Mercedes has won every race at the street circuit since 2003, and the Brits got its weekend off to the best possible start.

As times improved throughout the 45 minute session, di Resta moved to the top of the order with 11 minutes remaining, and his 48.579s lap looked set to remain the best of the afternoon.

Two minutes from the end, though, Paffett went 0.026 seconds faster with a 48.553s effort.

Behind another DTM champion, BMW’s Bruno Spengler in third, Daniel Juncadella made it three C-Coupes in the top four.

Championship leader Jamie Green was fifth in his Audi ahead of stablemate Adrien Tambay, just 0.056s behind Paffett’s pacesetting lap.

Robert Wickens was seventh, while the BMWs of Maxime Martin, Augusto Farfus and reigning champion Marco Wittmann – 48 hours after making his Formula 1 testing debut with Toro Rosso – completed the top 10.

In a session without incident, just 0.443s covered the field.