MUNICH, Germany — With this success, Mirko Bortolotti has fulfilled a lifelong dream — The Lamborghini factory driver won the DTM title for the first time in his career at the season finale in Hockenheim.
“This is the best day of my life,” Bortolotti said. “Ten years ago, Lamborghini gave me a chance and has always believed in me since then. I still remember the lost title fight last season, when I shed a few tears. That makes the championship feel all the better.”
The Italian’s gala performance also ensured the first championship trophy in the 40-year history of the DTM for the luxury brand Lamborghini from Sant’Agata Bolognese. Bortolotti’s team SSR Performance also achieved a new milestone — for the Munich-based racing team, the title is the greatest success since the championship season in the 2020 ADAC GT Masters.
Encore broadcasts of the DTM two-race finale air on SPEED SPORT 1 on SUNDAY at 4:30 p.m. ET (Race 1) and 6:30 p.m. ET (Race 2)
With his DTM triumph, Bortolotti impressively demonstrated that he is not discouraged by setbacks and always keeps his sights set on his goals. A trait that goes back to his childhood. Bortolotti, who was born in Trento on Lake Garda and grew up in Vienna, already knew at the age of five that he wanted to be a racing driver.
“As a young boy, I saw the Alfa Romeo that Giancarlo Fisichella drove in the DTM at the Bologna Motor Show and immediately fell in love with racing. After that, I started driving karts, even though no one in my family had any connection to motorsport,” said the 34-year-old, who even as a child was unstoppable when he had set his mind to something.
However, his parents insisted that the aspiring racing driver take his A-levels, which he managed despite missing a few classes with a good grade average and English as his favorite subject. “As a young boy, I couldn’t understand the press conferences on TV after the races. That’s why I took an English course for children,” he recalls.
Encore broadcasts of the DTM two-race finale air on SPEED SPORT 1 on MONDAY at 3:00 p.m. ET (Race 1) and 5:00 p.m. ET (Race 2)
After 11 years, the young driver swapped the kart for the Formula racing car. The young Bortolotti was supported as a member of the Italian development team. He celebrated the Italian Formula 3 championship in 2008, followed in 2011 by the title in the FIA Formula 2 and a phase as a Formula 1 test driver for Ferrari, Toro Rosso and Williams.
“Unlike today, back then in Formula 1 they wanted a finished champion and relied less on young, developing drivers,” Bortolotti said. “The tests went well, but it wasn’t enough and you have to accept that.”
In 2014, he began working with Lamborghini Squadra Corse. After just two races as a junior driver, Bortolotti was nominated for the 2015 factory squad. Two years later, he won the Blancpain GT Series and the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup (now GT World Challenge Europe) and was runner-up in the ADAC GT Masters in 2019.
“One of my greatest successes was the 2018 victory in Daytona,” Bortolotti said. “It was the first Lamborghini victory in a 24-hour race and a historic, very emotional moment that I will never forget.”
Season At A Glance
Bortolotti was still missing a DTM title in his trophy collection — until this year. The season started anything but brilliantly. After a second place in the first race, the Lamborghini ace was on course for victory for a long time in the Sunday race at the opening event in Oschersleben. But a botched pit stop cost him another top result, and in the end he only managed 15th place.
“If you make a mistake like that in the DTM, the race is over. Moments like that hurt,” said Bortolotti, describing the situation in Oschersleben. In the following three races he also missed the top five twice. But Bortolotti showed fighting spirit, worked intensively with his team – and was rewarded. He finished on the podium in Zandvoort, at the Norisring, at the Nürburgring and at the Sachsenring. The title duel with Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde seemed to release new energy in Bortolotti, especially under the time pressure of qualifying. In total, he started from the front row eight times in his Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, more often than anyone else.
He also showed the nerves of a champion: in the Sunday race at the Sachsenring, he only managed seventh place, and the lead in the standings went back to van der Linde. Memories of the previous year were awakened when Bortolotti also lost the top position in the final phase of the season and was unable to fight back in the finale. Even in his first full DTM year in 2022, the talented sportsman was unable to consistently deliver his strong performances. Despite leading at the halfway point of the season, he only managed fourth place overall. This year, everything was different. At the penultimate stop at the Red Bull Ring, he was ice cold. With his only win of the season, Bortolotti jumped back to the top, traveled to the finale at the Hockenheimring as leader of the standings, and secured his first DTM title there.
Bortolotti’s jubilation knew no bounds. Emotional scenes that fit the development of the otherwise rather reserved racing driver who is completely focused on maximum performance. At the start in Oschersleben, Bortolotti presented himself as close to the fans as rarely before, when he took plenty of time for the spectators at the autograph session in the DTM Fan Zone. An attitude that may have given him the relaxed attitude he needed in the title fight. Bortolotti, whose family has run ice cream parlors in Vienna for several decades, appeared rather cool in front of the TV cameras. He wants to be perceived as a racing driver; Bortolotti prefers to make statements on the track.
He managed to do that in what is probably his most intense season by winning the DTM title. At the same time, Bortolotti is competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship in Lamborghini’s first hybrid racing prototype, in the development of which he played a key role. Bortolotti’s special status in Italian motorsport is also evident on a virtual level: in the racing simulation Assetto Corsa, Bortolotti accompanies players in career mode.
After the long season, the 2024 DTM champion will have time again to watch the football matches of his favorite club AC Milan or to train in the simulator at home. “In my private life, the most important thing is and remains health. If time permits, I will also travel again to experience the world away from the race track,” reveals Bortolotti.
Anyone who knows the new DTM champion knows that he will not lose sight of these personal goals either.