Twice an Audi on top: on both days of the official DTM test at Hockenheim, an Audi driver posted the fastest time. Two-time runner-up Nico Müller (SUI) topped the timing sheets on the second day with a time of 1m 38.532s in the Team Rosberg Audi R8. On the previous day, 19-year-old Marius Zug (GER/Attempto Racing) had been even faster with 1m 38.344s. Behind Zug and Müller, Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti (ITA/Grasser Racing Team) was next up in the combined results of the two days with 1m 38.644s, followed by three-time DTM champion René Rast (GER/1m 39.682s), who is making his comeback in the long-standing series with the Team ABT Audi following a one-year absence.
29 drivers ensured there was plenty of action at the 4.574 kilometres long Hockenheimring with a total of 3,804 laps between them, even though the weather conditions on both days only allowed for brief dry spells enabling good lap times. On 26 and 27 April, the second official DTM test will follow at Portimão. Subsequently, from 29 April until 1 May, the Portuguese Grand Prix circuit will also be hosting the first two of the 16 sprint races of the 36th DTM season, all broadcast live on ProSieben in the German-speaking region.
Much attention from fellow drivers and fans alike went to nine-time rally world champion Sébastien Loeb (FRA), who shared the Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse Ferrari with New Zealander Nick Cassidy. During the season opener, Loeb will be standing in for Cassidy who has clashing commitments. Cassidy and Loeb were busy and completed 194 laps between them in the Ferrari 488 with starting number 37. The most prolific driver was Belgian Esteban Muth with 195 laps in the new BMW M4 run by Walkenhorst Motorsport. Another driver to deliver a good performance in the Hockenheim test was 20-year-old David Schumacher, the son of ex-Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher. With the Mercedes-AMG of the WINWARD team, the DTM rookie ended up in 24th place with a time of 1m 39.916s. How close the high-quality field was during the test already became apparent by the fact that the lap times of almost all of the 29 drivers were within just one and a half second.
Audi on top after both DTM test days at Hockenheim
