 11th place.
With multiple tests and simulations being carried out before the first race weekend in Hockenheim gets underway, the drivers have to make every moment and every kilometre count, before the visors go down.
