Maximilian Götz has set the fastest time in the opening practice for the DTM’s season opener at Monza, leading Alex Albon.
The first session of the GT3 era provided some extremely tight margins, with the top five separated by a tenth and the top ten by less than a second.
Götz posted a 01:47:624 in his Mercedes-AMG Team HRT AMG GT3 Evo, a mere 0.022 faster than the time set by Albon’s AlphaTauri-liveried Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.
Red Bull junior Liam Lawson, driving the second AF Corse Ferrari, was third, just 0.046 behind Götz.
Nico Müller and Vincent Abril were fourth and fifth for Audi Sport Team Rosberg and Mercedes-AMG Team HRT respectively, with Abril precisely 0.1s down on team-mate Götz.
Daniel Juncadella and Sheldon van der Linde were sixth and seventh, with the South African’s 01:48:137 in the Rowe Racing BMW M6 GT3 proving the fastest time for a BMW runner.
Van der Linde was ahead of Mücke Motorsport stand-in Maxi Buhk in eighth, with Kelvin van der Linde and Dev Gore completing the top ten. Gore, in his Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo, was 0.748s behind the fastest time of the session.
Marco Wittmann was eleventh for Walkenhorst Motorsport, with the rest of the field made up by Timo Glock, Mike Rockenfeller, Esteban Muth, Arjun Maini, Sophia Floersch and Esmee Hawkey.
