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00:00:09hello everyone and welcome to the new season of the dtm the dtm season 2020 we're so excited to
00:00:16be back and after 15 years we're here in spa francochamps at this wonderful beautiful circuit
00:00:22and of course the dtm champ from last year rené rast is already sitting in the car and he is
00:00:27so
00:00:27ready for the free practice so i would say at this point let's get started let's kick off the dtm
00:00:33season 2020 and enjoy the free practice thanks very much indeed verina from there on we are all
00:00:42set to go racing finally they're the champion of last year rené rast seven times a winner a double
00:00:49champion now the man to beat very much on form at the end of last season which was a very
00:00:54long time
00:00:54ago wasn't it it's would you believe 10 months since we last saw a dtm car running in anger
00:01:00in a race weekend we're here at spa francochamps for the finally season opener of 2020 and the cars are
00:01:09set in a few minutes time to go out for free practice my name's chris hartley and i'm delighted
00:01:14to be here back at a racetrack back at spa it's spa and so the weather of course may well
00:01:21play its part
00:01:22this weekend it was absolutely roasting hot yesterday over 30 degrees not a cloud in the sky
00:01:28overnight a little bit of rain on the way into the circuit about an hour hour and a half ago
00:01:32some spots of rain and there is a chance not a huge chance but a chance of more spots of
00:01:38rain maybe
00:01:39light rain during the next hour or so which would take us through to the end of this free practice
00:01:44session and that's a threat that does continue throughout the course of the day you never really
00:01:48can predict the weather here in the ardenne forest but it usually gives you a good mix over the course
00:01:53of the weekend it's a busy day for the dtm teams and drivers because everything's crammed into two
00:01:59days here at spa we would normally for the rest of the meetings as we finally get the cars out
00:02:04of the
00:02:04garages and heading to the track we would normally have free practice sessions on a friday two of them
00:02:11but we this time are having free practice for 45 minutes this morning there's a short break then
00:02:18they'll be out for qualifying for the 20 minute session to set the grid for race one and then
00:02:22this afternoon the first race of the season tomorrow again a qualifying in the morning and race two it is
00:02:29going to be a busy timetable as well in terms of the rest of the season trying to cram in
00:02:33pretty much the
00:02:34whole schedule we've got nine events uh this season thanks to the excellent work of itr
00:02:39garhard berger marcel mahaps and the rest of the team to get this show on the road so we're at
00:02:45spa this
00:02:46weekend in two weeks time we go to lausitz ring for the first part of a double header because everybody
00:02:53will be staying on for the next weekend there on august 14th 15th and 16th they'll be using the
00:02:58grand prix layout of the lausitz ring and then the following weekend using a shorter version the sprint
00:03:03version of the same circuit then early september to assen we've got again a back-to-back weekends at
00:03:10the nurburgring on different layouts the gp layout on september 11th 12th and 13th the week after that
00:03:17on the sprint layout and then another double header in october on the 9th 10th and 11th it's to zolder
00:03:23in belgium the home of the first ever dtm race back in the day they stay at zolder for the
00:03:28following
00:03:28weekend and then it's to hockenheim at the start of november in an extended season but of course a late
00:03:33starting season due to the global pandemic for what will be the close-up of the 2020 campaign
00:03:40it's an exciting driver lineup this year it always is we got three champions we've got the double
00:03:45champion renee rast and current champion that we've already talked about marco wittmann who was bmw's
00:03:50leading point scorer last year the former champion of 2014 2016 will be looking to get back to regular
00:03:58winning ways this season and challenge for the championship title and the early signs certainly
00:04:03in pre-season testing uh a month and a half ago at the nurburgring were that bmw were very much
00:04:09improved have they improved enough we'll find out i guess over the next two days there is jamie green
00:04:15a man that would be absolutely desperate to get his first championship title having come so close the
00:04:21british driver uh will always be fighting at the front of the field he came very close a couple of
00:04:27seasons
00:04:27to go to winning the championship in 2017 uh not such a good year last year but uh jamie is
00:04:34the one
00:04:34driver that's raced the dtm car around here at spa because as varina says it was back in 2005 the
00:04:41last
00:04:41time and the only time there was a dtm race here at spa and he's the only driver on the
00:04:46current grid
00:04:47jamie green uh that competed at that day mika hakenen won the race the two-time formula one world
00:04:54champion after he came out of formula one finished fifth in that year's dtm and beats matthias ekstrom
00:05:00to the race victory as a mercedes driver so the audi first out onto the track leading them through he's
00:05:07going to be coming out soon renee rast we've got marco wittmann at the head of the pack as well
00:05:12and the
00:05:12number 11 bmw the double champion and there is definitely some spots of rain starting to fall more
00:05:20consistently now since we came on air so it's a very lightly damp circuit but it is going to be
00:05:28very
00:05:28very tricky around the 7.004 kilometers of the spa francoschamp circuit lots of these drivers have
00:05:37raced here in previous formulae in single seaters and in many cases in the spa 24-hour racing gts
00:05:45but they've got to really cram in a lot of mileage if they can into this 45 minute session there
00:05:52is the
00:05:53infamous eau rouge section they will be pulling 3g through that when they're at full race speed
00:06:01go on board with the 2013 champion mike rockenfeller and you can see windscreen wipers on and over that
00:06:09part of the circuit a lot more rain than there is over here so the commentary box here overlooks the
00:06:14start finish line they're not that far away but it's much wetter over there than it is here and it's
00:06:19the sort of circuit being so spread out where you can have different track conditions on different parts
00:06:23of the circuit so it's very much wetter over at the end of the camel straight and there you can
00:06:28see
00:06:29as they uh build up some tyre temperature or try to on the uh way out of lacombe and down
00:06:35to the brussels
00:06:36hairpin rivage as it used to be called definitely much more surface water on the track through there
00:06:45so they uh build up some tyre temperature they're gonna have to be very very careful though and this
00:06:51is really the last thing they wanted isn't it because they need to get as much track time as they
00:06:55can having not had any chance to test having only this one free practice session and now they've got
00:07:01some damp circuits and some rain potentially to deal with but of course it's all good experience
00:07:07because it might well be that we'll get some of this during the course of the qualifying and race
00:07:11sessions over the course of the weekend so newcomers rookies into this year's dtm championship three of
00:07:20them a very late announcement for adrian newing who stood in at the pre-season test for ed jones
00:07:26the former formula three race has been doing various things over the last couple of seasons
00:07:30including some gt racing uh but the british driver uh was announced recently just a few weeks ago that
00:07:37he'll be standing in full time he'll be a full-time dtm driver this season ed jones the uh part
00:07:44british
00:07:44based driver based in dubai having real issues getting out of the country for the test and then just
00:07:50unable to travel during the course of the season unfortunately so ed is replaced by
00:07:54the british driver harrison newey son of adrian newey the legendary formula one designer chief technical
00:08:01officer these days at red bull involved in the british grand prix this weekend and harrison with the
00:08:07wrt squad in the number 10 audi into the bus stop chicane on board with rennie ras there in the
00:08:14number 33 car
00:08:15gingerly oh so gingerly on these slick hankuk tires making their way through there and he bails for the
00:08:22pits not too much of a surprise there mark rockenfeller just ahead of him and his new luminous yellow and
00:08:29blue livery heading on the way into the pits as well some of the cars though electing to stay out
00:08:39certainly still raining looking out the window here it's light but it's fairly persistent and
00:08:45when you've got this huge amount of horsepower that these dtm cars have and you've got slick tires any kind
00:08:51of surface water even if it's very light indeed it's going to be extremely treacherous indeed we've got a
00:08:57yellow flag in turn 18 and 19 so that is the bus stop chicane
00:09:08rennie ras waiting to get out
00:09:14that goes out onto the circuit there from the aerial view it looks dry doesn't it now this this the
00:09:18reason
00:09:18for the yellow flag a lock-up yes indeed for fabio scherer one of the other rookies this season
00:09:25so fabio the swiss driver for again the wrt squad just having a slight look up there that was the
00:09:31reason for the yellow flag are going straight on as well the number 16 at bmw of timo glock that
00:09:38was
00:09:38down at brussels hairpin no windscreen wipers on timo glock's car at the moment but you can still see
00:09:43there is some water on the windscreen some rain we're just trying to build up the speed and
00:09:48temperatures now be interested to see what the lap times are when they come the lap record around here
00:09:54back from 2005 was set by that year's race winner mika hakenen two minutes 13.134 of us you've got
00:10:01much
00:10:01more powerful cars much quicker cars these days with much more aero on them but we've not got the track
00:10:07conditions to uh really unleash everything that they can the seventh generation dtm cars two liters
00:10:15four-cylinder turbocharged engine we will drive of course at a top speed of over 300 kilometers an hour
00:10:22a bit hairy at the back of the circuit through blozman on board with timo glock as he slows the
00:10:27car down
00:10:29bears right then left through the chicane i think he's staying out yep he's gonna blast past me now
00:10:36and move on to the start of another lap just under 40 minutes to go making some adjustments to the
00:10:41brake bias there and he's the first driver really to set a time but the time is two minutes 35
00:10:46.9 seconds
00:10:48showing that they are well well off the pace i reckon because of these conditions marco wittmann has
00:10:53crossed the line to set a time as well that was a two minutes 36.155 in the bmw
00:10:58and then philip heng two minutes 39 but robin frines has just gone through the dutchman now goes
00:11:04quickest for what it's worth two minutes 34.405 that's a second and a half quicker than timo glock
00:11:10in second place so robin frines who finished uh fifth in last year's championship for audi yet to
00:11:17get his first victory in the dtm but he was a regular podium finisher towards the end of last
00:11:22season couple of second place finishes in 2019 and should be one to watch robin has been incredibly
00:11:28successful in all of the other categories in uh in which he's raced coming up with a good reputation
00:11:36initially through single seater racing they're moving across to things like blonde pond gt
00:11:42and uh robin getting to grips now it seems with dtm the 28 year old
00:11:49from maastricht we've got briefly a yellow flag at the chicane but it's a green flag now so somebody else
00:11:54has had a bit of a lock up it seems on board with timo glock ex-formula one racer and
00:12:03not the only
00:12:03one on the grid because we've got robert kubica joining the dtm this year as our third rookie it
00:12:09seems odd to call robert a rookie but uh he comes having raced for williams and being their only
00:12:13point scorer last year in the formula one world championship former grand prix winner
00:12:18wrc2 rally champion after he came back from what was a an horrific crash
00:12:24when taking part in a rally back in 2012 2011 sorry and uh robert kubica coming into the dtm the
00:12:34first polish driver to do so just as he was the first polish driver and only polish driver to race
00:12:39in
00:12:39formula one so be very interested to see how he gets on in some ways it might be good for
00:12:44the rookies that
00:12:44we're at at a circuit where the drivers don't really have an experience of running a dtm car
00:12:50might level the playing field out a little bit for them well it is fast out the back there isn't
00:12:54it
00:12:54in these conditions you have to be brave through the left hand at blanchiment and the dry they go
00:12:58through that at about 260 kilometers an hour they drop it all the way down to just 60 kilometers an
00:13:05hour and first gear through that chicane go back up through the gears now second third fourth
00:13:11gear over the line timo glock two minutes thirty two point zero eight six seconds that's the new
00:13:16fastest time of the session only just and he's pipped marco wittlund's time of two minutes thirty
00:13:21two point zero nine zero by just four thousandths of a second long circuits typical dtm gap that just
00:13:28thousandths of a second jamie green has popped up into third place as well two minutes what he had
00:13:33two minutes thirty four point two because robin fryans has just gone fastest again and pushes them all back
00:13:38a place two minutes thirty one point nine zero one seconds for the former formula renaud euro cup
00:13:43champion and formula renaud 3.5 series champion he was a champion in blop on gt as well five years
00:13:51ago
00:13:52and also in the sprint version of the championship in 2017 made his debut with dtm last year with audi
00:13:59and
00:13:59the amp sports line team robin doing a very good job to finish in fifth place overall looking as i
00:14:05say for
00:14:06his first win still looking for his first pole position as well jamie green going well british
00:14:13driver from leicester in the 53 car delivery for him this year as well sixth fastest at the moment
00:14:18got timo glock on a decent lap as well but jamie's coming towards the end of his lap two minutes
00:14:2331.9 the
00:14:24time to beat for the number 53 car as he crosses the line he does it by four tenths of
00:14:29a second two minutes
00:14:3031.46 one seconds the time's going to get quicker and quicker partly because although there is still
00:14:36some rain at this side of the circuit at least it's it's become lighter and they're mopping some of the
00:14:42surface water up as well they're getting the tyres up to temperature and of course the drivers are
00:14:46getting used to the conditions and pushing more and more each lap so expect lots of new fastest lap
00:14:50times robin fryans has just gone fastest in sector one but briefly because just behind him on the track
00:14:55you've got renee rast going even quicker through sector sector one with a 40.3 that's a good tenth
00:15:00of a second quicker than anybody else has managed so far in that sector you're watching timo glock
00:15:06and he's been going well he's third quickest at the moment and the first of the bmws currently
00:15:13still plenty of time in the session to go just about 10 minutes have elapsed
00:15:18timo glock he's going to be the first of these flying trio to get to the finish line
00:15:27charging along now getting on the brakes for the right left flick bit of gradient rise through there
00:15:34as well little twitch in the apex using the curbs even though they're damp but no problem on the exit
00:15:39to the corner it's very smooth and it should be decent lap time this yes he's gone quickest two minutes
00:15:4330.129 seconds for timo glock good effort that we're going to get a slow-mo replay
00:15:50of sparks flying on this dtm car lots of changes to talk to you about as well
00:15:59to the regulations this season most of which revolve around the use of push to pass and drs
00:16:15just about 600 brake horsepower slightly reduced the fuel flow rates on the cars this year to cope
00:16:21with the extra boost that they're going to get because the push to pass boost that they're going
00:16:26to be using much more frequently has been doubled from an extra 30 brake horsepower as it was last year
00:16:32when they fire the button this year they're going to get an extra 60 brake horsepower
00:16:36be able to use both drs and push to pass in the qualifying session as well for the first time
00:16:42as
00:16:42renee rast goes to the top of the times the reigning champion with a two minutes 30.047 second lap
00:16:48just under a tenth quicker than the second place car of timo glock and we've got one of the front
00:16:55runners from last year niko molla moving up to third place as well first time he's really put a quick
00:17:00lap in
00:17:00so two minutes 30.047 for rast two minutes 30.129 for glock two minutes 30.911 for muller and
00:17:08just
00:17:08behind in by 16 thousandths of a second fourth quickest robin frines two minutes 30.927 we've got
00:17:14in fifth place the south african driver one of two south african drivers with us this year sheldon
00:17:19van der linde back for another season of dtm going well fifth place marco wittmann has dropped down to
00:17:24sixth place at the moment but he's gone better than he had personally in sector one as you can see
00:17:30from
00:17:30the graphic so the lap split into three sectors if it's shown purple it's quicker than anybody else
00:17:35through that sector if it's shown green it's a personal best through the sector so marco is
00:17:40improving i'm not sure he's going to improve enough to go to the top of the times though robin frines
00:17:43has gone quicker than anybody in sector one and ferdinand habsberg he's been very busy during the
00:17:49lockdown because he's been serving his military service his national service in austria and doing a
00:17:55great job actually helping out lots of people by working in warehouses and food warehouses to
00:18:00distribute food to those that have been very much in need over the last few months so ferdinand
00:18:05has been kept busy lots of these drivers have found other ways to occupy themselves over the lockdown
00:18:11period i think vanco wittmann is going to pop up higher up the order but maybe not to the top
00:18:18of the
00:18:18times into the pits then has come ferdinand habsberg he was on a quick lap but he's aborted that one
00:18:26and now we've got robin frines making his way out of the bus stop chicane philip eng just behind him
00:18:32robin kibitz is going well as well personal best in sector one absolute best in sector two
00:18:37over the line we go and robin frines
00:18:43no improvement but muller goes to the top of the times with the two minutes 30.026 just a few
00:18:49hundreds quicker than renee rast here then our first view of robert kibitzer the ex-formula one driver
00:18:55and what a start he's had fourth quickest on his first flying lap in the bmw so robert kibitzer is
00:19:01the sole driver for the art grand prix team been so hugely successful in single seater international
00:19:08single seater racing over the years well robert kibitzer who's still getting to grips with these
00:19:15dtm cars hasn't had the benefit of a great deal of testing of course fantastic effort fourth quickest
00:19:21so at the moment audi's one and two bmw's three four and five and up into sixth place loic duval
00:19:26the
00:19:26former leman winner has come with his best time of the session and he's on another good lap here
00:19:30timo glock absolute best in sector one
00:19:35and normally with a free practice session you wouldn't get as many cars on track for so long a
00:19:40period but of course it's their only chance to get some running in before qualifying
00:19:44this session ends at 9 45 local time in just about half an hour's time and the qualifying session begins
00:19:52at 10 55 so there's an hour and 10 minutes between the end of free practice and the start of
00:19:58qualifying
00:19:58which doesn't sound long anyway but then you consider they have to get the cars back they have to check
00:20:02them through they have to go through all the data it's a very short window of course being the cars
00:20:06ready to go before qualifying starts as well so the reality is they've got maybe 45 50 minutes to
00:20:13really have a think about it between the sessions which is why they are all pounding around
00:20:20harrison knew he's doing a pretty good job 11th place he was ninth quickest when he took part in the
00:20:26practice so it's a pre-season test session at the nurburgring back in june did a very impressive job
00:20:32so he's going well most of the drivers you'll see are setting green sector times now which
00:20:37shows the track is drying up he's definitely brightened up over the start finish line
00:20:42which the number 16 bmw of timo clock is about to approach we can see it's still damp on the
00:20:47track and
00:20:48he gets a drift on coming out onto the start finish line but it's not gonna harm his time at
00:20:53all he's
00:20:53gone quickest of all two minutes 29.387 timo clock fastest and up to second place sheldon van der linde
00:20:59he's now bmw one two muller third rast fourth kubitzer fifth and sixth place just popping up into six he's
00:21:07been in the top six all the way through the session really as robin freinds in the audi personal bests
00:21:11in all three sectors but not any absolute bests so we've got three drivers in the 229s now glock duval
00:21:18and
00:21:18van der linde and then we've got one two three four five six drivers in the two minutes 30 brackets
00:21:24so
00:21:24six drivers covered by what four tenths of a second which is not a lot of time around such a
00:21:29long circuit
00:21:31the longest circuit on the calendar
00:21:35renee rast what can he do he's going to go fastest if he holds it together through the chicane because
00:21:39he's
00:21:39had an absolute best in the first two sectors two minutes 21 seconds as he gets to the apex he's
00:21:45got
00:21:45229.387 to beat surely this is going to be the new fastest lap of the session as he comes
00:21:50across the line
00:21:51indeed so by a huge amount eight tenths of a second two minutes 28.5 for the rating champion
00:21:59and what about mike rockenfeller whose livery you cannot miss this year he normally goes for a bright
00:22:03uh livery and this is very much in the mix for the 2013 champion somebody else with a great deal
00:22:11of
00:22:11gt racing experience as well so some familiarity at least with the spa francoshoff circuit one by the
00:22:16way which many of the drivers have said in the pre-season statements that they are absolutely loving
00:22:21being at it's a proper driver's circuit this yes there's much more runoff than they used to be at
00:22:26corners like puan but goodness me it's a quick circuit and you require bravery and also precision in these
00:22:32dtm cars so renee rass 228.5 and he's on another flyer look fastest of all in the first sector
00:22:40mike
00:22:40rockenfeller's headed back to the pits
00:22:44and we're looking now at the fifth fastest car so far in the session of nico muller runner-up in
00:22:49last year's championship three wins last season one at mazzano in italy then towards the end of the
00:22:55season at the lausitz ring and the final race of the last season ten months ago was won by this
00:22:59man
00:23:00nico muller his third win of the season eleven podiums great consistency his best season in the
00:23:06dtm he's had a personal best in the first sector
00:23:12marco wittmann also on a good lap two personal best in sectors one and two for the double champion
00:23:18marco's third in last year's championship also had a number of race wins four of them did a great job
00:23:25and by far the best of the bmw drivers the very highly rated marco wittmann he has raced here back
00:23:33in the day in single seaters as well so renee rast absolute best in sector one robert kibica better
00:23:40than anybody through the middle sector of the lap so he slipped back to eighth place but robert i think
00:23:44he's going to pop back up easily into the top six if he can keep this lap together because his
00:23:48first sector
00:23:48was pretty good as well over the line
00:23:54we've got no change in the top five wait for robert kibica to finish his lap replay on board with
00:24:01timo
00:24:01glock this is going to be an understeering moment by the looks of things yep lots of runoff these days
00:24:07as he slips wide sheldon van der linde comes past in the white red and yellow team rbm audi so
00:24:15that was
00:24:16just on the uh exit to the fan now you can see a great overhead shot of turn one the
00:24:21source the
00:24:21hairpin then it's a big steep drop downhill now absolutely gunning it down here they will go down
00:24:27towards eau rouge and radion they'll take it at 250 kilometers an hour in sixth gear
00:24:34they'll rise uphill the compression on the body must be absolutely huge 3g more than anywhere else on the
00:24:41calendar this year flat out all the way uphill along the camel straight and then finally at last you hit
00:24:48the brakes into turns five and six at le com dropping down from pushing 300 kilometers an hour to just
00:24:56about
00:24:57120 kilometers an hour 75 miles an hour and third gear through this section all over the curbs on the
00:25:03exit to the turn over the brow then you begin to drop downhill into the tricky right-hander at brussels
00:25:10and then out towards the second sector you go robert kibica top of the times by the way with that
00:25:15two minutes 28.422 he was on a flyer and it proved to be the best lap of the session
00:25:21so robert kibica
00:25:22here he is top of the times two minutes 28.422 in free practice and second quickest renee rast with
00:25:29the 228.568 which we saw him set just a couple of minutes ago and then the only drivers in
00:25:36the 228
00:25:36robin freind's third 229.1 here he is in the number four car uh sheldon madalinda has improved to fourth
00:25:43with the 229.2 timo glock fifth 229.3 muller six 229.6 and then we've got duval wittmann seventh
00:25:52and eighth rockenfeller ninth green in tenth eng 11th newey is 12th habsburg 13th sharer 14th
00:26:00jonathan aberdein in 15th lucas hour on his return to the dtm uh currently hasn't done that many laps
00:26:08but uh 16th place at the moment for lucas just trying to get back into the groove for him as
00:26:12well because of
00:26:13course he's been a very successful dtm racer lucas hour but he hasn't raced this type of dtm car
00:26:20so again hard work to do robert kibitz was always a quick driver in the wet in formula one he's
00:26:25got
00:26:25that rally experience as well and absolutely loving it but van der linde has now gone to the top of
00:26:31the
00:26:31times might be briefly though because robert was very quick through sector two so van der linde sets
00:26:36the new benchmark in free practice robert kibitz breaks it two minutes 27.719 seconds he's flying
00:26:43he's gonna be praying for rain and uh perspiration during the course of this race i reckon coming
00:26:49up this afternoon because he is loving these conditions
00:26:54a 35 year old from krakov fantastic driver still uh involved in a reserve driver role with the alfa romeo
00:27:01formula one team racing in an uncompetitive williams formula one car last year so we never got to see
00:27:08the best of him but for those who were maybe not not as old as me and went around watching
00:27:15formula one
00:27:15when he was in formula one he was brilliant uh his career sadly cut short with a serious crash in
00:27:21a in
00:27:22a rally back in 2011 he partially severed his right forearms it's a miracle that he's been racing at all
00:27:27since
00:27:27then came back initially through rallying as the inaugural wrc2 world rally champion back in 2013
00:27:33just two years well less than two years after his accident did a season of wrc in 2015 then returned
00:27:40to formula one in 2019 with williams scored their points i'm sure he's frustrated that williams is a
00:27:46much more competitive car this season in formula one but he'll have forgotten about that because he'll
00:27:52know that he's fastest in free practice he's backed it off now fantastic effort for the polish
00:27:58driver the one-time grand prix winner there would have been many more i'm sure had he got the
00:28:03opportunity but he was a winner of the canadian grand prix back in 2008 another circuit where he'd
00:28:09had a serious crash the year before
00:28:14so kibica heading a bmw one two at the moment bright start list for bmw to the day
00:28:19sheldon van der linde has been the other star so far and the south african second quickest he's
00:28:25not going to improve his lap time but he started the lap well he backed it off midway through he
00:28:29might have another go at this but he was quickest in the first sector here is a replay and this
00:28:33is
00:28:34going to be a straight on moment into the gravel trap ooh for ferdinand habsberg gets away with it
00:28:39just about two wheels into the gravel trap at brussels but he got out of it and that was uh
00:28:45good news for
00:28:46him so kibica and van der linde the top two renee rast in third place you're looking at sheldon van
00:28:52der linde now
00:28:57and jamie green is also on track and going quickly
00:29:01both he and harrison newey very quick in the middle sector here
00:29:05with the rain easing the track drying it's going to get quicker all the way through this session still
00:29:08just under 21 minutes to go 21 year old from johannesburg in south africa sheldon van der linde
00:29:15from a racing background his dad sean was a a driver a touring car driver
00:29:22competing for bmw in the south african touring car championship he actually won the title back in 1994
00:29:28and the brother of kelvin van der linde excellent gt racer of course as well we've got a yellow flag
00:29:35guess where the chicane at the end of the lap if i look out of the window i can't quite
00:29:39see
00:29:40the exit to the corner i can't see any stranded cars on the way into it but somebody's had another
00:29:44moment there green flag so yeah we get going again
00:29:50timo glock quicker than anybody in the first sector
00:29:53fastest driver robert commitzer as expected has gone back to the pits now sheldon van der linde pushing on
00:30:03second season now in dtm his best result so far fifth at zolder so we'll be looking forward to
00:30:09going back there and one poor position to his credit timo glock second quickest has got in between
00:30:17them though it's bmw one two three now it was just under two tenths shy of robert commitzer's best
00:30:22time renee rast has had a personal best lap as well and gone second now in between the pair of
00:30:28them so suddenly van der linde's dropped from second to fourth they can see the graphic to the bottom
00:30:33right of your screen going down to third gear still wet over this part of the circuit isn't it as
00:30:38they
00:30:38make their way through the fan towards the right hander at campus the double right apex because
00:30:44it's a very short link straight between campus and the paul frere curve running out because the
00:30:50circuit falls away again all this undulation change to deal with definitely much wetter over that side
00:30:55of the circuit there are dry many more dry patches on my side of the circuit now over the start
00:30:59finish
00:30:59line and i think the rain has completely stopped looking out the window it's a tinted window in the
00:31:04commentary box so it's a bit hard to make out but i think it's stopped completely over here it's still
00:31:08very wet on through the middle sector but drying eventually gradually van der linde's got back to
00:31:15second place because he was very quick through the third and final sector so kibitza van der linde
00:31:21and rast now the top three glock fourth fabio scherer an excellent fifth he's popped up into
00:31:27you're looking at jamie green about to cross the line right behind him timo glock
00:31:31timo glock with the new fastest time of the session and it's uh an absolute tub thumper
00:31:36eight tenths quicker two minutes 26.920 so timo glock with a terrific lap
00:31:43to go almost a second quicker than anybody else out there robin frines is finding some more pace now
00:31:49though remember he was he was the first really to get to grips with the conditions he was the first
00:31:53driver to really push hard and there are a few laps where he was top of the times he slipped
00:31:59back a bit
00:31:59now but he's on another charge absolute best in sector one personal best in sector two
00:32:06for the team apt driver team apt to by the way last time we came here with dtm back in
00:32:132005
00:32:13had a double podium because i had matthias ekstrom the double dtm champion and team tom christensen the
00:32:20nine-time lemon winner in the team that year and they finished second and third audi so it's a long
00:32:24time
00:32:24ago but a good result here for them robin frines goes second quickest with that
00:32:31excellent lap team getting ready for tire changes
00:32:37some of the uh teams in fact i'm sure all of the teams have been working hard to keep up
00:32:42as much as
00:32:43they can at their practice during lockdown even practicing uh back at base they're at their pit
00:32:50stops as much as they can on a daily basis as well which is pretty impressive
00:33:01the drivers have also had a lot more time than normal to work on their fitness so they've really
00:33:06been working hard sent them out gyms at home so they've been able to really work on the fitness
00:33:11lots of them do a lot of long distance cycling as well so you know a lot of us have
00:33:18been sat around
00:33:20watching films and sat in the garden and having barbecues in lockdown but these drivers have been
00:33:27working hard on their fitness and they'll come into this shop ready to go and they'll need that fitness
00:33:31with well as i say he's a crammed calendar ready rest back to the top of the times two minutes
00:33:3726.735
00:33:38in his last lap glock second freinds third kibitzer who was quickest fourth still in the pits rock and
00:33:44fell a fifth on a good lap van der linde who was at the top of the times briefly and
00:33:51not very long ago
00:33:52was in the top three he's now sixth green seventh sharer in eighth and got muller and wittman in the
00:33:56top
00:33:57ten uh jamie greens popped up into fourth place no absolute bests but a steady lap from him a little
00:34:03bit um off the road there was jonathan aberdein are you looking at now the uh second of the south
00:34:10african drivers in this year's dtm squad alongside sheldon van der linde jonathan aberdein also in his
00:34:16second season of dtm now only 22 years of age his dad was a touring car driver as well
00:34:22and it's been a quick rise through the order didn't seem very long ago since i was commentating
00:34:28on jonathan aberdein racing in european karting in the rotax max euro challenge he's come up since then
00:34:34through formula four in the german adac f4 championship he was the uae formula four champion
00:34:40at the end of 2016 start of 2017 and then he moved into european formula three with some success
00:34:47in 2018 before moving to dtm last year but it's a new team for him because he was with audi
00:34:53last year there's a new manufacturer as well he's with the wrt squad last year there's a bmw
00:34:57driver now and he's on his out lap to try and get a decent time at the end of this
00:35:02session
00:35:03sheldon van der linde on track as well just in the background of the shot and there's luca sour
00:35:08who's still at the foot of the times but as i say hasn't done that many laps so i think
00:35:13luca sour is
00:35:14going to be one to rise up the order now you know lucas is a very strong driver back with
00:35:20team rmg and with bmw formerly a mercedes driver 73 dtm races to his name four times a race winner
00:35:32pushed hard for the championship title as well back in 2017 which he led for a long period ended
00:35:38up sixth place at the championship in the end mike rockenfeller makes his way through la source turn
00:35:43one dropping down again 226.735 is the time to beat and it's set by renee rast once again rising
00:35:55to
00:35:55the top here despite the conditions these cars absolutely flying mike rockenfeller up to third
00:36:02place after setting personal best in all three sectors on board with him now just hang on to it
00:36:07flat out have a breather sixth gear all the way along this camel straight it's uphill for most of it
00:36:12it
00:36:12begins to drop downhill at the ends of the camel straight still very damp over this side of the
00:36:18circuit as well right then left in third gear through lecombe about 120 kilometers an hour
00:36:25and the right hand exit up and over a brow and then quite steeply it drops downhill through into
00:36:31brussels and then it really drops downhill on the exit to this corner about 140 kilometers an hour
00:36:37through here in third gear you can see the pits in the background a long way away your right hand
00:36:43in
00:36:43the sticks at this point the furthest point away on the circuit and rockenfeller didn't make any
00:36:49improvements in the first sector sheldon van der lind has had a good first sector so he might be
00:36:53improving from seventh place harrison yui loik duval lucasauer is up to 14th now all with personal
00:37:00best in the first sector of the lap you can see the track map on the right hand side of
00:37:04your screen
00:37:04the graphic there showing the progress of the 2013 champion mike rockenfeller who's up there currently
00:37:10in third place second best of the audis behind rast who's currently fastest and timo glock who's just
00:37:18set the absolute first sector absolute best in the first sector in the bmw currently second
00:37:23place overall for him
00:37:27it's a very good sector as well 39.276 seconds for him it's a couple of tenths quicker than i
00:37:32think
00:37:32most people have managed through there so timo timo on a charge watching him now mike rockenfeller
00:37:40not going to improve i don't think on this lap unless he has a really good final sector
00:37:45making his way out now of blanchiment and he'll drop down the gears to first gear in just about
00:37:5337 miles an hour when he gets through here really hard on the brakes very easy to outbrake yourself
00:38:01right then left and fire it over the line and he rests in the pits the driver who's currently
00:38:06fastest just under 12 minutes of the session to go marco wittmann's back out robin franz is back out on
00:38:11circuit and nico muller as well so on board with timo glock excellent first sector what's the second
00:38:19sector going to be like this is the one that really makes or breaks your lap
00:38:27no improvement
00:38:33the first sector takes just over 39 seconds to get through it's a longer second sector
00:38:40and you've got the fast bit out the back up to get to the chicane for sector three
00:38:45he's i don't think going to be held up by the number 51 nico malikano nico gets out of his
00:38:49way
00:38:50doesn't compromise the entrance to the corner or the breaking point for timo glock a mild
00:38:55distraction but no problems and he bails he goes into the pit so it started well the lap but he
00:39:03knew
00:39:03he wasn't going to improve he might well come out for one more go at this though to try and
00:39:07find some
00:39:08more time some more pace it's the first time really where it's been a relatively quiet track but as i
00:39:13say you've got quite a few drivers you can see from the tower graphic on the left of your picture
00:39:17that have started to go out now and build up for this final session this is the home race for
00:39:25one
00:39:25of the teams bmw team rbm because the team is based in mechelin here in belgium it's about 165 kilometers
00:39:32northwest of here so it's not absolutely on the road oh dear we have had our first car
00:39:37run into the barriers i'm afraid and that's why we've got the yellow flags ferdinand habsburg has
00:39:43gone straight on and nosed into the barriers made a bit of a mess of them but hopefully not too
00:39:50much
00:39:51of a mess of his car and it's red flag there for the session as a result of that so
00:39:55a red flag in
00:39:56the session time continues to sit down push to pass which they can use in free practice as well
00:40:02and he's disabled looks like ferdinand is absolutely fine so that's good news
00:40:08but it is very easy to do this it's on these greasy tracks they're pushing harder and harder
00:40:12because they know the track is drying up but it's really difficult when you've got the track drying
00:40:17like this it's at this greasy stage there's no longer any surface water it actually gets trickier
00:40:21in a way than when there is more surface water even on a slick tire because you know cars we've
00:40:27seen
00:40:27them running on curbs running wide they start to drag the mud back onto the circuit there's no water to
00:40:31wash it away it gets very slippery we're going to see the replay i just understeered straight on
00:40:35see from the splitter front camera he just i'm afraid understeered straight on and nothing he could do
00:40:42as he went off it's on the entrance to uh campus stavolo as it used to be called but uh
00:40:49campus on the
00:40:50exit to the fan well the tall austrian is fine that's the main positive news he walks away i don't
00:40:56think the car will be too badly damaged because he managed to knock most of the speed off the gravel
00:41:01trap slowed him up as well but there's just no turn in the car he just hits a greasy point
00:41:05you see him
00:41:06take his hands off the wheel there because when the car noses into a barrier it snaps the steering
00:41:11wheel around and you get your thumbs and your hands trapped in that it can be very serious indeed
00:41:15so the racing drivers know they can no longer steer the vessel get your hands away from the steering
00:41:20wheel and he gets them to safety in time so frustrating for ferdinand but it's absolutely
00:41:26understandable and in a way surprising that we haven't had more cars going off in what's a very
00:41:31tricky track condition lots of cars were going off at the bus stop but getting away with it
00:41:36because there's lots of runoff there but here at this particular corner you don't get the benefit
00:41:42of that i'm afraid now remember what i said about there not being much time between free practice
00:41:47and qualifying this is a bit of a headache now for the team because there's only an hour and 10
00:41:51minutes
00:41:51between the end of one session and the start of the next anyway and the wrt squad have now got
00:41:58to wait
00:41:58for that car to be recovered as a matter of course ferdinand is being put into the medical car to
00:42:05take
00:42:05back to have a no doubt a quick checkup but i'm sure looking at him and the way he walked
00:42:10away from
00:42:11the car didn't seem to be showing any visible signs of injuries but you know you do have to check
00:42:16this is a matter of course
00:42:19i mean he looks okay doesn't he sprinting back with these odd colored boots what's he forgot
00:42:35i'm not sure what he was doing but he's uh he sorted it now recovery crew already in place
00:42:41he's got a protective face mask being given to fernan because obviously he's not carrying one
00:42:45around with him in the car there's been a fantastic degree of safety here put in place at the circuit
00:42:52all of us have temperature checks on the way into the circuit each day everybody having to wear face
00:42:59masks in and outdoors different zones to try and keep different groups of staff here apart no fans of course
00:43:07sadly and we hope that it won't be too long before we have the return of fans to dtm to
00:43:13the circuit
00:43:14you really create the whole buzz of the the event the drivers and the teams and they will miss them
00:43:20we as media certainly miss the atmosphere that the fans bring but at least we're racing at least
00:43:25we're able to go racing which is the uh absolutely the most positive news that we've got
00:43:32because there have been some times this year where we didn't know if we get any live sports at all
00:43:35let alone any live uh motor racing but we have gladly been able to do so
00:43:44i just saw team boss on the pit wall stefan reinhold team rmg
00:43:53wrt the team that run ferdinand habsburg and the team that are going to have
00:43:58that's uh vitman did 27.2 uh it might have been on a set of white tires but they only
00:44:05improved
00:44:06six to seven tenths i would say on the fresher sets for information
00:44:11okay yeah because but you say vitman put slicks before so that is the information i got it will
00:44:20have to be double check later after the session but it's the information i got at the time yes
00:44:25okay so maybe so people improved on slicks but how many laps you can see if he has slicks if
00:44:33a first two laps he was bloody slow it means he had slicks you don't have to ask bmw
00:44:41voice of experience robert kibitzer well you can have a look at the car if he's got slicks on or
00:44:46not
00:44:48i suspect he did have six on but yeah information that some of the drivers were trying wet tires there
00:44:54but he never really looked like a circuit for wet hankook tires even really at the beginning of the
00:45:00session it's that one sector in the middle where it was very much damper than everywhere else
00:45:06and you were getting some spray for sure but still the majority of the lap i think it would have
00:45:10destroyed the uh the treaded tires and it got too hot but uh yeah some improvements but not huge
00:45:16improvements at the end of the session on slick tires was the news coming through to robert kibitzer
00:45:20and uh that as i say is not a huge surprise because even though the circuit was technically getting
00:45:27drier it was also getting a bit muddier and a bit greasier and not really conducive to fast lap times
00:45:33so there's that sweet spot about five ten minutes ago we saw a lot of changes robert kibitzer was one
00:45:39of them he got the quickest and he's he's going to end i think the session in eighth place unless
00:45:43we get
00:45:43another lap or two out of this
00:45:48but the reality is he was much quicker and could have gone quicker and was top of the times for
00:45:52a while
00:45:52there's harrison newey then one of our rookies in the dtm the british driver uh 12th quickest at the moment
00:45:58really impressing in the uh pre-season test as i said uh to get himself up into the top 10
00:46:05at the uh the nurberg ring back in early june ferdinand hamsberg who's got off the road and
00:46:10caused this red flag actually set the quickest time overall of all the sessions uh with a one minute
00:46:1518.9 he was fractionally quicker than nico muller and renee rast set the third fastest time as a
00:46:21several day test split into different sessions and bmw topping some of the times some of the sessions as
00:46:29well with philippeng in particular going well uh there but ferdinand hamsberg very good and harrison
00:46:34newey very impressive as well and has done a pretty good job so far on this free practice session
00:46:41slow-mo's of the cars harrison newey there riding the kerbs
00:46:52he's one of the drivers that actually has had a little bit of racing this season not much but
00:46:57at the start of the season uh racing in uh in gts over in daytona getting a class win in
00:47:02the daytona
00:47:0324 hours way back at the start of the season car on the recovery truck stopped the clock with five
00:47:10minutes to go which suggests we're going to get a bit more running a bit more practice but not much
00:47:15bearing in mind the length of the lap here and how long it's going to take on an out lap
00:47:19you're looking
00:47:20at having one flying lap really that's all we're going to get but every little is going to help
00:47:25there's the information on the screen then from race control thanks for that the restart will be at
00:47:299 48 local time it's 9 42 local time so we've got five or six minutes left to run
00:47:41barriers to be repaired but not hugely this is the tyre barrier and the covering the binding on the
00:47:46tyre barrier that's being replaced
00:47:50hence the slight delay plus of course they've got to get ferdinand habsberg's car back
00:47:58i think he did have wet tyres on actually looking at that
00:48:02and they didn't work for him and there you can see now as it's revealed on the back of the
00:48:07truck
00:48:07fair bit of damage at least to the exterior of the left front corner of uh ferdinand's audi
00:48:13so yes he did not quite a bit of speed off but um he didn't get away with it scot
00:48:18-free
00:48:19the team will hope that it's not under the skin yeah definitely wet tyres on the car so that's the
00:48:24answer to the question and they didn't give him enough grip really didn't give him enough grip as
00:48:29he went into the right-hander at campus so some work to be done to the car we'll not see
00:48:35ferdinand in
00:48:35the rest of this session and the team's gonna have to be super quick getting this done to get him
00:48:39ready in
00:48:40time for qualifying have to strip it all down at the front check everything underneath the skin make
00:48:47sure there's no heavy damage gonna have to replace some parts replace the bodywork and it's gonna be
00:48:53pretty intense down there now for the wrt squad
00:48:58to say probably exactly what they didn't need in what's a pretty crammed timetable for them
00:49:04this morning but these teams pretty good at working miracles vansem voss's team
00:49:13relatively new team to motorsport we founded just over 10 years ago started out endurance racing in fun
00:49:21cup at tracks like spa here in belgium did some belcar belgian touring car racing competed in the nurburg
00:49:27road 24-hour race did some blancpont gt racing and then made their dtm debut at
00:49:33last year as a squad seventh in the team's championship the best driver was jonathan aberdein
00:49:37last year he finished 10th in the championship
00:49:43and a couple of fourth place finishes at assen and at the nurburg ring both for jonathan aberdein
00:49:47so had some decent results in their first season that's some bosses squad now you can see the
00:49:55classification of the top six at the moment that very good lap from renee rast putting in nearly two
00:50:01tenths shy clear of timo glock and sheldon van der linde who were only separated those two by three
00:50:07thousandths of a second engines being fired back up cars rolling back down the pit lane harrison
00:50:13newy makes his way out philippeng i think has gone out as well yeah they're all getting ready to go
00:50:19at
00:50:19the head of the queue you're gonna have timo glock and then in but take care be on the safe
00:50:24side
00:50:29good advice i reckon take care be on the safe side hint we don't really want to fix your car
00:50:34when you get back timo if you could just have a lap maritius it's your turn
00:50:44if you could just have a lap find out more information but bring it back in one piece please
00:50:50because of course the session's going to run over now so the hour and 10 minute gap between
00:50:54sessions is going to be even less
00:51:01team on the radio to fabio sharer who's in the top 10 at the moment doing a good job
00:51:06it's not the best rookie because you've got robert kibitzer in eighth place but it's robert
00:51:10kibitzer so good job i reckon by fabio sharer so far to be running as high as he is in
00:51:1510th place
00:51:19in what's his first session in a dtm weekend
00:51:24another young driver lots of young drivers coming through this year and those last couple of seasons
00:51:2820 years of age the first international car racing season was only four years ago in 2016 in the
00:51:36german and italian formula 4 championships following year 2017 he had a good season in
00:51:41adac formula 4 finished in fifth place in the championship got a race win and then moved on
00:51:48into european formula 3 in the fia european formula 3 championship in 2018 it's a hard championship to do
00:51:54well in your first season and finished in 14th place got some good points finish he's got a podium
00:52:01part of the season in fia european f3 in 2019 seven podiums now he moves into touring car racing for
00:52:08the
00:52:09first time
00:52:12Jonathan Aberdein just to give me some notes as well about some of the rule changes while we've got a
00:52:17moment we've got this additional use of push to pass and drs which i've talked about so for the first
00:52:27time drs is going to be allowed in qualifying the drag reduction system where the angle of the rear wing
00:52:33can change to 18 degrees give you more straight line speed can only be used three times per lap in
00:52:40uh in qualifying but if the driver ends up deploying it just before the start finish line
00:52:46it counts it doesn't count towards their next lap so there'll be a lot of that going on
00:52:51and in the races drs can be deployed now for 50 of the expected total laps of a race
00:52:56and previously it could be activated 12 on 12 laps it didn't matter how long the circuit was or how
00:53:03many
00:53:03laps you had in the race it was always 12 laps last year but it's changed this year to be
00:53:0850 of the
00:53:08expected race laps on a shorter circuit somewhere like zolder you're going to get a lot more laps
00:53:13where you can use drs than somewhere like spa franca shop for example they've also scrapped the
00:53:19three second drs window where you have to be within three seconds of the car in front to use drs
00:53:24that has now been scrapped they can use it irrespective of how far behind the the car ahead of
00:53:30them they are and then push to pass as i say has been doubled in terms of the extra horsepower
00:53:36that it
00:53:37delivers when you press the boost button you get 60 extra horsepower now instead of 30 horsepower so
00:53:41essentially another 10 of your overall power is delivered so the power increases from 580 brake
00:53:49horsepower for a few seconds up to 640 brake horsepower they'll be able to use it it's doubled
00:53:56the use as well of that from 12 times in a race to 24 times in a race for five
00:54:00seconds each and again for
00:54:01the first time push to pass is going to be allowed in qualifying they're allowed to use it in
00:54:06the free practice sessions as well and one of the other major changes that's only recently been
00:54:12announced to the new regulations for 2020 is going to revolve around pit stops in the race
00:54:17because they are reintroducing pit stop windows for the first time in four years
00:54:23so the window will now open on lap five means you can't pit in the first four laps of a
00:54:28race
00:54:29and we saw certainly last year lots of drivers who were out of position on the grid having a gamble
00:54:35going into the pits on lap one marco wittmann did that in bizano had a problem with the
00:54:41engine in qualifying back of the grid pitted on the first lap an early safety car so he really
00:54:46benefited by pitting when everybody else was being slowed up by the safety car and he went on to go
00:54:50from
00:54:51last to first he claimed the race win well they've stopped that now and the pit window means it's only
00:54:55once
00:54:55the leader is on lap five crossing the safety car line on lap five that is the point at which
00:55:01the pit window
00:55:02will open so those some of the key rule changes for this season i'll go through them again when we
00:55:09get to the qualifying and of course the race sessions and also worth noting new for this season the teams
00:55:16have agreed that there are no team orders for 2020
00:55:24it's all going to make for fascinating racing you're riding on board then with the reigning champion
00:55:28renee rast such a strong three years in the dtm won the championship nearly won the championship won
00:55:35the championship third time around the former porsche carrera cup super cup champion you can drive
00:55:42anything a le mans sports prototype a dtm car a porsche a fantastic driver
00:55:50and winning the championship last year with seven wins and 13 podiums and he's on on a double hat
00:55:57trick feel the roar it says good to be back everybody we're going to get just a couple more minutes
00:56:02now
00:56:02of dtm cars in this free practice session but there'll be not not long to wait before we have our
00:56:06first
00:56:06competitive session qualifying coming up in just over an hour's time here at spa the other thing to
00:56:13mention here at spa is the trees you're at in the ardenne forest and particularly at the back of the
00:56:17circuit so there are various points where the trees actually hang over the circuit and that means those
00:56:23patches dry up slower you'll see that even when we get a dry line later on there's still offline going
00:56:29to be some damp patches i reckon in qualifying so overtaking somebody else you're going to have to be
00:56:33very careful pushing hard it seems to just see what they can get in this final session now marco wittmann
00:56:38a set of absolute best first sector here and what's going to be his and everybody's final flying lap
00:56:45so purple sector for marco wittmann currently in fifth place a low 39
00:56:52timo glock no improvement for him it's a good mix of audi's and bmw's in the top four audi bmw
00:56:58bmw
00:56:59audi rast glock van der linde rockenfeller and wittmann timo glock you're riding on board with now
00:57:06catching the steering wheel as he comes downhill on the exit to puan down into the fan a wide sweeping
00:57:15arcing chicane heading out up towards campus again not scared of using the kerbs here marco wittmann
00:57:25personal best in the first sector it's changed actually it did come up purple but it's actually
00:57:29been corrected to a personal best however sector two is an absolute best this is going to be a very
00:57:35strong lap keep an eye robin frines as well he's further back on the lap he's about 50 odd seconds
00:57:39behind the man you're watching now but robin frines has set an absolute best in the first sector
00:57:44the 38.9 wittmann did a 39.1 so he is two tenths up on the first sector robert kibica
00:57:51has set the
00:57:51absolute best in sector two as well so this is shaping up nicely for qualifying if qualifying follows
00:57:58this it's going to be an absolute barnstormer here we go then first of the very quick drivers to take
00:58:04the chequered flag is going to be marco wittmann where is that going to put marco two minutes 24.88
00:58:08eight seconds top of the times for now two minutes 24.88 but wait for robin frines wait for
00:58:14robert kibica kibica comes through doesn't quite do it but second place bmw one two at the end of free
00:58:20practice as it stands we've still got robin frines going quickly you've got jonathan aberdine
00:58:24who is last at the moment 16th but personal best in the first two sectors aberdine's gone third
00:58:30terrific effort he leapfrogs most of the field within nine tenths of a second of marco wittmann's best time
00:58:36so wittmann kibica aberdine rast is pushed back down to fourth place here comes robin frines
00:58:40that's mullet's on a quick lap as well checkered flag is out robin frines is surely gonna improve
00:58:45upon eighth place will he get up into the top three he's got a chance wittmann has already taken
00:58:52the chequered flag kibica aberdine and rast have taken the flag glock and there goes robin frines and
00:58:57he does go to the top of the times but not for long because mullet's just behind him goes even
00:59:01quicker
00:59:02two minutes 23.272 seconds it was worth going out for one more lap wasn't it because half a dozen
00:59:09improvements there all at the top of the times
00:59:14and with well just a couple of cars left across the line we had a bmw one two i think
00:59:20we had a bmw
00:59:21one two three actually but then came the outies of muller and frines frines for oh puncture right
00:59:27rear puncture for jamie green tired delaminated as jamie ended up in the session long way down
00:59:34for him 10th place he was on a good lap though personal best in the first two sectors well not
00:59:40the way you want to start the uh weekend however if you're going to have a problem better to have
00:59:44it right at the end of free practice than to have it in one of the big sessions of qualifying
00:59:48all the
00:59:49race so we'll limp it back to the pits and it was right at the end of the lap there
00:59:54because he
00:59:54as i said he'd set personal best times in the first two sectors he's going to limp the audi back
01:00:00but he's got it back which means the team hasn't got to wait for the car which is going to
01:00:03be good
01:00:04news for them with a short turnaround between free practice and qualifying which begins local time
01:00:09the session at 10 55 what was due to
01:00:16so nico muller fastest at the end of free practice two minutes 23.272 robin fry in second
01:00:22marco wittman in third then robert kibitz jonathan aberdein and renee rast the top six here at spa
01:00:28qualifying coming up varina back to you to wrap up free practice what a very impressive free practice
01:00:34we can just see jamie green who had a puncture who has got a new wheel but of course now
01:00:39uh the free
01:00:40practice is over and we're looking forward to a very exciting qualifying which you certainly don't want
01:00:45to miss so see you in a bit
01:01:22so
01:01:29so
01:01:31so