NÜRBURG, Germany — Maro Engel (Monaco) has started the second half of the DTM season with a keen attack. The Mercedes-AMG driver drove the fastest lap in the second free practice session on the Nürburgring on Friday afternoon with a time of 1:26.059 minutes, opening the fifth stop of the racing series as the best of the day.
“The Nürburgring is my second home. I love the Nordschleife, but I also really enjoy driving on the Grand Prix circuit. The car ran really well in the second free practice session and we are happy with the balance of the vehicle. It was a successful first day of work in the Eifel,” explained the veteran from the Mercedes-AMG Team Winward.
His brand colleague Luca Stolz (Brachbach) from the Mercedes-AMG Team HRT was only 0.015 seconds slower, and the third fastest lap was achieved by Ayhancan Güven (TR) in the Porsche 911 GT3 R. The best Ferrari driver was Jack Aitken (GB) from Emil Frey Racing in fourth place. Lucas Auer (A/Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter) drove a third vehicle with the star in fifth place.
The second free practice session on Friday afternoon on the traditional circuit in the Eifel was much faster than the first session. After just ten minutes, second-placed Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 from Abt Sportsline beat the best time from the morning. But throughout the session, eight different drivers went to the top of the chart. Güven took the lead first before Stolz replaced him a short time later. Three minutes before the end, Engel achieved the best time of the day on his 19th lap.
Porsche driver Güven showed a strong performance overall, coming third overall and the best in the first free practice session.
“It’s a great feeling to start the weekend with a top time. The season hasn’t gone as planned so far, but the training results show that we’re heading in the right direction. We want to put on a great show for the fans at our home game,” promised Güven, whose team Manthey EMA is based right next to the 3.629-kilometer Eifel circuit.
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