Tresor Orange1 led the way in this morning's Free Practice at Hockenheim with Ricardo Feller at the wheel of its #40 Audi.
The 80-minute session was staged on a drying track, which ensured plenty of changes to the classification as cars found more grip with each lap. Among those to spend time at the top were Alex Aka (#99 Audi), Raffaele Marciello (#88 Mercedes-AMG), Valentino Rossi (#46 BMW) and Albert Costa (#69 Ferrari).
Ultimately though it was Feller who ended the session in P1 with a 1m38.433s. The #40 Tresor Orange1 Audi was a regular challenger at the head of the order and survived a late flurry of flying laps to maintain its position.
Marciello went second fastest with a 1m39.368s during the final moments of Free Practice. He was followed by Costa in the #69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, while Christian Engelhart made it four different brands in the top four at the wheel of the #54 Dinamic GT Porsche.
Patric Niederhauser was fifth in the #25 Saintéloc Junior Team Audi, followed by Rossi who produced a strong showing in his Team WRT entry. Seventh overall went to Aka in the #99 Tresor Attempto Audi, which also put the German squad on top in the Silver Cup.
Alberto di Folco paced the Gold Cup in the #9 Boutsen VDS Audi, edging class rival Niklas Krütten (#30 Team WRT BMW) by just 0.017s. Hubert Haupt was the best of the Bronze Cup runners, placing 15th overall in the #79 HRT Mercedes-AMG.
Given the treacherous conditions, Free Practice was relatively trouble-free. However, with the session just a few minutes old, the #87 Akkodis ASP Mercedes-AMG spun into the barriers at Turn 16 and brought out a very early red flag.
There was a second stoppage around half distance following contact between the #27 Saintéloc Junior Team Audi and the #71 AF Corse Ferrari at Turn 6. Nevertheless, the majority of the session was run under green flag conditions.
The next track action follows at 14:20, when the 41-car field will tackle a further 80 minutes of running in Pre-Qualifying.
