By Glenn Freeman Friday, October 24th 2008, 14:31 GMT
Paul di RestaPaul di Resta scored the first blow ahead of this weekend's DTM title showdown by snatching the top spot in the dying seconds of free practice on Friday.
In a rare session that bucked the trend of usual DTM Fridays, all of the frontrunners in 2008 machinery were setting competitive times throughout the 90 minutes.
Audi seemed set for a top four lock-out with two minutes remaining, but di Resta strung a lap together at the end to go fastest by three tenths of a second.
The morning pacesetter Martin Tomczyk - sporting a revised Red Bull Cola livery for this weekend - was second in the afternoon ahead of reigning champion Mattias Ekstrom, while di Resta's title rival Timo Scheider ended up fourth after being fastest for a long time.
The championship contenders, who are separated by just two points (in Scheider's favour) heading into this weekend's finale, nearly had a chance to face off at the end of the session, when all drivers are allowed to make practice starts on the grid.
The cars can take off two at a time, but as Scheider sat on the pole position grid slot, di Resta and his teammate Bernd Schneider opted to leave him to start alone, before taking off together once he was gone.
Behind Tom Kristensen in fifth, the Mercedes of Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green, and the retiring Schneider completed the top eight. Gary Paffett and Oliver Jarvis rounded out the top ten in their 2007-spec cars.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Paul di Resta Mercedes 1:32.783
2. Martin Tomczyk Audi 1:33.095 +0.312
3. Mattias Ekstrom Audi 1:33.165 +0.382
4. Timo Scheider Audi 1:33.182 +0.399
5. Tom Kristensen Audi 1:33.551 +0.768
6. Bruno Spengler Mercedes 1:33.667 +0.884
7. Jamie Green Mercedes 1:33.685 +0.902
8. Bernd Schneider Mercedes 1:33.760 +0.977
9. Gary Paffett Mercedes 1:33.788 +1.005
10. Oliver Jarvis Audi 1:33.967 +1.184
11. Christijan Albers Audi 1:33.988 +1.205
12. Alexandre Premat Audi 1:34.297 +1.514
13. Mike Rockenfeller Audi 1:34.300 +1.517
14. Markus Winkelhock Audi 1:34.519 +1.736
15. Ralf Schumacher Mercedes 1:34.753 +1.970
16. Susie Stoddart Mercedes 1:34.812 +2.029
17. Maro Engel Mercedes 1:34.848 +2.065
18. Mathias Lauda Mercedes 1:35.199 +2.416
19. Katherine Legge Audi 1:35.808 +3.025
