Three days, fifteen cars and 2915 laps later, all twenty DTM drivers are now eager for the start of the 2021 season next month. The new, improved DTM features GT3 cars of five brands; Ferrari, Mclaren, Audi, BMW and even Mercedes is making a comeback to the grid. These testing sessions were the first time that we could see all of the new race cars in their eye-catching colourful final liveries which makes the cars easy to identify and will make for even more exciting looking races.
The fastest driver over all three days of testing was Mercedes-AMG Team HRT’s Maximilian Götz, just 96 thousandths of a second ahead of the AF Course Ferrari of Liam Lawson. Hot on the tail of Lawson was his teammate, the Red Bull Racing Honda F1 team reserve driver Alexander Albon.
Out of the confirmed field of twenty drivers, three were unable to attend these testing sessions, Sheldon van der Linde, Christian Klien and Esteban Muth. The other seventeen used every single lap to ensure that their cars were set up by performing a full mix of long runs, pit stop practice, qualifying simulations and start line practice.
“The level in DTM is very high. You already notice how serious and meticulous the testing is,” said newcomer Kelvin van der Linde, who is driving an ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS.
One other first for this year’s season is a female racer, 20-year-old German driver Sophia Flörsch has joined the ABT Sportsline in an Audi R8 LMS. Flörsch completed the fourth-highest number of laps with 214 laps of the Lausitzring and gradually improved her lap times over the three days.
With a mix of conditions over the three days, the DTM tyre partner, Michelin had brought along a total of 550 slicks of the S8 variety, 60 tyres of the harder S9 compound as well as 140 rain tyres.
“Of course, I am super happy, not just with the result, but also with the progress we have made. We have achieved everything we wanted to achieve in testing,” Götz summed up. “Being on top three times is a cool feeling, obviously, but it doesn’t say anything at all. We will only find out where we really are during the season opener at Monza. It will definitely be exciting.”
The 2021 DTM season kicks off at Monza over the weekend of 18 – 20 June.
