Mueller Leads Vanthoor in Lausitzring FP1

Nico Mueller set the fastest time in opening practice for the second DTM round at the Lausitzring, topping Porsche factory driver Laurens Vanthoor in the closing minutes of the session.

Mueller ended the 45-minute session with a best lap of 1:32.249 behind the wheel of his No. 51 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

That put the Swiss driver 0.128 seconds up on Vanthoor’s No. 92 SSR Performance Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Vanthoor had moved to the top of the leaderboards by posting a 1:32.377, which itself was an improvement set by an earlier fastest lap from Mueller.

However, the Audi factory driver posted two improvements in the dying minutes of the session, the second of which was good enough to leap ahead of the Porsche with just over a minute remaining on the clock.

Behind them, Schubert Motorsport driver Sheldon van der Linde also put in a late improvement to go third in his No. 31 BMW M4 GT3.

In doing so, he demoted Vanthoor’s teammate Dennis Olsen to fourth with Mikael Grenier fifth as the best-placed Mercedes driver.

Lucas Auer was sixth ahead of Abt Sportsline’s Ricardo Feller and Rene Rast.

Maro Engel was ninth, with Marco Wittmann completing the top ten behind the wheel of his Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW.

David Schumacher dropped from sixth to eleventh in the closing minutes, leading Philipp Eng as well as championship leader Mirko Bortolotti, Maximilian Buhk and Felipe Fraga.

Second practice at the Lausitzring starts at 3:10 p.m local time.

RESULTS: Practice 1