Why teams expect Ferrari and AMG pit choreographies to be stopped in 2022 and what solution they expect next season
How will the DTM deal with the pit stop issue in 2022? In 2021, many team bosses and drivers complained that the Ferrari and the Mercedes had an advantage at the stops due to their wheel nut systems. An analysis by the DTM umbrella organisation ITR showed that the advantage was indeed a second, but they refrained from changing the rules during the season.
The teams nevertheless expect the signs to change for 2022. “I trust them to make it so that it is fair,” says Abt sports director Thomas Biermaier.
He is not yet familiar with the new regulations, “but I assume that they have adapted it in such a way that a fair fight is possible on the track and in the pit lane. Everyone has seen that it was not optimal this year. “
“Probably there is prescribed choreography “
In fact, the issue of pit stops was one of the biggest topics at the ITR regulations workshop in Kitzbühel at the end of 2021. According to information from ‘Motorsport-Total.com’, discussions lasted around seven hours in order to find a fair solution.
What might the solution look like? “There will probably be a prescribed choreography,” believes Rosberg-Audi team boss Kimmo Liimatainen. “Because if the advantage stays with the wheel nut on the rim, which is a homologation thing, then they have to find some way to make it even. “
And the attempt to solve it via pit lane speed was rejected by the German Motorsport Federation (DMSB). “I don’t want to be a sore loser, but if you know from the start that you’re going to give away 1.5 or maybe two seconds, then the driver can spend ten laps trying to get two tenths out per lap to make up for that,” Liimatainen called for a change.
“If there is a BoP on the track, then there should be one in the pit lane. Or you don’t do performance stops at all anymore and introduce a 30-second standing time. Then it’s the same for everyone. “
Newcomer Grasser is also expecting change
But it’s not just the Audi team bosses, Lamborghini newcomer Gottfried Grasser of the Grasser team is also expecting a change in regulations. “I’m pretty sure that the DTM has recognised this as a problem and something will definitely be done about it. It would be fairer for the coming season if everyone had the same choreography,” says the Austrian.
“If that doesn’t happen, then the manufacturers would theoretically have to have another mother system homologated,” he thinks a step further. “I think our manufacturer would even be willing to do that, but that just creates costs. And if you solve it in such a way that you have to open and close every wheel in one sequence, then you achieve exactly what you want. “He sees an easy way to prevent the AF-Corse and Mercedes-AMG choreographies.
Grasser: change during the season not fair
Grasser, however, understands ITR’s stance of not touching the issue during the season despite the vocal criticism from the disadvantaged teams. “I wouldn’t have liked a change during the season either, because every team trains in the choreography,” explains Grasser, whose team competed in the ADAC GT Masters in 2021 and has yet to adjust to the performance stops of the DTM.
“Mercedes and Ferrari had a big advantage, but if you turn that off from one race to the next, then all the training of half a year would have been useless. And then suddenly the others have an advantage. “