Klaus Weber · DTM Correspondent
Just five hundredths of a second separated the Manthey-EMA driver from Jules Gounon, with the field stacked tightly behind.
Thomas Preining posted the fastest lap time in the opening free practice session of the DTM weekend at Hockenheimring. With a time of 1:36.974 minutes, the Manthey-EMA driver finished 0.050 seconds ahead of Jules Gounon in the Winward Racing Mercedes on Friday, while Marco Wittmann rounded out the top three in his Schubert BMW, just 0.209 seconds back from the leader.
Tight Field Through the Top 10
The opening session demonstrated the field strength typical of the DTM: between Preining's best time and Arjun Maini's tenth-place lap in the HRT Ford, just 0.503 seconds separated the drivers. Finn Wiebelhaus brought the second HRT Ford home in fourth, only 0.262 seconds behind Preining, suggesting the Ford team could be competitive in qualifying trim as well.
Mirko Bortolotti slotted into fifth in the GRT Lamborghini, with Maro Engel taking sixth as the second Winward Mercedes driver. Ben Dörr placed seventh in his own team's car, just 0.395 seconds off the top, while Luca Engstler rounded out the top eight in the Abt Lamborghini.
Schubert and Manthey Show Mixed Pictures
Schubert Motorsport displayed a clear gap between its two cars: while Wittmann set the pace from third place, Kelvin van der Linde dropped to ninth, 0.255 seconds behind his teammate. This suggests both BMW M4 GT3s were running different setups or fuel loads around midday on Friday, a standard practice in opening practice where teams test qualifying and race trims in parallel.
At Manthey EMA, a similar split emerged: Preining led the field, but Ricardo Feller could only manage twelfth in the second Manthey Porsche, 0.581 seconds slower. Whether that gap closes as the weekend progresses should become clear in qualifying, when both cars compete under comparable conditions.
Midfield and Outlook
In the back half of the field, the spread stood out: Nicki Thiim and Nicolas Baert set the slowest times of the session for Comtoyou Racing with 1:38.682 and 1:39.286 minutes respectively, 1.708 and 2.312 seconds back from Preining. Bastian Buus remained well off the pace in the Land Porsche at nineteenth, though he managed only five laps. Thiim also completed just five laps, while Timo Glock managed six. The session was interrupted by a full-course yellow.
Looking ahead to qualifying, the form of the top two contenders remains particularly intriguing: Preining and Gounon were separated by just 0.050 seconds Friday, a margin that offers little insight into Saturday's grid given Hockenheim's tight field strength. The key will be how teams manage the current balance of performance and allocate their tire sets for the shorter, more intense qualifying runs.
