Extreme heat at the start of DTM practice at the Nürburgring: In 36-degree air temperatures and with a forest fire not far from the Eifel circuit sending up a column of smoke, Porsche’s top team Manthey secured the leading positions: Thomas Preining set the day’s best time of 1:25.517, 0.249 seconds faster than team-mate Ricardo Feller in second place.
Preining was only 0.399 seconds slower than Mirko Bortolotti’s qualifying record (1:25.118) from 2023, which suggests that a new record lap could be set in tomorrow’s qualifying with the DTM’s spec tyre. Marco Wittmann’s wish for BMW finally to be competitive already on Friday also appears to have been granted.
