Three BMWs in front, rivals shaking in front of Manthey EMA

The second and final official test day at Hockenheim before the DTM season opener in two weeks – and after Porsche’s lead on Tuesday, BMW was fastest on Wednesday with all three M4 GT3s: Schubert driver Rene Rast set the time best in 1:37.077, 0.137 seconds ahead of Sheldon van der Linde. Schubert newcomer Marco Wittmann, who set the fastest time in the first session, was 0.305 seconds behind.

“It’s like I’ve never been out,” says Rast, who set his best time in five of seven laps at the start of the nearly four-hour evening, in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com. “I thought it would be difficult for me to get back on track straight away because I haven’t been in this car for six months.”

Fourth place went to Manthey-EMA-Porsche driver Ayhancan Güven (+0.459), who had set the best time the day before and was once again faster than his fifth-placed team-mate, champion Thomas Preining (+ 0.470).

Manthey EMA’s unusual exercise in the hole path

The Porsche team also looked perfectly organized for the second day. And he was already attracting the attention of the competition. “This is the team to win this year too,” says a team member from the opposing team. Manthey EMA in particular stood out with its soft pit stop attempts, in which the work was sometimes done equally on both sides of the car.

And for the unusual practice on the pit lane, which was done in the first session of 45 minutes. Both drove through the pit lane several times, with one driver stopping and being sent out again directly behind the other car.

What the “Grello” team tried

“In the issue of unsafe release, we wanted to know not only the drivers, but also our employees, when we can take the car outside and when we have to hold it and then interrupt it for a short time behind it. ” assures the founder of the team and consultant Olaf Manthey at the request of Motorsport-Total.com for clarification.

“A practice day like today is the right time for this so that you don’t make mistakes in the race. I just remember Oschersleben last year, in the pit lane. The team should put this in so that there are no mistakes during the race weekend.

Why you shouldn’t estimate test times

The truth is that you should not estimate test times. “We drove almost the same time as last year, but others can improve,” says Rast, owner of the fastest time, indicating that the competition has not revealed its cards. In comparison: Last year Preining set a time of 1:36.800.

After a cloudy Tuesday, the weather was friendlier on Wednesday: the sun warmed the pitch to 31 degrees in the evening and an air temperature of about 16 degrees. Conditions that are somewhat representative from morning qualifying in the DTM.

Abt’s team finishes early

Not surprisingly, the Abt team packed up early – and Kelvin van der Linde pulled away more than an hour before the checkered flag. Conclusion: the pilot program is complete. “That was a very successful test. Everything went the way we wanted,” said the South African, who finished ninth overall, 0.676 seconds back.

Other teams such as the Grasser Squad faced the current Ochsentour problems, as they were only practicing at the opening round of the GT World Challenge in Le Castellet at the weekend. In Hockenheim, in parallel with the DTM, tests were also held for the ADAC GT Masters.

Why didn’t Grasser provide train stations

That’s why team boss Gottfried Grasser didn’t require his crew to do any pit stop practice. “We’re done,” says the Austrian in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com. “And we have another test in Oschersleben next week. We can also train there. There are also enough parking spaces in front of supermarkets where you can train,” he jokes.

In fact, most teams will use the first of five test days for each driver next week as part of the testing blocks to be ready for the season opener at Oschersleben on April 27 and 28.

Results of the second session: 1. Rene Rast (Schubert-BMW) 1:37.077 (51 laps) 2. Sheldon van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) 1:37.214 (68) 3. Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) 1: 37.424 (52) 4. Ayhancan Güven (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:37.536 (68) 5. Thomas Preining (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:37.547 (76) 6. Luca Stolz (HRT-Mercedes) 14:375 . (69) 7. Lucas Auer (Winward-Mercedes) 1:37.721 (44) 8. Kelvin van der Linde (Abt-Audi) 1:37.801 (44) 9. Arjun Maini (HRT-Mercedes) 1:37.845 (68) 10. Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) 1:37.860 (45) 11. Ricardo Feller (Abt-Audi) 1:37.880 (56) 12. Jack Aitken (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:37.911 (49) 13. Clemens 13. Schmid (Dörr-McLaren) 1:38.028 (46) 14. Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:38.081 (57) 15. Luca Engstler (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:38.301 (63) Paul Maximilian (Paulo ) 16. -Lamborghini) 1:38.315 (64) 17. Christian Engelhart (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:38.378 (64) 18. Ben Dörr (Dörr-McLaren) 1:38.496 (58) 19. Nicki Thiim (SSR-1) :Lamborghini) 38,517 (37) 20. Mirko Bortolotti (SSR-Lamborghini) 1:38,647 (42)

Results of the second session: 1. Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) 1:37.382 (18 laps) 2. Ayhancan Güven (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:37.587 (21) 3. Maro Engel (Winward-Mercedes) 1: 37.716 (15) 4. Thomas Preining (Manthey-EMA-Porsche) 1:37.747 (19) 5. Kelvin van der Linde (Abt-Audi) 1:37.753 (27) 6. Ricardo Feller (Abt-Audi) 68:37 . (18) 7. Lucas Auer (Winward-Mercedes) 1:37.947 (16) 8. Rene Rast (Schubert-BMW) 1:38.069 (16) 9. Jack Aitken (Emil-Frey-Ferrari) 1:38.165 (15) 10. Clemens Schmid (Dörr-McLaren) 1:38.167 (17) 11. Christian Engelhart (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:38.199 (15) 12. Maximilian Paul (Paul-Lamborghini) 1:38.379 (17) Bortolotti 13. SSR- Lamborghini) 1:38.395 (20) 14. Arjun Maini (HRT-Mercedes) 1:38.462 (22) 15. Luca Engstler (Grasser-Lamborghini) 1:38.484 (19) 16. Luca Stolz (HRT-Mercedes) 1:38.557 (22) 17. Nicki Thiim (SSR-Lamborghini) 1:38.566 (17) 18. Sheldon van der Linde (Schubert-BMW) 1:38.929

Not driving: Ben Dörr (Dörr-McLaren), Thierry Vermeulen (Emil-Frey-Ferrari)