Does the racing line in the DTM be severely criticized after the violent criticism of the Driving standards, which in particular expressed ex-formula 1 pilot Timo Glock several times during his comeback? Already at the driver meeting in Zandvoort, Sven Stope put the rod into the window to the pilots.
“The racing director made it clear that he will act against everyone,” said Manthey-Porsche-Pilot Ayhanancan Güven in the Netherlands. This also plays an important role in the run-up to the Norisring weekend, because scrap is already inevitable on the tight city course.
In addition, almost in half of the field in Nuremberg, starting place penalties are at risk: a true flood of warning in Zandvoort already have nine out of 26 pilots on their account. In the event of a third warning, the next race will be five places in the starting line -up.
16 warnings in Zandvoort after inboard evaluation
Stoppe expressed a total of 16 warnings in the Netherlands at the weekend after he even pushed overtime on Saturday evening and viewed video material from the inboard cameras. For comparison: there were a total of seven warnings in Oschersleben, in which Lusatia only three. This shows that stops are actually tough.
Jordan Pepper, Luca Engstler, Mirko Bortolotti, Nicki Thiim, Maro Engel, Tom Kalende, Marco Wittmann, Ben Green and Ben Dörr are affected, in which further warning would have consequences. Only one pilot has not currently dealt with a single warning: Manthey-Porsche-Pilot Ayhanancan Güven.
Angel fears for fair DTM duels: “Gives you something to think”
According to Mercedes-AMG factory driver Engel, the race management has recently been admitted too much. “From my point of view, we were on a very good way last year, had a lot of good side-by-side racing,” said the Winward pilot. “But when you see what happened to the Lausitzring in the first round, it gives you something to think.”
An allusion to the numerous touches and damage that existed in both races of the second race weekend.
The set of rules is actually clear and good. “I think we have the best rules to offer gripping and exciting motorsport, where cars fight side by side for several curves, which also encourages overtaking,” said Engel. “We have to make sure that this doesn’t matter.”
Preining is looking for border: “currently a little blurry”
Specifically, it is about the fact that the DTM is actually prohibited in the DTM and the pilots have to leave enough space so that you can ride bike on bike for several curves. In the end, however, there were always maneuvers that – at least from the point of view of the actors – were not evenly assessed.
Manthey-Porsche-Pilot Thomas Preining, who won the title in 2023, wishes hard racing, but also a clear border. He demands a “clear line, which is okay and what is too much. Currently, this is a bit blurred for me, which makes the whole situation a bit inconsistent. Sometimes you have the feeling that you have been judged unfair or the other one can get away with that.”
However, the Austrian relativizes that this is not unusual from the driver’s point of view: “We always want to get away with everything, and everyone else has to be punished, so it is sometimes very difficult”. In general, however, he supported the efforts of the race management: “Most steps go in the right direction”.
Mercedes-AMG praises inboard reviews
The two -time champion Marco Wittmann also sees an improvement in Zandvoort. “On the first weekends it may have been a bit in the wrong direction. It was too chaotic. But now it goes back in the right direction so that there is good and fair racing. This requires warnings.”
Thomas Jäger, who acts at Mercedes-AMG as a sporting director of the DTM area, also thinks it is good that the race management subsequently checked inboard cameras and pronounced further warnings. “It happens so much in such a short period of time that it is very difficult to immediately assess it fairly,” he says.
“It is sprinting, it gets hard to the point, overtaking is not easy – and if you see a chance, then you use it. There must be clear standards. This is due to the race management to consistently address it and tolerate or not tolerate something.
It will now be interesting to see how this affects the Norisring weekend, because there it crashes through the walls next to the route. And then you quickly got a further warning in a duel. It cannot be ruled out that some pilots will therefore act with special caution.