Rockenfeller sets early practice pace

DTM championship leader Mike Rockenfeller set the pace in practice ahead of a potentially decisive race at Oschersleben on Saturday morning.

The Phoenix Audi driver, who leads the championship by 35 points and could be crowned champion this weekend, hit the front with only three minutes of the hour-and-a-half-long session remaining.

His 1m20.947s lap made Rockenfeller the only man to dip under the 1m21s barrier and put the German 0.227s clear of Dirk Werner's Schnitzer BMW.

Werner, who spent a brief period at the front himself, led a trail of four more Audis with Abt Sportsline pair Timo Scheider and Adrien Tambay ahead of Filipe Albuquerque's Team Rosberg-run RS5.

Gary Paffett, who is making his 100th DTM start this weekend, was the best of the Mercedes drivers in sixth, despite a trip through the gravel at Turn 7 early on.

Paffett in the DTM: 100 not out

Edoardo Mortara, Robert Wickens, Pascal Wehrlein and Jamie Green completed the top 10.

Marco Wittmann spun into the gravel through the Turn 8 chicane and also went off at Turn 1 after outbraking himself. Roberto Merhi was another to go off at Turn 1, albeit without damage.

Prior to any of this, the session was red-flagged for a couple of minutes to allow debris dropped on the exit of Turn 2 to be retrieved from the track.

Less than a second covered the entire field, with Rockenfeller's nearest title rival, Mercedes driver Christian Vietoris, 22nd and last.

AUTOSPORT will broadcast live video of both the race and qualifying from the Oschersleben DTM event this weekend. You can catch all the qualifying and race action from Germany from 1.30pm BST on Saturday and 12.30pm on Sunday.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap