Olsen Leads Manthey EMA 1-2 in Opening Nürburgring Practice

Dennis Olsen set the pace in the opening Free Practice session for the DTM round at the Nürburgring, narrowly outpacing teammate Thomas Preining to lead a 1-2 for Manthey EMA.

Olsen steered the No. 90 Porsche 911 GT3 R to a best lap of 1:26.153, which was 0.196 seconds quicker than the time set by championship leader Preining.

The Norwegian driver jumped to the top of the timesheets in the final portion of the first 45-minute session by improving upon an earlier effort from the No. 7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Ricardo Feller.

Feller led the session with under nine minutes remaining, but was ultimately shuffled down to third as a result of late improvements from both Manthey EMA drivers.

Mirko Bortolotti came fourth ahead of Kelvin van der Linde, Ayhancan Guven and the No. 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Thierry Vermeulen.

Lucas Auer slotted into eighth as the fastest Mercedes driver aboard the No. 22 Team Winward Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

Tim Heinemann and Jusuf Owega completed the top ten, just ahead of early pacesetter Clemens Schmid and Jack Aitken.

Two drivers made their first appearances of the season, with Maximilian Paul replacing Mick Wishofer aboard the No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 en route to 20th place.

The German driver returns to DTM for the first time since a guest appearance with T3 Motorsport at the Red Bull Ring in 2021.

Sandro Holzem is meanwhile set for his DTM debut in a second BMW M4 GT3 entered by Team Project 1.

The 19-year-old only completed a single lap during the session and did not set a competitive time.

The second Free Practice session at the Nürburgring will start at 2:25 p.m. CEST (8:25 a.m. EDT), ten minutes earlier than the originally scheduled kickoff time.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1