The DTM is already battling massive heat on the first day of practice at the Lausitzring, as evidenced by the occasional swimming pool positioned in front of the team trucks. Only Mercedes-AMG seems to be comfortable with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees: DTM leader Maro Engel secured the fastest time of the day in the second session with a 1:20.408, ahead of his Landgraf brand mate Lucas Auer, who was just two thousandths of a second slower.

Third place went to Arjun Maini (+0.079), the best of the two Ford Mustang drivers, who had already dominated the official test day. The Indian driver was the fastest in the first session with a 1:20.986 - set on used tyres. Fourth was Manthey Porsche driver Thomas Preining (+0.212), who recorded an even faster first sector before running into traffic.

Will the tyre-friendly Mercedes-AMG GT3 live up to its role as the favourite in the heat? A strong long run by Auer in the first practice session, where the Austrian consistently stayed below the 1:22 mark, certainly suggests so. "Basically, it should be positive for us, but it is still a bit early to really draw conclusions," says pace-setter Maro Engel, downplaying expectations.

"Changes the handling": The influence of the trucks

"At the Red Bull Ring, the heat was very good for us. In Zandvoort, where you generally switch the tyre on faster, it was rather difficult," he adds, putting things into perspective. According to Engel, track conditions are different from the test two weeks ago, when the asphalt temperature was 25 degrees instead of 45.

"And the trucks with the truck rubber are here, so we still have to adjust a bit," the 40-year-old adds. The racing trucks of the German TGP championship on the support bill play a major role again this year, as the Goodyear truck tyres harmonise well with the DTM tyre - and the Lausitzring, which offers little grip and is rarely used, generally becomes significantly faster over the course of the weekend anyway.

"Basically, the track is faster, meaning more grip. You can definitely feel that," Engel says, describing the influence of the trucks. "But it also changes the handling here and there - and you have to adjust to that a little bit."

Lamborghini: Engstler off-track and strong Paul long run

The practice sessions generally proceeded without major incidents. Abt Lamborghini driver Luca Engstler lost the rear in the second session and ended up in the gravel trap. In the first session, the Kempten-based driver, who finished twelfth overall with a 0.363-second deficit, also reported an incident over the radio: "I hit the wall but no further damage."

The Lamborghini drivers put in a good showing: Mirko Bortolotti was eighth, 0.310 seconds back - placing him ahead of his Grasser teammate Maximilian Paul, who finished ninth (+0.329). The local hero from Dresden caught the eye in the first practice session with a strong long run - his consistent lap times well below 1:22 were even stronger than those of Bortolotti.

The HRT drivers in the Ford Mustang confirmed the strong results from the test, but the big challenge will be the long runs: despite the Evo package, the tyres on the US-built machine tend to overheat, especially at these temperatures - and only three sets of tyres are available per vehicle this weekend.

Glocks run of bad luck continues

For Timo Glock, the streak of bad luck continues: the 44-year-old had to park his Dorr McLaren eleven minutes before the end of the first practice session. "Timo, suspension damage - end of session," race engineer Gerd Kusstatscher radioed to him. In the second session, he finished 17th, 0.611 seconds off the pace, while teammate Ben Dorr took fifth place, just 0.225 seconds back.

It was also a disappointing day for the Ferrari squad Emil Frey: the Swiss team, which won here last year with Jack Aitken, finished in the lower ranks in both sessions. Zandvoort winner Matteo Cairoli (+0.694) was 19th in the overall standings, while Thierry Vermeulen (+0.738) could manage no better than 20th.

Ferrari and BMW failing to find momentum

Emil Frey technical director Jurg Flach had decided at short notice to attend the official test due to an unfavourable Balance of Performance (BoP), but even the additional boost pressure granted by a BoP change before the weekend does not seem to have the desired effect.

The Ferrari has to run with the maximum rear wing setting; furthermore, the vehicle was raised by two millimetres at the front axle and six millimetres at the rear axle, which has a negative impact in the corners. But things are not looking great for BMW either at the moment: Kelvin van der Linde (+0.403) and Marco Wittmann (+0.753) did not get beyond 14th and 21st places respectively.

It remains to be seen how the first qualifying session on Saturday will unfold: despite the heat, teams expect four to six outlaps before the tyre reaches temperature and fast laps become possible. At that point, the brakes - which are also under heavy strain - could become the limiting factor.

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