Timo Glock labelled his 2025 DTM marketing campaign “a catastrophe” and is focusing on a reset for the brand new season after vital adjustments have been made to his Dorr McLaren to deal with key considerations.
“Final 12 months not exists for me,” stated the previous Components 1 driver, who failed to complete greater than tenth in 2025. “When it comes to outcomes, it was a catastrophe. Every little thing that would go flawed did go flawed with my automotive, and luck in racing was not on my facet.”
Whereas the workforce made progress over the course of final season, Glock pointed to main adjustments behind the scenes throughout the winter.
“Lots was restructured once more, with new personnel and administration coming in who modified sure areas,” he stated, referring to the arrival of latest GT3 head Volker Strycek and the departure of two key confidants, together with his race engineer.
Glock now has a brand new engineer and admits the restricted preparation time has made it troublesome to construct an instantaneous understanding. Technical points additional hampered his operating on the official check day in Spielberg, the place he spent a good portion of the session within the storage.
Restricted mileage in disrupted winter programme
Glock’s pre-season preparations have been closely compromised by an absence of monitor time. He accomplished simply someday on the Pirelli check in Le Castellet in November, and at that stage his new race engineer, Gerd Kusstatscher, had not but joined the workforce.
Commitments in F1 additionally saved him away from the Vallelunga check in early March, the place he was working as a TV pundit on the season-opener in Melbourne. In consequence, team-mate Ben Dorr took over driving duties throughout the workforce’s personal check at Anneau du Rhin.
The second Vallelunga check later in March marked the primary alternative for Glock and Kusstatscher to work collectively, however restrictions throughout tyre comparability testing restricted groups to operating a single automotive. Engine issues on the second day additional decreased operating, with Glock and Dorr finishing simply 44 laps mixed.
Timo Glock, Dörr Motorsport
Picture by: Alexander Trienitz
McLaren adjustments goal key weak spot
Addressing Glock’s suggestions was central to Dorr Motorsport’s winter improvement programme, with workforce supervisor Axel Funke highlighting an absence of suggestions on the restrict as the motive force’s major concern.
“Timo’s largest criticism of the automotive is that it gives little or no suggestions on the restrict,” stated Funke. “You all of the sudden lose grip, and with it, confidence and the sense of how far you possibly can push.”
In response, the workforce labored in coordination with the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (DMSB) to switch the suspension kinematics of the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, aiming to enhance drivability and tyre warm-up by way of a softer set-up.
Inside the FIA’s strict GT3 homologation framework, the workforce utilised permitted tolerances of plus or minus 5 millimetres on the suspension mounting factors. By flipping a bracket that connects the wishbone to the chassis, Dorr successfully shifted the geometry inside these limits.
“We’ve simply shifted the zero level,” Funke defined. “The centre of the pyramid is at plus three – now we flip it and it’s at minus three. That creates a six-millimetre distinction, so we merely decide to by no means mounting the bracket in its unique orientation once more.”
Additional deviations underneath DTM laws
Extra adjustments embrace reprogramming the ABS system, which is allowed with out re-homologation, and switching brake provider from McLaren’s homologated associate Alcon to TM Efficiency for the 2026 season.
Funke described the transfer as each a efficiency and monetary choice, with added sponsorship taking part in a task. The swap is permitted underneath DTM-specific laws, which permit sure deviations from FIA homologation supplied approval is obtained from the DMSB.
To make sure equity, Dorr has agreed with rival groups to make use of TM brakes persistently all through the season, avoiding any circuit-specific adjustments that would affect the Stability of Efficiency.
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