Mercedes has topped the timesheets at the end of the first day of pre-season testing for the GT3 era at Hockenheim, with running limited due to snowfall in the afternoon.
Four sessions were held at the German circuit with 15 cars in attendance, but the running in the afternoon was curtailed when the already wintery conditions worsened, with snowfall cutting the later sessions short.
At the end of the day, the pair of Haupt Racing Team Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos topped the timesheets. Maximilian Götz put down the benchmark with a 01:36:590. Götz took to the top of the timesheets by beating series rookie Kelvin van der Linde, who was fastest early on in one of the pair of Abt Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evos.
Van der Linde’s early top time of 01:36:867 was ultimately good enough for third when Vincent Abril posted a 01:36:759 to go second in the other Haupt Mercedes.
Liam Lawson was fourth quickest in his Red Bull-backed, AF Corse operated Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo with 2020 runner-up Nico Müller rounding out the top five for Team Rosberg.
Former Red Bull F1 driver Alex Albon was sixth in his AlphaTauri-liveried Ferrari, with BMW drivers Marco Wittmann and Sheldon van der Linde seventh and eighth for Walkenhorst Motorsport and Rowe Racing respectively.
Gary Paffett, returning to the series with Mücke Motorsport, was ninth, with Fabian Schiller tenth in the GetSpeed Mercedes, which he shared at the test with Arjun Maini.
Not all cars set to contest the first DTM season under GT3 regulations were present at the test. Abt Sportsline, which will contest three cars for Sophia Floersch, Mike Rockenfeller and Van der Linde, only had two cars present as Rockenfeller and Van der Linde shared running throughout the day.
The same was the case at Rowe Racing, which ran a single BMW M6 GT3 for full-season pairing Sheldon van der Linde and Timo Glock.
Not all teams were present at Hockenheim, with JP Motorsport’s McLaren 720S GT3 and driver Christian Klein absent from the opening day.
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