At the DTM Saturday race at the Hockenheimring, Jack Aitken looked like a clear podium candidate – and a possible new DTM leader. But in the last eight rounds, the Emil-Frey Ferrari driver was passed from second place to sixth place, which means that it is only an outsider in the title decision on Sunday.
But why did the ex-formula 1 driver fight completely blunt weapons in the end? “When the route dried, we really had these bad conditions for the Ferrari,” Aitken explains in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com. “In recent years we have killed the tire when we used the rain tire in these mixed conditions.” That is “the weakness of the car”.
In the last 20 minutes of the race, he and teammate Ben Green have lost “one to one and a half seconds per round” per round. “It is frustrating when you have to watch how the title rivals overtake, but you can’t do anything about it,” said Aitken.
“Then the temperatures play crazy”
At first Ricardo Feller and Morris Schuring displaced him from the podium, then Maro Engel and Ayhanancan Güven also passed in the last three rounds. “I just didn’t want to have a crashes and take the points with me,” says Aitken. The phenomenon is a curse and a blessing at the same time, because it is also an explanation for the often good starting places of the Emil-Frey Ferrari pilots, which this time dominated qualifying.
“We take the tire very hard,” explains Aitken. “It is good for qualifying” that we generate this energy. ” Especially since the tire heating is prohibited in the DTM. “But if we use this very soft mix of rain tires on a relatively dry route or with little water, the temperatures are going crazy.”
That is “something with the Ferrari that kills the tire,” said Aitken. “It is extremely frustrating, but we have known that for many years since the car has debuted. And so far we have not found a solution.”
Too high tire pressure? Emil-Frey technology chief defends himself
Therefore, similar conditions for the team on Sunday would be poison. “We either want completely dry or completely moist conditions – either or,” clarifies Aitken.
In the paddock, some believed that the Emil Frey team on the drying route set too high tire pressures. “We tried to reduce the second stint,” defends Emil-Frey technology chief Jürg Flach. “But we should have reduced so much that we would have come into an area in which it would have been a risk.”
This is due to the fact that the Ferrari 296 GT3 heats the front axle very much over the brake – and the cooling of the brakes on the vehicle was also partially critical.
Aitken’s plan for Sunday: First the poles, then the victory
What hurts flat: After qualifying, you had to invite ten kilograms at Ferrari by changing the Balance of Performance, and massively was taken away, especially in the lower area of the boost pressure, which means that you can hardly get out of the curves. “That was brutal,” says the Swiss. “This mainly affects us in the spikes.”
The good qualifying result was not due to the good classification. “The BOP was okay, but also not outstanding,” he says. “But the massive difference was that we got the tires much better to work.”
Now Aitken is only 13 points behind DTM leader Lucas Auer in the championship – and there are still 28 points to get. The Emil-Frey-Toppilot is only in seventh place in the overall ranking.
“The problem is that I have to hit six boys by five or ten points,” says Aitken. “Realistically, I need good luck. But we will try to get the poles and get the points like this – and then win the race.” And flat adds: “We now need a positive coincidence.”