– Just two weeks ago in Zandvoort, the HRT team fought to keep up despite the new Evo version of the Ford Mustang – and suddenly they dominate the official test at the Lausitzring: Rookie Finn Wiebelhaus, who had put the Ford in the front row in Spielberg, set the best time of the day with 1:21.434 under changeable conditions and temperatures just below 20 degrees.
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The 20-year-old was thus 0.071 seconds faster than his HRT teammate Arjun Maini. In third place was “Grello” Porsche driver Thomas Preining (0.182), who was fastest in the morning with 1:21.616 and for the first time has to manage without his long-time race engineer. In fourth and fifth place were the Winward Mercedes duo Maro Engel (+0.263) and Jules Gounon (0.296).
In sixth place followed Mirko Bortolotti (+0.314), the best driver in the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3. The Grasser team also caused the only red flag of the day shortly before eleven o’clock when Bortolotti’s teammate Maximilian Paul stopped on the track. “Something came loose in Max’s suspension,” said team boss Gottfried Grasser when asked by Motorsport-Total.com.
Test day starts in the morning on a wet track
The local hero from Dresden stopped the car on his 49th lap for safety reasons, causing the session to be interrupted for eight minutes. He also positioned himself well in the daily standings with eighth place and 0.358 seconds behind Wiebelhaus.
But how meaningful are the times at the ADAC-organized test day, at which no driver was missing, since the test would have been counted as one of four official tests even without participation?
The qualifying record of Landgraf Mercedes driver Lucas Auer from last year is 1:19.827 – more than one and a half seconds faster than the best time of the day. However, the conditions were not quite optimal, because when the light turned green shortly after nine in the morning, the track was wet.
Only during the morning could the teams switch to slicks, but the asphalt initially offered little grip: Auer was the first driver shortly before noon to set a time under 1:22. The teams could use up to four new sets of tires during the test, but hardly made use of this because many saved the tires for Friday’s practice.
Emil Frey technical director travels especially due to poor BoP
In addition, a mandatory Balance of Performance (BoP) was specified by ADAC – and cars were partially checked for their weight to obtain representative data. The Ferrari team Emil Frey, which scored the first win of the season in Zandvoort with Matteo Cairoli, Jack Aitken’s successor, was anything but satisfied with the first classification for the Lausitzring.
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“Our BoP is considerably worse at the test compared to last year,” says Emil Frey technical director Jürg Flach, who actually did not plan to be on site for the test but traveled at short notice due to the difficult situation. “We lack power, which negatively affects acceleration, top speed, and lap time accordingly.”
Thierry Vermeulen was 0.328 seconds behind in seventh place, Cairoli did not get beyond 20th place with 0.848 seconds deficit. Although the Ferrari received somewhat more boost pressure compared to Zandvoort, the dune circuit suited the 296 GT3 Evo like hardly any other track.
BMW not in the top 10
Comparing the new classification of the car with the last BoP adjustment from last year at the Lausitzring, the Ferrari was not only ten kilograms lighter but actually had significantly more boost pressure: in the mid-range of 6,500 rpm it was even 0.11 bar, which the Swiss team now has to do without.
The fact that Vermeulen still loses little time to the top could be an indication that some teams have not yet revealed their cards at the test. It was also noticeable that the BMW team Schubert did not finish in the front field: Kelvin van der Linde, who won in Zandvoort, finished 13th as the best driver in the M4 GT3 Evo with 0.614 seconds behind.
The teams now have two weeks to analyze the test data. Because from June 19 to 21 the third race weekend of the season takes place on the former IndyCar course in the Lausitz, which is considered a special challenge due to its heavy bumps, low grip, and the compromise between high-speed sections and tight corners (SPONSORED LINK: Get tickets now for the DTM at the Lausitzring!).
Result of the official DTM test at the Lausitzring:
1. Finn Wiebelhaus (HRT-Ford) 1:21.434 (140 laps)
2. Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) 1:21.505 (132)
3. Thomas Preining (Manthey-Porsche) 1:21.616 (143)
4. Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) 1:21.707 (140)
5. Jules Gounon (Winward-Mercedes) 1:21.730 (114)
6. Mirko Bortolotti (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:21.748 (157)
7. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:21.762 (150)
8. Maximilian Paul (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:21.792 (148)
9. Lucas Auer (Landgraf-Mercedes) 1:21.843 (132)
10. Timo Glock (Dörr-McLaren) 1:21.958 (123)
11. Luca Engstler (Abt-Lamborghini) 1:21.969 (157)
12. Tom Kalender (Landgraf-Mercedes) 1:22.018 (134)
13. Kelvin van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) 1:22.048 (139)
14. Nicki Thiim (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) 1:22.045 (157)
15. Bastian Buus (Land-Porsche) 1:22.121 (143)
16. Ricardo Feller (Manthey-Porsche) 1:22.142 (134)
17. Nicolas Baert (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) 1:22.246 (162)
18. Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) 1:22.273 (122)
19. Ben Dörr (Dörr-McLaren) 1:22.276 (130)
20. Matteo Cairoli (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:22.282 (139)
21. Marco Mapelli (Abt-Lamborghini) 1:22.289 (122)
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