What DTM boss Gerhard Berger thinks were the reasons for the many crashes at the Norisring, who didn’t get caught up in it and where he sees a need for action
The DTM crash festival at the Norisring Saturday heated up the tempers. The drivers in particular criticised the aggressiveness of some of their colleagues, while the teams had to accept millions in damage and worked on the cars until the early hours of the morning in order to be able to compete on Sunday. But what does DTM boss Gerhard Berger say about it?
The Austrian attributes the performance, which saw only eleven of 27 cars finish and reminded some of bumper cars, to two factors. “I didn’t like the start scenario because that always leads to the ones behind being too fast and then running aground in the first corner “, Berger refers to the dangerous concertina effect.
“And the second thing is that it heats up emotionally once it’s started like that – and at some point nobody gives a shit any more. And actually forgets that there’s a championship. “
“One or two riders who are not up to standard “
But Berger is convinced that this brute driving has nothing to do with a lack of quality among the drivers compared to the times as a manufacturer’s series. “I think we have one or two drivers with us who are not up to the standard, but the others are top standard,” says the Austrian, who does not want to commit to any names.
A potential candidate, however, would be the often overtaxed Grasser Lamborghini driver Alessio Deledda, who braked too late on Saturday and caused a crash that destroyed the cars of Esteban Muth and Franck Perera to such an extent that they could not even start on Sunday.
“But even the top drivers weren’t running ideally,” Berger notes – and believes that the power density was a decisive factor. “The championship is extremely tough. And if I’m in front in the first corner at the Norisring, then I’ve already achieved something. But it’s always a lottery to take the first corner three abreast. “
Praise for Rast: “Bringing his car back anyway “
One of the few who realise that you lose more than you gain by taking excessive risks is three-time champion Rene Rast, who was the only one to finish on the podium in both races and is now only ten points behind the leaders in the championship, he said.
“Rast always does his job,” Berger notices. “He also has a ‘slow puncture’ at the end and still brings his car back,” Berger refers to the Abt Audi driver’s puncture in the closing stages. “That’s the Rast. That’s why he’s been champion so many times and won so many races. “
“Twice as many” crash opportunities as in Class 1 times
The fact that there were not as many crashes at the Norisring in Class 1 times as there were on Saturday is also attributed by Berger to the large grid. “We have twice as many cars – so there are twice as many possibilities,” he says pragmatically.
Apart from that, the ex-Formula 1 driver also knows such weekends from his many years of motorsport experience – especially from city circuits. “Every time someone flies somewhere, he comes back onto the track. Then the next one flies in,” says Berger. “I don’t wish for something like that, but you also have to accept it in between when everything doesn’t go the way you’d like it to. “
He sees a need for action in the future, especially with the starts. “The lads have dropped back at the back before and gone accordion style – hoping to take momentum just as it turns green,” he notices. “And that’s always bad when it’s so tight and the first corner is a hairpin. There’s a few things that have come together where everyone can contribute. “
Berger sees ball in drivers and teams
Whether he himself was present at the drivers’ briefing on Sunday morning, as it had originally been said? “If I get involved in that now, too, then we don’t know each other at all,” he denied with a grin – and sees the ball in the players’ court.
“Basically, it’s up to the teams, who can easily take a driver aside to tell him, ‘Look, we’re not going to win the race in the first corner, and we don’t want to lose a car, we want to score points.’ So we expect this and that from you.'”
In addition, he said, the driver also has to realise at some point “that this is not to his advantage”, because with a smart driving style like Rast’s, there would have been “cheap points” on Saturday. “And leaving those points behind was stupid for anyone fighting for the championship,” says Berger, calling for more brains from the DTM drivers.
