Di Resta heads Nurburgring practice

Paul di Resta was the pacesetter across two weather-affected DTM practice sessions at the Nurburgring.

Timing was key for the Mercedes driver, who set his best - a 1m23.578s - just seconds before the heavens opened halfway through the second session.

With the track quickly becoming drenched, di Resta's time was unbeatable in the second half of the session.

Audi man Timo Scheider was another driver to make a late improvement before the rain, a 1m23.587s leaving him second, while points leader Marco Wittmann was third fastest for BMW.

Antonio Felix da Costa was fourth quickest, ahead of Timo Glock, Adrien Tambay, Nico Muller and Daniel Juncadella.

In the morning's first session, the conditions were reversed. While the majority of the session was held in wet or damp conditions, the track did dry sufficiently to see some slick tyre running in the closing minutes.

As a result, the quick laps all came right at the end, with Glock fastest from Robert Wickens, Pascal Wehrlein and Gary Paffett, all four having improved on their very last laps of the session.

Christian Vietoris was fifth, ahead of Muller and di Resta, whose time put five Mercedes drivers inside the top seven.