RE-LIVE | Free Practice 1 - DTM Zolder 2020
Hello everybody, welcome along to. As we get set, for the first free practice session, of the day here, damp conditions. Greet, the drivers, and teams, for what's going to be a 45. Minute session another half hour session to come, on in the day, and then of course, tomorrow, and, sunday we look forward to, two more rounds, of this fascinating, 2020. Championship. We are, two-thirds, of the way. Season, six rounds complete, three to go and it's another. Back-to-back. Set of weekends. Here at zolda this weekend. And back to belgium. For the penultimate, round of the championship, before we head, rockenheim. The traditional, venue for the season, finale which is of course this year, with everything that's been going on in the world going to be much later, than normal, uh back into, november, it will be and the way the champion's, babing up, no doubt, it's going to be, down to the wire, in the points, with. The top three. Looking, very. Capable, of winning the championship. This season, and taking the. Wins and podiums, in amongst themselves, but zolda, is a very different circuit, to the rest of the calendar we come here after three week. Break from. The nurburgring, where we had again back-to-back, weekends. The longer grand prix version of the circuits, and then on the sprint, version, of the track there's the driver that's defending, his, title. The two-time, champion, 19-time. Race winner, renee rast, getting set, a very important. Day here to get the cars, set up and this is one of the great onboard cameras that we'll get, and this is from the championship, leader nico, muller. So my name is chris hartley i'm going to be talking. All of the sessions this weekend, the two free practices, the two qualifying, sessions. And of course the two 55-minute. Plus one lap races. Four. Three. Two. One, and we can go. So the session, begins. Free practice thanks for joining us, as the cars head out you can see that, the rain has stopped for now but. He's still a little bit tricky and treacherous. On the uh slick hancook tires which they'll all be using in close to 600, brake horsepower they're gonna have to be, very careful for the opening laps, of the free practice session, and that patch is on the circuit as well. And this uh very, quick zolder, track which. Punishes, even the slightest, of mistakes.
Robin Fryen's, on board, view there, as the steering wheel is attached, to his audi currently, second, in the championship. And uh having won two of the last three. Very good, couple of weekends at the nurburgring. Yes. Correct, loud and. Clear. So it's two minutes, before session is. Starting. So all set to go robin franz, who's, got just one less, victory, now than the championship, leader nico muller, it's, five wins, for nico, four wins for robin franz, and ronnie rasta has had. Two race wins, which both came at the lasits, ring. And, we've also, of course a victory, for sheldon manolinda, and a victory, for lucas our the the two drivers. That have taken victories, this season for bmw, season which has been, dominated. By. The audi, brand and by the audi teams. And drivers andy having. In record, time, last time out wrapped up the, brand, championship. With victories, so far, in, orbit two, of the races, ten of the twelve victories going to audi drivers so mullet on 242. Points frying's on two two four, renee rassed on 195. And then sheldon van der linde moved up to fourth place, after. A, solid weekend. At the nurburgring, right on cue there he is uh fourth place finish, last time out in race two, around the uh sprint, uh trap but he got points in all of the races in fact there's only been two races so far this season and they were both early on in the year where he hasn't been in the points he's often been, the leading light the south african, for bmw. Between him, and, uh marco, whittman, to give us that victory. No sorry from. Lights off the car off yep so please activate, the light. There. Getting ready to get his, session, underway, everybody else pretty much is queued up at the end of the pit lane keen, to get out there onto, this zolda circuit which, as many of you i'm sure, will know was home to the first ever dtm. Race back in. 1984.. It was a long break before. The, teams the drivers, the championship, came back, for the first time, last year, it was the first time for some 17, years. And the lap record. Just to show how much the cars have developed, since they were, previously here in 2002. Had, rocketed. The. That record, 19, nearly, 19, seconds, quicker than it had been. In the. Previous. Iteration. Of the dtm when they'd last been here in 2002., so they came back in 2019. And it was much earlier in the season, it was the second weekend of the 2019. Year. And. This is where philippines, took his maiden. Victory. So chance for radio checks to happen not just between the teams and drivers, but race control so they can get the important information, to those drivers, it was very low in the volume actually. I didn't hear race control but you're all for cutting away, keep talking. Okay, i'm talking to you i see you exit turn four i didn't hear you, mentioning, turn one. Two and three. Still in the street you're. Weaving. Going. I can hear you. Check is good apex. Turn five, six. Yeah all good. Okay this is a great number, approaching, great camera angle as we listen in robin. This race engineer, checking the radios. Checking where they are on the circuit, to make sure the telemetry, is all accurate. And, fantastic. Low, splitter, shot here. Great on board from robin fry's, championship, contender. Of, the undulations. Of the zolda circuit. Set here in central belgium. In patches. But there are some dry spots as well. Especially. Between, 11 and 12.. It's. Down. So yeah coming up towards the end of the lap there are certain sections, of the circuit, which are a little bit more sheltered.
Under Tree cover and they will take a longer to dry out than, other areas there's not been too much track activity this morning either a pre-practice, session for, the better exposure, championship, but otherwise. It's been um. Devices, to circuit. As the view into, the first corner, the left-hander. Without full chat, will be, taking it close to 150. Kilometers an hour. Coffee box, i didn't hear the rage record at all. I actually could hear him but it was super low in. Volume. I didn't hear anything. So i want to see radio issues it seems. Robin fry's not hearing the race control message. His, race engineer, michiel, petit, hearing it but very low. And it sounds like robin coming in at the end, of the lap. Sheldon, van der linde, for bmw, as i say the top bmw, in the championship, now up to fourth place in the standings. Already picked up a maiden podium in a maiden race victory, this, season. And. Off the back of some solid, results. Top 10 finishing all four races. At, the, previous. Back-to-back, weekends, at the nurburgring. So heading into the pits now just a quick exploratory. Lap the only driver has actually completed, a full lap and set a time so far there's renee rast. 2017, 2019. Champion, but it's uh it's not as you'd expect yet, the sort of time, that uh he's gonna gather anybody's. Interest, in this uh free practice session. So back to zolder as i say this is where philippe got his maiden victory, in dtms. First ever victory. After, in the first race there was. A mid, race, safety car which really, shook the order up. Spangle of it but unrest had been the top three, up until the the safety car they hadn't made their pit stops and it gave others like philippines, the opportunity, to come through. Jamie green waiting for nico muller to come through. The pair came together, uh you. May remember if you were watching the races last time out at the nurburgring. Upon one of the restarts, in another race that was interrupted by safety cars three safety cars in fact and. Have been bunched up in between a couple of bmws. Including marco vittman. Nico mala, was uh. Delayed. Jamie green tried to get at the inside of him and the pair made contact, the two, audi brand mates which pitched nico muller into a spin in that first race. And dropped him to the back of the field but tremendous, recovery for him, took opportunities. To, overtake. And. Also had a good pit stop strategy. And with a safety car, later on in the race helping him out as well he managed to get back up into fifth place a pretty good damage limitation. And then he went very convincingly. The second race, which robin franz had led for the first few laps, having got uh, a really good start, off the line, and got ahead of the pole sitter renee rast early on robin finds lead but nico muller ultimately just had a bit too much pace. Got through early on in the race, and went on to, record. A very important, victory. To, extend his advantage, over at robin france. Robin fry's, have. Mixed feelings about this circuit, it was quick and competitive, here last season but, in the first race he earned a five second stop go, penalty, for. A, jump. Start. And. He also in the second race had some contact with marco whitman went into the back of him. When they were battling for third place so the detriment was going well but, he was sent into a spin. Marco vittman got a drive through penalty as a result of that contact, so it wasn't a particularly, kind weekend. To. The. Former formula renault champion, last time out here. Right in the middle of the circuit you can see it's, dry. On the straight at least but offline, it's still, damp. And so some to be a little bit careful here especially while they're still getting the tyres, up to temperature. Riding on board then with the team rmg. Bmw. Of next formula one driver, timo glock.
Pretty Good decent season so far. Lakes is. Very dry at certain sections with the sun starting to come through the trees now but here, in the shade of the trees the shadow of the trees. Still some damp patches, so drivers, need to be a little bit careful here. It's not going to help the fact that they want to get out there and run through a program. Of. First of all what they normally try to do in these first three practice sessions, is to get. Some. Single laps in and go for the qualifying, tight pace. And then the other thing that they try to do, is. In the second half of the session go for longer, runs. And that'll be repeated in this afternoon, session as well. So sheldon vandalinder, looking like he's putting in we're about to put in one of his first flying laps team o'glocky's, quickest at the moment still only three drivers, at the moment have set a time. Timo with the. 129.694. Uh lucas our 132.3. And renee rast early on. Um, was, poogling around really but he did set a time of one minute 48.2. Seconds, just to give you. Uh an idea of what we should be looking for once the track is dry and everybody's, flying around well the qualifying, lap record here set last year by, marco vittman was a one minute. 21.307. Second lap, and the race lap record was set by philippeng. Uh and that was a one minute. 23.6. So, even the quickest lap set by timo glock who's now pulling out of the way and slowing down, they're still uh, some six seconds plus, away from that, although sheldon vandalinder. He's uh, starting to, get up to speed now. 135. But. Started the lap very quickly. There's lucas ours that's a bit of an up and down return, to, the dtm, after a year away from a mercedes, driver of course as well former championship, front-runner. Went away racing, single-seaters. In 2019. He came back. And, as, well he's running 11th in the championship. Uh lucas out the austrian. He's had quite a number of points scoring finishes, but he's only had actually one top six finish and that was the victory that he got, at the last, ring. The. First weekend of the season at spa was pretty good to him the last time we're in belgium, and that was a seventh and eighth place finish. Spa of course these days home, to the formula one, belgian, grand, prix but, it was for, a decade. Based here at zolda, it's the next, formula one grand prix circuit this.
Which Is throughout the 1970s. And early 1980s. As the home to the. Belgian grand prix. Very very different circuit. As, you can see, two spa but. It doesn't have to be there's nowhere near as long for a start it doesn't have the big sweeping, arcs that you get, and the huge high-speed, corners. That you get, at spa but there is some undulation, nothing like a missile you get at spa through, ruse and then at the back of the circuit. As they drop down towards, uh poo on. But it's a very testing circuit, this with some tight chicanes, some slower corners as well. Through. The. Ultimate set of turns they drop down to just, 65, kilometers an hour in first gear but. There are also some very high speed sections as well particularly the first sector. As they go through turn one. At around about 146. Kilometers, an hour through turn two it's. 190. Kilometers, an hour and, the lateral force is there pulling about two and a half g through here as you can see that. Turned two whipped straights, that's the. Steering whacked corner which straight into turn three. Canal blocked, and, a huge. Wide canal. Just a couple of hundred meters of the other side of the circuit in the background. That's the very quick section of the circuit there's some tight slow chicanes, but there are others like the one you've just seen which have taken. A great speed as well. And then the undulations, you see. Dropping down now through the next uk. And through to turn seven on board with robin fryins. Fastest, uh part of the course they'll get up to should get up to around about 255. Kilometers. An hour around here. Robin fry's. Squeaky, so far with the, 122.332. He's going even quicker at the moment absolute best in the first and second sectors nico muller, has just gone top of the times though with a. 122.276. I think francie's, going to be quicker though sheldon madolinda. Has gone fastest for now. 122.251. But this should be the new benchmark, time. Set by robin fry and you can see a much more, attacking. Style and body language, from him in the from the car and it's indeed the best lap so far one twenty point six, seven, seven seconds. And that is. Pretty impressive. Given the damn circuit he seemed getting crossed up there, correcting the steering. And he still. Seeks the grip out there on the circuit. But a. 120.67. Second lap, sheldon vanderlinder, is second with 122.2. So he's, over a second, and a half quicker than anybody else so far and he come on a third with a, 122.276. Is. Only just a few, thousandths of a second behind vandalinder, and philippe. Who had a great weekend here so this made him victory last year he finished second in the other race as well philippine. Actually, at this point last year well after this event last year which was the second event of the weekend. Four races into the 2019. Season he walked away from zolder as the, championship, leader. Much more testing year for the austrian. In 2020, so far for bmw, in general but, philippine. Fourth quickest, in the early stages with, 122.407.
Only 73, 000 it's quicker than jonathan aberdyn. Aberdeen. In, oh, has worked on through with a 122.405. As well so we then got four of them all within a tenth of a second, habsburg, fourth end fifth. Aberdeen, was six but he's got even quicker on that lap so the south african. Goes, third now jonathan aberdeen with a. 122.165. Or one twenty two two five one for van der linde. That puts him back to fourth habsburg. Just improved up to fifth but only two thousandths of a second quicker than philippeng. Who's six the many rastas. Put a quicker lap in as well that he's done a. 122.498. With our gluck. And kibitsa, rounding out the top 10 in the early stages. On board then with, timo glock who's, on course for his best laps, so far his best is 122.9. He's had abs, personal bests. In the first two sectors and that puts him up to seventh place as he crosses the line, uh with a. 122.366. Mueller's improved his time, but he's still behind, robin frying, so it's a 120. Factory's, exactly a second between them but, 120.433. For frying's, at. 121.433. For muller. Here's the other key championship, contender. Driver facing camera with renee ross this is the, view that he gets out of the cockpit as he goes over the start finish line, and it's towards the first corner, at urster, the links. Left hand up, and. Now the gap between the top two down to just under half a second and absolutely put another good lap in as well to go third one twenty two one twenty, point nine one, three. He was uh absolute, best in the final sector quicker than anybody else through the last part of the lap was. Ferdinand, habsburg. But robin fryes, with a. 120.231. Goes. Even better, absolute best in the first and third sector but it's ready rast's turn now, to pick up the pace, he's gone quicker than anybody else through that first sector. 25.107. That was a tenth more than a tenth quicker than mueller through the first, sector and that's the shortest sector. Sector, one, so rene rust, pushing hard you're on board with him now he's got a clear track ahead. They're getting more used to where. To find the grip. The tyres are getting up to temperature, and, some of that. Remaining, surface water is being mopped up. Impressive, time for renewables, so far robin franz. Is still overall a little bit quicker but it's only a hundredth of a second between them. Raster personal best in the second sector but he wasn't quite as quick through that middle part of the lap, as was robin fry's.
But If you can hook up the final sector, he's coming out of that final chicane now he might just do it, and go to the top of the times rene rask goes through. And, gains two places he goes from fourth to second. So. Overall. Started the lap very very well but he lost out to robin friends. He's going even quicker at the moment by the way. Through sectors two and, three. So robin frying's coming through, next, over the line and where will. This, put him in terms of time he's gonna be fastest, already but it's a. 120.075. So. Absolute, best in the first two sectors he lost a little bit of time in the, final sector, compared to where we've been before but still that's the best lap of the session so far, and edging, towards the one minute 19s, now. This is impressive, stuff on these cars the qualifying, that record here last year was a 121, 307. It's damp and we're going quicker. 120.075. On board with marco vittman. Only driver, from the previous weekend at the nurburgring, sprint, track for bmw, to pick up a podium. And the former double champion at the moment in ninth place wrestling the wheel though as you can see here. This uh bmw. There's mike rockenfellow. Coming through shots he's on for a personal best lap as well in fact, the timing screen is lighting up with more and more green sectors. As the drivers start to really push now and go for single, lap times just under half an hour remaining, so. First 10 minutes or so the session really was lost you can see the car. Dragging there for nico muller the audi just picking up a few sparks, here. And then the team amp sports light machine. Of, marco bittman coming through as well getting sideways, as he came out of the final turn bitman goes over the line and. 121.26. For the bmw, that's a decent lap. Still one point one seconds away though from robin friends who's top of the times. Whitman glock the top two for bmw, they're fifth and sixth. And mike rockenfeller. Has just made sure they've gone down to sixth and seventh because rocky, puts a personal best lap in, and he's into the 120s, now as well. 120.922. For the 2013. Champion. As you watch marco whitman. You can see the bumps there and, the car bottoms out at times. And that kicks up the sparks. The top four of all coming to the pits now frying's, rast muller and habsburg. Rock and fellow is still pushing hard though he's done another personal best through the first sector. 25.249. Which is about a tenth slower than the best we've seen through there but it's. Certainly comparable, with. Uh, raster, muller. So not quite as quick as frying throughout first sector but it's a decent, effort this, and, he's only at the moment. Nine thousandths of a second slower than further than habsburg, whose, uh fourth quickest. Coming through. Is, harrison newey one of the rookies, to the championship, another of the rookies ex robbery racer. Uh robert kubitzer, has just done a personal best lap time the poll has gone into 11th, place. Pressing new at the moment going well he's in seventh. Just over a second a drift of the absolute best time. Marco whitman has come into the pits now just seemed to the left of the shot as mike rockefeller. Continues, to push on he did a personal best in the second sector as well. But, six tenths. Of a second, behind robin fryen's, second sector time. So it's comparable, with rast, and muller, he's gone up to third place overall. But losing, i mean he's lost seven nearly eight tenths of a second, a drift of robin france but six tenths of those. Were in the middle sector, so that's where friends is at the edge so far. Our first sights, of, thanks, lemon winner and world endurance champion lewis davao's, having a strong season in dtm, this year. By a large. And he's been fighting, there it's been on pole position this year. And he's been on the podium he hasn't yet got a race victory. Started the season very well at spa with the third and the seventh. Had to wait until aston, before he picked up another podium, he's best so far being a second place finish that was his best weekend aston, with a second and a fourth. Devil's first effort puts him into, 13th, place currently. So cars having had, two or three runs at it perhaps more than they would have, had the trap being bone dried to start with and they're coming in.
To Have a look back at the data. Change. If they need to change some of the setup of the cars, and then, they'll. If they follow the normal pattern go for some longer runs, in the remaining part of the session but maybe not as long as they would have light as i said that first 10 minutes or so really. Was lost to the fact that the circuit was still, drying out the drivers were getting used to, the conditions. And so the. Sequence of laps the order, i've slightly changed. See how it is. Copy so we stick to the rearing. Well she's got the back end of that conversation. But they're going to try something, new got to the rear of the car not to the rear wing though. So robin fryed's quickest. And. It stands with a, 120.075. That is just under four tenths quicker than renee rast second mike rockhampton, with a good lap. Just now to go third one twenty point eight six eight only four thousands quicker than the championship leader nico muller. And then ferdinand, uh hamsburg, going uh well again. The, austrian. Has had some very good qualifying, performances, so far that's been one of his key strengths, and he's able to put in, good. Single, lap pace got himself. Up onto the front row of the greater best ever qualifying. For the second race at the nurburgring. Three weeks ago. But he's uh, averaged. Ninth, on the grid in qualifying. A couple of fourths and a second. And. Has uh had some good race results, as well some good race pace he dropped back from. Second on the grid. In the first half of the race, at the nurburgring, but the second half and second set of tires he went much better and, in the end finished in a strong seventh place not too far. Behind, sixth. Only a second, behind. When they came through at the end of the race, like davao. Watching now, he got himself up to seventh place with his uh best, lap, so far they slightly had a sequence with some of the others. First viewing of jamie green as well. Former. Ptm championship, runner-up. In terms of race starts the most experienced. Driver out there the british driver, going for his first flying lap maybe opting to wait some of these drivers. Sacrificed, a longer run in the second half of the session but to wait until the track's more dry to to push for a quick lap time, i think. Duval, who's up to sixth place now and green fall into that category, green is. About to improve his lap time considerably, personal best in the first, two, sectors. And he comes through now and goes yeah straight up to fifth place for jamie green so that's, an encouraging, start to the weekend. Let's have, the one podium this year that's the very first race of the season at spa, second place when he charged through. The field. From. On the 11th on the grid a good charge in the second race up to fourth place as well qualifying, has been where. He has himself has said he struggled a little bit this year. He's also had some bad luck with. Some technical. Dramas, on the car which have caused him two dnf's. One of the last ring, and, one at asim. And the nurburgring. Wasn't particularly, kind to, jamie either. When one points finish from the four races. And that was a seventh place finish, so. He's. A long way down. In terms of the points he's got that they call his race number at the moment 53, points which means he's 189. Points adrift of. Nico muller and the championship, standings. And, actually already because we've got a slightly, shorter, season this, year. He mathematically, can't win it now even though there's still three weekends to go. Total of. A maximum, of 56, points available, each race weekend, 25, points for each race win. And then in qualifying. Three points, each time you're on pole position, so that means there's 168. Points left up for grabs. And what that means is that mathematically. Only the top, seven can still win the championship. Mueller, franz rast, vanderlinder. Davao. Rockefeller. And wittmann. And. Duval, rockefeller, and whitman are on the cusp as well there are 155. 156. Points adrift, respectively, with only 168. Left up for grabs so. That would take. Something fairly miraculous, for them. To uh to catch up at this stage they see the undulation, over the crest coming through turn six here at zolda, that's the biggest.
Rise And fall that you have here as they come down then. Hard on the brakes, into, the uh the chicane, at turn seven the chicane that leads into turn seven the gilberto, of chicane. And after the ex six-time, grand prix winner who sadly lost his life here at zolda, in the, 1982. Uh qualifying, session for the formula one of the grand prix. And jack, going on of course. In the mid-1990s. 97, to become a formula one world champion. Selling, the only canadian to win the formula one world championship. Uh when williams were very much at the top of their game. Here's the view then from robin fry's about to go over the start finish line. You can ride with him on the way into the first corner, at s, this left-hander, taken at as i say over 140, kilometers, an hour. Short straight, and then into, a double right. Stair in fact. And then canal. Jamie green after short shot burst of chess coming to the pits and put himself up to. Fifth place. Plenty of ass to back out there now robert kubitz has just come into the pits as well. So on board with the team rosberg. Driver, second fastest, at the moment. But now i suspect. The times are not going to really improve, because i suspect this is where they'll. Load the cars up and. Set some delta times and see how the cars and the tires in particular, behave. During a longer run as they like to set up the cars for race distance. Rust coming through. And. Habsburg. Two or three seconds behind him on the. Road. Rust's, first set to time. 25.7. His last lap time was 122.5. So at the moment is about two seconds off. The uh the single lap base. Quite hard on the brakes and tires here, at this circuit, because of the heavy braking zones that you get, on the way into this. Multitude, of chicanes. Some quick corners at the start of the lap. A couple of. Short sharp bursts on straights. Sweeping left hander down through turn six, but then, there are three chicanes, in the second half of all out there's your builder of chicane. Which leads into the right hander at turn seven the television. Corner tillerman. And then to balderberg. At turn eight which is followed by a slightly wider. Less challenging. Chicane. And then the final she came which had just gone through the jackie xdk, named after the. Belgian, great the sixth time at le mans winner. And multiple grand prix winner as well. Jackie, x nice for some of the top teams. Of the day, cooper, brabham. Mclaren. Also a parry decar. Rally winner. And a can-am, champion, as well. Look at that open. Category sports car championship, which, thrived, in the. 70s and 80s. But that last chicane they really do fling the cars through there that's taking up first gear as well slightly higher speed than the. Right hander at turn eight, but the final. Turns through that chicane. Just about 75, 76, kilometers, an, hour. So renee rast last time around, 122.1. And. He is, currently the quickest driver out there on these longer run paces so he's done the 121. 22.1. Actually robin fry's just just got a fraction quicker. 122.012. Mueller's doing a 121-4. So the championship, protagonists. Frying's, just having the edge over arrest. And mueller's a little bit off them at the moment both on single that pace and also on, his longer run pace. It's four tenths slower than franz on that lap. Also going well ferdinand, and habsburg, again. 122.202. So he's, he's only a tenth slower than rest and 210 slower than friends but quicker than everybody else out there, on the circuits. I'm just going to get drier and dry particularly on the race line here. Frying, through the first sector started this lap well with the 25.5. Through sector one. Seven tenths quicker than arrested through the first sector. And he's two tents quicker through the second sector as well. Top speed through the speed trap at the end of sector two slightly quicker as well i think one kilometer, an hour. The quickest of that speed trap so far. Has been like oh no sorry jamie green he's done a 233. Kilometers an hour through. The speed trap at, sector two. All right friends, coming over the line, and, that's, a. 122.010. So. It's just under two seconds slower than his ultimate pace when he's, going for single lap qualifying, tight, runs.
But It's very consistent, as we've seen from robin he's able to put these laps in lap after lap after lap all within a tenth of a second of each other. And the key here with 16 minutes to go with to see how, the tyres hold up at the end of this. See a slight. Twitch from the car, up ahead. The bmw. Of marco whitman, coming out of the previous corner, just had to correct the car slightly, it's a good exit from that chicane, was that fried slowing. Give himself a bit of breathing space possibly, and through turn sixth. Into the jewel wheel of chicane at turn seven, right there left, fairly flat, curbs here as well so you can ride them you can attack them. At three turn seven. 44. Gear shifts per lap here at zolda, so it's. Lots of concentration, required for the drivers. As you go back to rene rest. So. On, that lap uh renee did a, 121.9. So of the. Drivers, on a longer, run now, that's the quickest that we've seen, but. Nico muller who's gone even better, 121.3. And also in the 121, sheldon van der linde looking good, in his bmw, on a longer run. So 121.3. For muller 121. 6 for van der linde 121.9. For rest. Friends did indeed back off to give himself some space that lap was a 125.4. Getting a bit too close he felt to the tail of the bmw, of marco whitman. Ferdinand, habsburg has been impressive, so far. Six quickest, overall. Here at zolder, and. Fairly close to the pace in his longer run as well. I'm spoke in his, second season. The. Dtm. Actually got his first, points. Here at zolda, it's the third race of the season and that was actually his best result of the year. In the end a ninth place. Finish for. Him. Watching now. Jonathan aberdeen, coming through. And. Currently, 16th. In terms of his uh single lap pace of the 122.1. Which was over, two seconds. A drift, but his. Longer run pace looks pretty good 122.4. In the number 27, bmw. It's not the quickest, but it's in the sort of group that's. Hovering around, fifth sixth seventh positions. Now franz has just gone through with a low one twenty two again one twenty two point one five two one twenty two point one six nine for my rocket fella as well which is encouraging. Rasta's done last time around 122.1. As well so. The top three, in terms of. Qualifying, tight runs, uh, at the moment the top three. On longer run pace as well all of the 121s. Frying's, rast and, rock and fella. Miles done at 121.8. Last time around which is three quarters of a second, away. And the only other driver in the 121. Is. See what. Jolly. Copy from, jamie green. I'm pretty pleased with the way it's gone so far. Two attacking, laps. And, put in the fifth quickest time with the one twenty point eight nine one and actually. Uh that was only. Twenty three thousands of a second slower than mike rockefeller's, time in third so third mullet, sorry third rocky, fourth mullet, and fifth green. Almost, identical, lap times in hamsburg and duval sixth and seventh were. Only about half a tenth behind that group as well so. It bodes well for a very interesting qualifying, session tomorrow. I'll see what the weather brings but uh, brightly gut now at zolder. With just about 12 minutes to go in the session like duval comes into the pits. Robert. Has just gone out of the pits. The interesting, article i read about, the art, grand prix team and of course a huge. Success in single seaters they've come back to dtm for the first time since 2016. When they. Previously ran mercedes, for a couple of seasons. The art, squad. Who've won the last two, f2. Drivers championships, including two years ago. For george russell now a very highly rated. Formula one driver. But, it's actually, a fairly. Low key operation, compared to the amount of personnel, they've got to some of the other. Uh perhaps more established, teams in the dtm. Nine, members of a crew can. Be a pit crew during the pit stop. And. Normally. The teams have maybe up to up to 20 mechanics some of the bigger teams they can choose the best. Nine people for the job the quickest the most experienced, drivers, uh sorry, team members at the driver pit stops and, tire changes will changes. But that's not the case at art, and for robert kubitsa. They have been suffering in the pits whereas. A quick pit stop in dtm, these days is something, between six and seven seconds. Art. Have been, over 10 seconds on a fairly consistent basis they've been getting quicker but part of the problem is they haven't got enough. Experience. Mechanics, in that field so actually, two of the nine crew members. Are. Not mechanics, at all they're engineers, the data engineers the master and cruisian, and the performance, engineer run on.
Uh, Persian, only get drafted, in and of course they've, not spent 20 years getting used to, real entire changes, and to learn on the job so. That's, part of the reason. A part of the struggles that robert and the team have had that's been in the pits, if you lose. Four seconds in a pit stop. Well, even, even if you were, half a second of that quicker. Than the pack it still takes you eight laps to make all that back up and, i'd like to have that sort of an advantage. When it's so tight in dtm, so. It can have a huge impact. But the encouraging, signs for the team they've been getting better, and. Certainly robert kovitza has been making, forward strides, which you'd expect from such a, highly rated driver even in what's been a very difficult season to come into the dtm. With this compressed. Late start to the season and this very compressed. Season that we've had. Was running in the points. After his best qualifying. Robert kibitzer, at the nurburgring, and then an early gearbox, problem. Forced him to retire actually his first retirement. Of the season so his best results so far is still a 10th place finish still that one points finish that he got. At assen. But uh. Some encouraging, sides of the nurburgring. Seventh. On the grid for race two around the sprint circuit he's best qualified, so far and he ran in sixth place. Early on so. I'm looking to continue, that upward trend here currently 13th, fastest you're riding on board though with renee ross to his, currently second. Fastest. But we're on the longer runs now. Second gear through that final chicane, and. Already, look gonna be pushing 200 kilometers an hour by the time he gets, just a couple of hundred meters later to the start finish line that was a 122.1. Another, very consistent, laptop. Those front three now, after. Six or seven laps have dropped into the low 122s. They were into the 121s. At one point. Frying's, only a 123-4. On that lap, rastered at 122.1. And, oh mueller's still going well though 121.9. Does this doesn't he nico malay he's not as quick. On the longer runs for the first, four or five laps as rast and friends. But i think it's deliberately, so i think he looks, he really goes out to look after the tyres, to make sure he can be quick. At the end of the entire life still. Keeping that pace up and the times don't drop off at all so he's now going quicker than he was. When the tires were at their freshest.
So Mullet. 121.9. Last time around the only driver. The 122's. You can see he's still trying hard, wrestling the wheel here it's pretty physical for the drivers this over the crest at turn six. And heading in. To the gillville nerf chicane, as well. Very heavy braking zone that riding these, flat, curbs. And. Hanging out through. Turn seven, shortly, straight up towards turn eight then. Muller on the first sector alone, was, four tenths quicker than ready rast on this lap. Through the second sector actually a little bit slower, a tenth down. Rasta's just done a. 122.6. We've got green going well as well a 122.2. For him. 122.2. For development last. Time. Yeah well there you go that was where he dropped out sector two, he missed, a tenth there. Copy that says about that all right i'll try a bit harder through there then try something different. So that lapper, 122.028. I mean he's still quicker overall, considerably, quicker, but. Actually, in the middle, of the lap he's a little bit slower than renee rust. Rasta's just gone through the first sector with a, 25.9. A 25.6. For muller through that first sector so the rest is slightly ahead on the track. So get his times coming through first he's just completed, set to two running arrests, so, 30.2. Seconds. Through there. And muller will uh go through that timing beam, fairly shortly. So already three tenths up on that lap, relative, to renee rast. And he does a 30.3. So again he has missed out on that second sector, by 10th. And they'll probably be quicker through the third sector, but. I suppose that's it with the setup of the car, on any race track you can't. You can't always get the car set up so it's abs you know it's the. Ultimate, lap it's quick in all three sectors. To get the overall lap time you sometimes have to sacrifice a bit of setup and a bit of speed in one of the, sectors. And just to prove that point the theoretical, best lap time you've got every all the, three sectors together the best. Set of times together. The theoretical, lap times of one minute 19.9. But the best lap we've seen is 120.07. It's pretty close to it admittedly, but. You get the point it's not quite perfect. Slower lap for robin prides just now, 126.2. Quickest driver out there. He's still, muller although, he's being, pretty. Closely run by jamie green. So muller's last lap was a, 122.079. And greens was a 122.081. They are the two quickest drivers. Currently out there. You've got rasts, just a little bit behind, 122.2. Franz has really dropped off though that last lap was a 124-0. The one before was a 126.. Who else is going well, duval, pretty good, 122.9. Glock. Good. 122.6. And. Fabio sharer actually 122.2. For fabio. So we pleased with that currently. 14th, on the single lap pace but one of the quickest drivers on at the moment on the track on the longer run pace, we've got to get fabio, a point this weekend he's the only driver, of the 16 that has yet to score a dtn, championship, point this season. His best result being agonizingly. 11th, place. In, round four at the last ring. Just missed out on a top 10 finishing some or a championship, point. Reaching just behind ferdinand, habsburg. How long we got left four and a half minutes to go in the session. France again. One of the slower drivers out there one twenty four zero seven three so he's very quick at the start but.
The Pace is definitely dropped away for him. Seven tenths down on the first sector compared to rene rastalone. Watching, marco vittman now. 2014-16. Champion, who's done a, 121.2. Is his best lap time he's, just under, 122.9. So he's. Thereabouts. But. I'd like to be ideally. Another half a second quicker. The race pace has been, generally better for bmw, this season than has the qualifying, phase been. That's the area they really need to improve upon when you're. Starting from the tail end of the top ten it's always going to make life in the race difficult, so. The outright, pace around a single laps where they've missed out. Here we go then flying down back into the jewel building of chicane. Getting crossed, up. You go from. Over 250, kilometers an hour to just 90 kilometers an hour and second gears without chicane. It's gone through turn seven. It's a kink left but taken flat, and then down now the gears again, it's just about 65, kilometers, an hour through, voldemort. Which is. Nearby town here to the circuit. That's the name of the corner. Straight up towards the final chicane then the. Jackie x chicane. Left then right. Back onto the start finish line to complete, a lap. Okay whitman's. Last lap at, 122.9. And that one's a 123.1. Not quite as quick. Oh, that's what happens when you get it slightly, wrong here ferdinand, habsburg. Kicking up the gravel with the left, rear and also taking quite a bit of it back onto the circuit. Which is going to make life perhaps slightly. Less grippy for the other drivers that come through there until it's mopped up. Robin frying's. 126.2. The quicker guys are all in the mid to low 122s. So. It's a bit of head scratching to be done there, for that sports line. We've got one driver struggling for pace at the end of his longer round robin frying's the other going really well, nico muller the 122.18. Leading the team's championship, still. Out of sports light from team rosberg, last year's team's champions, who took running around to his second driver's title in 2019. Mueller goes through that's. Another. 122. But a slightly slower lap 122.9. So rast's quicker than him at the moment still still at 122.4. And rocky likewise, 122.4. Just about 18 thousandths of a second slower. And. The only other driver, or drivers in the 122's. Develop, glock in seventh and eighth with one twenty two six and one twenty two seven respectively. Lucas ours just come into the pits. And everybody else still out there on the circuit, on the minute and 20 seconds to go. Even through, this 45-minute. Session even though the line. Has dried out you can still see plenty of damp patches offline as well so you get it slightly wrong slightly wide. And catch one of those on slick tyres. That's gonna understeer, you. And. You're gonna lose traction, lose essential, grip. Particularly under the shading of the trees there's a great shot looking almost right into the eyes. Of mueller as he heads into the corner. Rast, still going well 122.1. Very consistent, times from renee. Green as well in the low 122s. On that previous lap. 122.191. Okay nico, please give me one number and then box box we can do a stopping.
Practice. On 22. 7 for my last time around a bit quicker than the previous lap. I'm trying to work out all that, conversation, was give me a number, and then come in and box and then we'll do a practice start. Four was the number so is that. Is that him going for a 122.4. As they go for these delta times we'll see. Just see from the facial expression there the drivers have to work very hard here at zolda. It's going to be an intense couple of races this weekend for them. Flag comes out then and falls at the end of this 45-minute. Session here at zolda. Everybody. To complete their laps they'll come out and do some. Good practices, times at, the end. Yeah just the understeer, killed me a bit. I think the understeer, break mid corner, medium to high speed is killing the rear as. Well. Copy. And. So we go now for the start practice. So prepare your tires but anyway they are hot. Sandra, scrafter the, race engineer for teemo glock saying, you. Big difference as well, is driving. Drivability. From the engine. There's a lot less hesitation. Compared to the other one. That feels a lot better. Controlling, the rear tires. There you go there's some good insight. Different engine on timo's. Car and the drivability. Much better. The power delivery, much more instantaneous. We do the start on the left hand side, try to do it on the left hand side. So. Andrea's graph is saying you're just about the best at in terms of the degradation, there at the end of the session you didn't really lose too much time from your, earlier lap times i wouldn't necessarily, say it was the best because i would say. Rast. Rocking fella, green. Were, certainly three drive and muller to a point with three drivers that were able to maintain, a very good pace. Uh at the end of the longer run compared to the start of it but certainly it was pretty good effort from. Uh. Teemo glock, with uh. Him sort of hovering in the 122. Sevens and. Eights. All right there's team, as instructed he's gone to the left-hand, side. When friends. Leading a few drivers, through the pits at the moment so rock and fellow is gonna be the first to do the, practice start. With glock alongside, in the 16, car. And their first proper glimpse really well in the background the philippine, race winner here. Last year. Practice starts complete. And the next two will be harrison newey to the left and philippine, to the right. Audi and bmw, respectively. Through the start procedure, red lights go out. And away they go and get this at the end of the second free practice session as well, like duval and sheldon vanderlinder, lined up next. In the shade on the left-hand, side. Cooler, temperature it could could make a difference. Okay, quickly these cars get up to, 120. 130, kilometers, an hour incredible, off the line these machines. These class one two liter. Turbocharged. Cars. Incredible, to see the top speed at spa as well where we got, a few of them over the 300 kilometers, an hour mark. Won't get that here but uh should be still impressive at around about 265. Kilometers an hour. So jonathan aberdeen. To the right is going to go off the line in the shade further than habsburg, to the left of the picture, will go off with him it's actually a slightly better start.
So Audi, off the line, in that instance, better than bmw. And it's another audi bmw. Combination. Sharer, and whitman. All right, here's the view on board with, marco. And he goes. And you can see. 10. 15 kilometers an hour. Quicker. Off the line. As in by the time we got up to 120. Fabio shara was only at about 95, kilometers an hour big difference there. Time to glance. Around. Practice, start complete. And, seemingly, pretty good right jamie green is that a good start to the weekend here at zolda. You could do the break this weekend, could do with some good results and some good fortune, and, jamie green. Will be pleased fifth quickest. One of the drivers that. Waited a little bit longer to really push for a quick lap time. And, a good decision, that but also i think he'll be pretty pleased with the long run pace that he showed there. Setting up for the races ahead. And next to go, alone, he's going to be lucas, our. And then robert kibitzer. And renee rast, robin friends. Next in the queue. Now it gets underway in the bmw. Difficult session so far though 15th, out of, the 16, drivers, but. Perhaps can't read too much into it because of the slightly damp conditions that we had when they were pushing for those quick lap times, at the start of the session. Rust and. In a similar. Color scheme of livery's come through only ahead of bmw. And last to go it's going to be robin fryings who's, going to end this first session, at the top, of the times the driver. Second in the points, here he goes building up the revs, just creeping a little bit, drops the clutch now. First gear. Up to second. Don't shift up to second gear until they've gone past 90 kilometers, an hour. It's crazy isn't it so. That. Was a. Fairly decent start for robin but a little bit creeping they'll have to be careful, of. Robert kibbits it was somebody that suffered penalties, last time at the nurburgring, for. Start procedures. Standing start and. Restart, procedures, so they'll be very hot on it. And practice tire stops, happening, as well. With uh, team rmr, and jonathan aberdeen's, car. So ready rash through the shadows, of the trees heading back to the pits. And it's two of the three usual suspects, up there at the end of the first free practice session but with nico muller just a little bit off the, ultimate, pace, robin fines quickest then 120.07. Seconds. Nearly four tenths quicker than the rene rast second, third mike rockefeller, with a, 120.868. And then. Barely anything between him muller fourth and green in fifth place one twenty point nines for habsburg and duval in sixth and seventh. And then glock, 121.048. In eighth new 121-139. Going well in ninth the marco whitman completing the top ten, with the. 121.262. English 11th, van der linde was 12. kubitsu, was 13th, sierra. And aberdeen. 14th, 15th, and 16th. Super slo-mo, is now then of our top three at the end of the first, track activity, of the weekend, here at zolda. With. Third place, going to mike rockenfellow. He'll be hunting for his first victory, of. The season if he can relay rast in second place. Good long run pace, as well, as. Qualifying. Run, or, qualifying, simulation, run i should say, but quickest, of all. On the single that pace was robin franz although i'd be a little bit worried about the fact that his, tire degradation, and time seemed to drop off quite a lot at the end of his long run compared to his, key rivals, but it's his name that will be at the top of the times. Another free practice session to come this afternoon. At 4 30. Local. Time. You.
2020-10-11 03:52
