Wet start to the sixth race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters at the Sachsenring. The first free practice session got under way on a wet track at lunchtime, whilst late-summer warm temperatures and sunshine are predicted for Saturday and Sunday at this roller-coaster of a circuit near Chemnitz. The Audi R8 LMS ultras were unbeatable in the rain. No less than five examples of the mid-engine sports car finished on top after the 60-minute practice session on Friday afternoon.

Stefan Wackerbauer and last year's winner at the Sachsenring, Kelvin van der Linde (C.Abt Racing), took fastest time from the winners at the Nürburgring, Florian Stoll and Marc Basseng (kfzteile24 MS RACING). Jordan Lee Pepper and Nicki Thiim finished third fastest ahead of team-mates Andreas Weishaupt and Christer Jöns (all C.Abt Racing) and local driver Philip Geipel, who lines up with Rahel Frey (YACO Racing).

Hari Proczyk and Andreas Simonsen in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 (HP Racing) were the best of the rest, finishing in front of the leaders in the championship standings, Luca Ludwig and Sebastian Asch (Team Zakspeed) in another gullwing. The main rivals of Asch and Ludwig in the title race, Klaus Bachler in the Porsche 911 GT3 R (GW IT Racing Team Schütz Motorsport) and Dominik Baumann / Klingmann in the BMW Z4 GT3 placed ninth and tenth respectively behind the BMW Z4 GT3 of Claudia Hürtgen and Uwe Alzen (all BMW Sports Trophy Team Schubert).

In a departure from normal procedure, only two practice sessions are scheduled for Friday. Qualifying for Race 1 will take place on Saturday at 08:00 CET, and the quali for the second race will start at the same time, 08:00 CET, on Sunday.