Ex-Porsche driver Dennis Olsen explains why his DTM season at Manthey EMA was so difficult and why, according to Olaf Manthey, he “talks too much” on the radio
Why was outgoing Porsche driver Dennis Olsen, who finished seventh in the overall DTM standings, unable to keep up with Manthey EMA team-mate and champion Thomas Preining? According to the 27-year-old Norwegian, who had teammate Laurens Vanthoor under control at SSR Performance in 2022, this was due to a mysterious problem that haunted him for most of the season.
“It became quite clear at the Sachsenring that we had a problem.” Before the penultimate weekend of the season in Spielberg, the team “replaced a lot of aerodynamic parts to find it. After that, the car was better. But it’s still not entirely clear what exactly it was. The engineers are still scratching their heads.”
According to Olsen, who has around half as many points as Preining in the overall standings, the problem accounted for “one and a half to two tenths” per lap, which makes up a few places in a DTM qualifying session. And in fact, Manthey EMA only achieved its first double victory of the season at the season finale in Hockenheim, which was also due to Olsen’s third place on the grid
Wrong set-up for Dennis Olsen?
“It was very nice to end the season on a high at the finale – and to show that we belong at the top,” said Olsen, who also sees the conciliatory finale “after a difficult time” as “confirmation” that “I am competitive and good enough”.
Up until the Red Bull Ring weekend, Olsen had tried everything to solve his problems. He even copied his team-mate’s driving style, but that didn’t help either. And he tried to make the new Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) more good-natured via the set-up. According to team consultant Olaf Manthey, this was a mistake.
“Of course, you try to make the car as comfortable as possible so that I have a good feeling and a lot of confidence,” he says. “But that’s not always the quickest way. Sometimes you have to set up the car so that it’s really tricky for the driver to drive, maybe even a bit uncomfortable, but it’s fast on the clock. “
Olsen on Manthey EMA: “Best place to have a problem “
The racing legend, who wanted to keep Olsen in the team in 2024, knows such situations from his own experience. “Sometimes you make the mistake of getting stuck. And it’s very difficult to get out of it again.”
Olsen confirms that the efforts to achieve more good-natured handling did not produce the desired result. “We were looking for something and it didn’t quite work,” he says. “We thought we could make the car feel a bit more comfortable when it was fast, but in the end we found a good compromise. And that showed at Hockenheim. “
The “open and honest” cooperation with teammate Preining and the good teamwork at Manthey EMA were important in this respect: “This is the best possible place to have a problem. The team trusts you and listens to you. That was mega, because it’s a very difficult situation for a driver to deal with something like that. “
Olaf Manthey: “Dennis talked too much in the car “
Olaf Manthey, who as an ex-racing driver is also available to the drivers as a mentor, also identified another reason why Olsen’s qualifying sessions did not always go to plan. “Dennis talked too much in the car,” he says. “I had to keep pointing that out to him. When you go into your qualifying laps, you keep your mouth shut. And then you just concentrate on what you’re doing out there.”
Olsen also agrees with Manthey on this point. “He said: ‘Dennis, listen – you should try to reduce the communication on the radio a bit, especially in qualifying, when it comes to the preparation laps and warming up the tires. We tried that – and it was certainly the right approach.”
The explanation for his talkativeness on the radio? “I like to communicate and I’m very open and honest,” says Olsen, who wants to understand what’s going on with his car himself. “That was positive in terms of the relationship with my engineer, but sometimes positive things can be too much. “
