While Kelvin van der Linde was in a league of his own in the rain at the Nürburgring, Abt teammate Ricardo Feller was hardly in the best of shape: What made the difference
Lights and shadows for the Abt team: While Kelvin van der Linde outshone his rivals in the rain at the Nürburgring and was sometimes a second faster than the competition in his seventh DTM victory, not much came together for team-mate Ricardo Feller. The Swiss driver finished ninth from seventh on the grid after losing three places in one lap in the early stages of the race
“We’ve been two or three tenths too slow all year, regardless of the conditions,” says the disappointed Abt-Audi driver. “Today it was even more. A bit perplexed at the moment, we have to analyze to understand and then make the best of it.”
The comparison of the fastest laps is also clear: Van der Linde was the fastest man of the race in 1:37.949, Feller barely clocked 1:38.944. But how is it possible that the fast Swiss driver can’t get up to speed and his team-mate is driving in a world of his own?
Feller already not completely satisfied on Friday
“The drivers drive differently, of course”, Feller was already not entirely satisfied after free practice: “Ricardo was happy with the car yesterday, but said that it wasn’t the mega weapon for him. He’s not really getting it right this weekend, but he thinks it’s good enough.”
“And today, coupled with the pressure not being correct, or maybe they just tried something, it just didn’t fit. “
This is Tomczyk’s way of addressing the issue of tire pressure, which plays a special role with rain tires: Because depending on the wet conditions, even a small difference in air pressure can decide whether the grip is right or you have no chance at all.
Abt team opted for different tire pressures
This fits with Feller’s radio message in the early stages: “I have no grip”. So did Kelvin van der Linde and Feller have different tire pressures at the start?
“Yes, they were on different tires,” confirmed Tomczyk. “The weather forecast was also inconclusive. And when you have two cars, you also try to drive with two different strategies.”
That would explain why Feller had great difficulty keeping up the pace, especially in the early stages. Especially as, according to the former DTM champion, van der Linde’s tire pressure was “probably spot-on”, i.e. perfect.
At the end of the race, Feller was 43.8 seconds behind the winner van der Linde. In addition, the Swiss driver, who is now 47 points behind his leading team-mate in eighth place in the championship, also had to fend off HRT Mercedes driver Arjun Maini and Schubert BMW driver Rene Rast in the battle for ninth place.