During the last four days, BMW Motorsport have put in some serious mileage at the EuroSpeedway Lausitzring in preparation for the eighth round of the championship, which takes place in just over a fortnight’s time.
Marco Wittmann, who currently leads Audi Sport’s Mattias Ekström and Edoardo Mortara in the hunt for the drivers’ title, racked up over 500 kilometers in his M4 DTM ahead of the race weekend, which could see the youngster take top honors in his second season.
The Team RMG driver, who leads by 64 points, said that there were no issues during what was a fault-free outing: “I am very happy with the results of the tests. We were able to make some valuable findings – particularly with regard to the next race in a fortnight’s time, which will take place at the same circuit. We are well prepared for the eighth round of the DTM at the Lausitzring, as the season enters the finishing straight.”
One former champion in the form of Team Schnitzer‘s Bruno Spengler, who won at the same track en route to winning the title back in 2012, felt that the work carried out at the track was important ahead of the next race: “It felt great to be back at the Lausitzring. Because the race at this track was not so successful for us last season, it was important to test here again. We worked hard, gathered a lot of data, and further improved the set-up of the car. It was a perfect preparation for the remaining three races of the DTM season.”
Team RBM‘s Augusto Farfus had only been present at the first day of testing, as the Brazilian headed off to Asia ahead of his debut in the forthcoming round of the Super GT championship, the Suzuka 1000kms. Last year’s championship runner-up will be behind the wheel of the BMW Sports Trophy Team Studie #3 Z4 GT3 alongside Jörg Müller and Seiji Ara in the GT300 category.
Finland’s Heikki Kovalainen, who was announced earlier this week as a driver that would be given the opportunity to test alongside the current line-up, said that he felt good in the car from the moment he jumped in: “I was really looking forward to this interesting experience. To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect as I have never driven a car like this. It’s an impressive car.”
The 111-GP veteran, who became the first Finn since Mika Häkkinen to drive up-to-date DTM machinery, gave his feedback on his drive in the new M4, which was an enjoyable experience for the 32-year-old: “Of course, it is heavier than a Formula One car and has less power, but the aerodynamics are very good and you can drive through corners very fast. The team helped me a lot to get used to everything. You can see that it is highly professional.”
Kovalainen was impressed with the M4 DTM (Image Credit: BMW Motorsport)
