Perera Quickest in Opening Lausitzring Practice

Franck Perera set the fastest time in the opening Free Practice session for the DTM round at the Lausitzring.

The Frenchman reeled off a best lap of 1:20.939 aboard the No. 94 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, leading ABT Sportsline’s Kelvin van der Linde by 0.079 seconds.

Van der Linde initially jumped to the spot aboard his No. 3 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with his best lap of 1:21:018, only to be beaten by Perera some five minutes later.

The session came to a premature end when Clemens Schmid found the gravel trap in his No. 63 Lamborghini with 14 minutes remaining on the clock.

An initial full course yellow to recover the Austrian was eventually upgraded to a red flag, ending the session three minutes early.

Mercedes-AMG drivers Jusuf Owega and Lucas Auer came third and fourth, ahead of Perera’s SSR Performance stablemate Mirko Bortolotti in fifth.

Patric Niederhauser put the No. 83 Tresor Orange 1 Audi sixth ahead of the No. 36 Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Arjun Maini.

Schmid, despite his troubled end to the session, took eighth while Rene Rast and Marco Wittmann rounded out the top ten for Schubert Motorsport and Team Project 1, respectively.

The second Free Practice session at the Lausitzring is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. CEST (8:45 a.m. EDT)

RESULTS: Free Practice 1