Luca Stolz sets the clear fastest time of the day at Hockenheim on Friday – Rene Rast still has to find time at the DTM finale
Is Luca Stolz really knocking on the door of the 2022 DTM title fight again? The German HRT Mercedes driver set a clear best time of the day at Hockenheim on Friday in 1:37.374 minutes, distancing the rest of the field by around three tenths of a second
With this performance, Pride also underlined the supposed role of Mercedes-AMG as favourites. In the second free practice session on Friday afternoon, brand colleague Lucas Auer ensured a double lead for the Affalterbach-based team. The second fastest time of the day, however, was set by Abt-Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde with his FT1 best time (1:37.652 minutes).
And what about the five title candidates? As expected, the lap times in the free practice sessions are not very meaningful. But the most consistent performance on Friday was put in by Grasser Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti.
The Austro-Italian finished third in both practice sessions. Can he turn the tide in his favour once again? After all, Bortolotti knows how to win at the Hockenheimring. Last year, he took a victory in the ADAC GT Masters at the Motodrom in Baden together with Lamborghini works driver Marco Mapelli.
Rene Rast misses the top 10 in both practice sessions
Auer can also go into the two days of racing satisfied with second place in the afternoon after eighth position in the first session. His Austrian compatriot Thomas Preining also made it into the top 10 in both practice sessions. At lunchtime the Bernhard Porsche driver was second, in the afternoon it was enough for ninth place
Similar to Auer, overall leader Sheldon van der Linde also managed to improve in the 2nd free practice session. While the Schubert BMW driver from South Africa only finished P18 in FT1, he was a good fifth in the afternoon. In contrast, three-time DTM champion Rene Rast missed out on the top ten in 13th place in both sessions.
“I don’t know what position we finished in, but it wasn’t enough for the very front. We have to improve a bit more for tomorrow. Of course, the goal should be to be at the front tomorrow, we still have a bit of work to do there,” said Rast.
“But in general, I think we have worked through the test points we set out to achieve. That was the most important thing.” DTM debutant Christian Engelhart also had a good day. The SSR Porsche driver is allowed to stand in for Belgian Laurens Vanthoor at Hockenheim. In both practice sessions, Engelhart finished in a respectable seventh place.
Track limits an issue at Hockenheim
At Hockenheim, the DTM once again impresses with a high level of performance. In both practice sessions, the top 22 were within one second of each other. In beautiful autumn weather and temperatures just below 20 degrees Celsius, the track limits were the main issue.
Turns 1, 6 (drivers have to stay on the blue-white kerb with the tyres on the inside of the turn), 11 (drivers are allowed to touch the yellow kerb, but not to drive over it) and 16 will be examined at the final weekend in Hockenheim.
Already in the first session, a total of 60 lap times were deleted, in the second free practice another 56. Also in qualifying, the race control deletes times for corresponding offences. In Saturday’s race, drivers who exceed the track limits too often will face grid penalties for Sunday’s race. On Sunday, on the other hand, 5-second time penalties will be handed out.
On Saturday morning, the DTM finale at Hockenheim continues with the 1st qualifying session at 10:05 am. The race will start as usual at 13:30.
