Lawson 11th quickest as first DTM test wraps up

Liam Lawson concluded his first official DTM test at Hockenheim overnight, setting the 11th best time by the end of the day.

The day was topped by ex-Toyota Racing Series race winner Lucas Auer, who fronted  a top-six Mercedes lockout.

The German giant was comfortably the quickest manufacturer over the test, with Balance of Performance to be decided ahead of the first race of the season.

Unlike yesterday’s snow-out, day two saw teams and drivers get a full eight hours of running.

Initially, Phillip Ellis set the early benchmark pace, but he was soon bettered by Auer as lap times began to quickly dip.

Ultimately, Auer’s best time would by four-tenths faster than the quickest lap set in day one by Maximilian Gotz.

Behind Auer was 26-year-old French driver Vincent Abril and DTM returnee Daniel Juncadella.

The top-ten drivers all finished within a second of Auer, with Mike Rockenfeller the first non-Mercedes car on the leader board in seventh.

Alex Albon was ninth fastest in the lead AF Corsa Ferrari, edging out Kelvin van der Linde, who only ran in the morning session, by one-tenth.

After ending day one in fourth, Lawson had a more muted day’s running on Thursday. The young Kiwi finished 0.07s shy of van der Linde’s best effort and is 11th on the timesheets.

Behind Lawson was BMW duo Marco Wittmann and Timo Glock, with fellow DTM rookie Sophia Floersch rounding out the leader board in 16^th.

The DTM paddock will hold a three-day test at the Lausitzring on May 4-6, before the first round of the season at Monza in June.