Victor Martins ended Formula Renault Eurocup free practice at the Nurburgring as fastest of all by 0.005 seconds.
The French driver struck back in the second session of the day to usurp Caio Collet at the top of the combined times.
R-ace GP’s Collet topped the opening session by 0.013s, ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Martins.
However, Martins struck back in the afternoon session to turn the tables on Collet – setting a 1m54.921s lap.
The laptimes were marginally quicker than yesterday’s pre-event from the top two – as they became the first drivers to edge into the 1m54s this weekend.
David Vidales was third for JD Motorsport as the Spaniard looks to continue his remarkable Imola form that saw him claim both victories on his single-seater debut.
However, the Campos Racing protege was around half a second adrift of the benchmark pace in both sessions.
Bhaitech’s Lorenzo Colombo bounced back from a relatively anonymous opening session to edge Gregoire Saucy in the combined times as they finished fourth and fifth respectively.
Mercedes junior Paul Aron was a solid sixth in the third and final ART-run car – ahead of Arden’s Ugo de Wilde.
JD’s William Alatalo, AAlex Quinn and Franco Colapinto were all left in close company on the combined times – with 0.016s splitting the three drivers at the tail end of the top ten in the overall classifications.
Colapinto and MP Motorsport struggled in the opening session and will have been relieved to end up in the top ten on a tricky day for the Argentine.
Petr Ptacek and Amaury Cordeel both ended up in the top ten in the second and session but fell out of the top ten in the combined times.
Meanwhile, Vicky Piria’s debut weekend for Bhaitech saw her finish 17th and last – 2.723s away from the benchmark pace.