Porsche dominates the start, McLaren quickly

(Motorsport-Total.com) – The official two-day DTM test at Hockenheim starts as the 2023 season ended – Manthey EMA on top! However, team newcomer Ayhancan Güven was ahead of champion Thomas Preining with a record of 1:37.414, who was 0.122 seconds slower in the “Grello” Porsche.

Ayhancan Güven was at the front on the first day of the official DTM test at Hockenheim

Grow

The only two remaining Porsches in the DTM were faster than Kelvin van der Linde, who was 0.528 seconds behind in third place in the Abt Audi. By comparison: Last year, Preining took the lead in the title final on Sunday with a time of 1:36.800, so he was sixth fastest.

“We did a qualifying simulation and the car feels really good,” says Porsche works driver Preining, excited about his return to the DTM cockpit.

During the short test, the drivers get used to the new environment

“The car has the same symmetry as normal, but it is more aggressive to drive in a racing format,” explains the Austrian in an interview. Motorsport-Total.com. “Especially when it’s made for me – that’s just great. Plus, it’s great to have a team again – at a track where things went well.”

There were no notable incidents or disruptions on the first day of the test, which consisted of 45 minutes of driving in the afternoon and 50 minutes in the evening. With overcast skies and temperatures of 11 degrees, many drivers took the opportunity to get used to their new teams, cars or race engineers.

All drivers’ lap times were slower in the first session than in the second session. This is because the track was previously dirty and many teams were doing performance checks. “We took the car in and checked again if everything is in order,” explains Lucas Auer, whose Mercedes-AMG GT3 in “Crocodile” guise is not yet widely known.

A technical glitch prevents Wittmann from playing Schubert’s debut

Kelvin van der Linde and the two Grasser pilots Christian Engelhart and Luca Engstler, who was racing in the new Liqui-Moly design for the first time, were left without time, and Schubert guest Marco Wittmann skipped the session altogether. As you may have heard, the reason was a technical fault. There was also a “small technical issue” with van der Linde, but that was resolved, admits Abt’s sporting director Martin Tomczyk.

In the second half, Güven’s best time was almost one second faster than Rene Rast’s in the afternoon. The new McLaren Dörr team also did well in their DTM debut: Clemens Schmid was fifth in the all-new McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, 0.719 seconds behind the best time of the day.

“Today we drove the car for the first time – in a race,” says Schmid in an interview after his team has carried out just one rollout so far. Motorsport-Total.com. “I’m very surprised. The car worked very well with the basic setup from McLaren. Of course there are still one or two small things we still need to improve, but I’m satisfied.”

Photo: DTM 2024: Test drives at Hockenheim

Engstler suddenly leading during the start practice

After the end of the session, the start of the whole stadium was simulated shortly before 6pm – also providing interesting video and photo material. Engstler and his Lamborghini brand mate Mirko Bortolotti led the field.

“We did another performance test – and suddenly we were in front behind the safety car,” reveals Engstler who was surprised it wasn’t planned that way.

This is what Luca Engstler’s new Grasser Lamborghini looks like Grow

In the evening, more all-car records were taken as the teams prepared for the second day of official testing, with a 45-minute session starting at 10:05am and 3:55 hours of driving time starting at 2pm.

Results of the second session:
1. Ayhancan Güven (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:37.414 (22 laps)
2. Thomas Preining (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:37.536 (21)
3. Kelvin van der Linde (Abt-Audi) 1:37.942 (23)
4. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:38.099 (20)
5. Clemens Schmid (Dörr-McLaren) 1:38.133 (18)
6. Rene Rast (Schubert-BMW) 1:38.133 (21)
7. Ricardo Feller (Abt-Audi) 1:38.147 (21)
8. Arjun Maini (HRT-Mercedes) 1:38.285 (21)
9. Lucas Auer (Winward-Mercedes) 1:38.416 (17)
10. Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) 1:38.541 (19)
11. Nicki Thiim (SSR-Lamborghini) 1:38.546 (23)
12. Luca Stolz (HRT-Mercedes) 1:38.573 (20)
13. Mirko Bortolotti (SSR-Lamborghini) 1:38.605 (24)
14. Sheldon van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) 1:38.655 (22)
15. Maximilian Paul (Paul-Lamborghini) 1:38.685 (24)
16. Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) 1:38.722 (18)
17. Jack Aitken (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:38.749 (16)
18. Christian Engelhart (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:38.900 (21)
19. Luca Engstler (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:39.055 (17)
20. Ben Dörr (Dörr-McLaren) 1:39.321 (21)

Results of the first session:
1. Rene Rast (Schubert-BMW) 1:38.396 (16 laps)
2. Thomas Preining (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:38.601 (14)
3. Lucas Auer (Winward-Mercedes) 1:38.601 (15)
4. Mirko Bortolotti (SSR-Lamborghini) 1:38.681 (19)
5. Nicki Thiim (SSR-Lamborghini) 1:38.739 (16)
6. Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) 1:38.776 (18)
7. Arjun Maini (HRT-Mercedes) 1:38.855 (22)
8. Sheldon van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) 1:38.904 (13)
9. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:38.938 (18)
10. Ayhancan Güven (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:38.976 (17)
11. Luca Stolz (HRT-Mercedes) 1:39.078 (19)
12. Ricardo Feller (Abt-Audi) 1:39.150 (15)
13. Maximilian Paul (Paul-Lamborghini) 1:39.433 (23)
14. Clemens Schmid (Dörr-McLaren) 1:40.807 (15)
15. Jack Aitken (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:41.056 (6)
16. Ben Dörr (Dörr-McLaren) 1:42.903 (14)