Maro Engel (Toksport WRT) in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo was top of the timesheets with a time of 1:18.875 minutes in first practice, and fellow Mercedes AMG drivers Raffaele Marciello and Philip Ellis from Knaus team HTP-Winward followed his example in second practice. Ellis was at the head of the field to begin with, and then later on, Marciello improved his time yet again, remaining in front until the end of the second session with a 1:19.833. "Today was mega," said Ellis. "Almost better than expected. Of course, that motivates the whole team. Obviously, you always have to be a little careful where results in practice are concerned, but they show that we're heading in the right direction. Our goal is a place on the top two rows of the grid. However, we'll be driving with fresh tyres for the first time on Saturday morning, so that's a bit of an unknown quantity."

Klaus Bachler and Simona De Silvestro (Küs Team75 Bernhard) in the Porsche were their closest rivals, as De Silvestro managed to post a time of 1:20.015 minutes. Third place in second practice went to the Mercedes-AMG of Marvin Dienst and Philipp Frommenwiler (DLV Team Schütz Motorsport) with a time of 1:20.024 minutes. Dienst also set best time of anyone on the day with a 1:19.724 in Trophy practice which is exclusively for drivers entered in the Pirelli Trophy and Pirelli Junior classifications. "I am very satisfied," said Dienst. "We had a lot of problems at Hockenheim. We appear to have fixed them all. It's going really well here. I'm very satisfied. The team have totally transformed the car. It's mega now. The Sachsenring is definitely a Mercedes track, but the Audis are fast here too. It's going to be a close fight."

Fourth place as early evening set in went to the fastest pairing from FP1, Luca Stolz and Maro Engel. They finished in front of Steijn Schothorst and Tim Zimmerman (GRT Grasser Racing Team) in P5 at the wheel of the quickest Lamborghini in the field.