Muller leads damp second practice

Championship leader Yvan Muller emerged quickest in a damp second practice at Oschersleben today with his final lap of the 30-minute session, a 1:37.715.

The lap times tumbled as the track dried out with Muller’s final lap over 11-seconds quicker than the first recorded time of the practice, Rob Huff’s 1:49.051.

Alain Menu (1:37.886) was second quickest ahead of Tiago Monteiro (1:38.122).

With the pace just over a second slower than earlier today, a number of cars had off-track excursions at turn one as they struggled to find grip in the changing conditions.

Despite running across the grass in the final minute, Jordi Gené (1:38.405) posted the fourth quickest time ahead of early pacesetter Huff (1:38.55).

Top rookie Michel Nykjær (1:38.641) was sixth after also having a scary moment running through the gravel at turn five and doing well to avoid the barrier and rejoin the track.
Andy Priaulx (1:38.827) was eighth ahead of Tom Coronel (1:38.845), Gabriele Tarquini (1:39.189) and Augusto Farfus (1:39.405).

After Proteam Motorsport worked hard to fix Stefano D’Aste’s BMW 320si after his crash in the morning practice, the Italian ended the second session quickest of the Independents in eleventh (1:39.407). Fellow competitor Franz Engstler was twelfth after a 360º spin on the pit straight in the closing minutes. Sergio Hernández stopped on the pit straight as the chequered flag came out.