17 out of 21 DTM drivers had been on the grid for the Nurburgring 24 Hours from Could 14 to 17. Simply two days later, 15 DTM pilots headed to Belgium for the official Spa 24 Hours check, earlier than the DTM spherical at Zandvoort was on the agenda just a few days after that. It was a brutal week for the drivers, but in addition for a number of groups.
Solely six DTM drivers didn’t attend the Spa 24 Hours Prologue, which was held final Tuesday and Wednesday. This implies 14 drivers suffered underneath the triple-header pressure: Maro Engel, Lucas Auer, Jules Gounon, Arjun Maini, Ben Dörr, Kelvin van der Linde, Maximilian Paul, Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler, Marco Mapelli, Thomas Preining, Ricardo Feller, Bastian Buus, and Nicki Thiim.
The workload was additionally extraordinarily excessive for a crew like Grasser, because the squad handles all racing assignments with only a single crew, whereas Winward, for instance, depends on totally different crews for the varied championships.
Laborious days and loads of planning
Maro Engel, who accomplished the triple, explains: “Definitely, per week like this is among the hardest you’ll be able to think about bodily. However I believe we managed it effectively. My focus was naturally on regeneration throughout these days.”
“The crew additionally structured the race schedule a bit in order that we didn’t must rise up fairly as early on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and will journey to Zandvoort fairly well-rested.” So the bodily pressure performed a task within the Winward racing crew’s planning, despite the fact that the mechanics are rotated throughout the championships.
“After all, we celebrated the victory in type,” says Engel fortunately. “As everybody is aware of, Nurburgring victories aren’t straightforward to come back by, and in our case, it had been ten years. So we celebrated along with everybody concerned within the AMG Lounge.”
GT3 platform makes it doable
“And but, we naturally moved straight on to Spa on Monday. So, it did not get too late or too boozy. It was undoubtedly a troublesome week, bodily for everybody. The 2 days in Spa had been blended when it comes to climate. We could not drive fairly as a lot as deliberate, but it surely was nonetheless powerful. After which it was on to Zandvoort, the place the main target was on the DTM.”
Nicki Thiim was additionally current in any respect three occasions with Walkenhorst and Comtoyou and needed to battle his manner by the Inexperienced Hell, the Belgian Ardennes, and the dunes of Zandvoort. The 37-year-old felt the pressure clearly: “I get older. Want extra sleep. That’s all I can say from this race. All the time flat out.”
Since many championships depend on the GT3 platform, many alternatives open up for groups to make use of these vehicles in several collection. Nonetheless, the highest drivers are the identical globally, which is why their companies are additionally in excessive demand. That is why such horror weeks happen for all the crews, who must adapt quickly to new situations, tracks, and particulars. For some drivers and groups, the GT World Problem Europe spherical in Monza is already on the agenda from Could 29 to 31.
We wish your opinion!
What would you wish to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Workforce
