MUNICH — This weekend, DTM will be visiting Nuremberg on the only street circuit in Germany on July 5-7.
DTM will be finishing the first half of the season at the Norisring. Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde is traveling to the Norisring as the points leader. However, the South African must not get caught in traffic jams in the DTM city traffic – Lamborghini ace Mirko Bortolotti from Italy is lurking just eight points behind.
The event will be broadcast live on SPEED SPORT 1.
Local hero wants to use upswing
One DTM driver is coming to the Norisring with particularly great anticipation — Marco Wittmann. For the BMW factory driver from Fürth, the weekend will be a home race. Hardly anyone knows the track as well as Wittmann, who is competing in his 11th Norisring weekend this year.
“I’m really looking forward to the Norisring,” Wittmann said. “It would be a dream to win there or at least to make it onto the podium.”
In the 2018 season, Wittmann won in Nuremberg – a highlight of his career.
“That was by far my most emotional victory,” Wittmann said. “Celebrating with the fans in the stands, friends and my family felt great. That was something very special.
Wittmann’s trajectory is pointing upwards just in time for the event. Last race weekend in Zandvoort, the two-time Schubert Motorsport champion took his first win of the season.
Teammate Sheldon van der Linde also has good memories of the Norisring. The South African won there last year. As a Munich resident, van der Linde also has a short journey to Nuremberg in Franconia.
Van der Linde in the lead, pursuers close together
Leader Kelvin van der Linde wants to be at the top after the two races at the Norisring. However, five different winners from the first six races show how competitive and balanced DTM is this season. Van der Linde wants to continue his good record in Nuremberg with three podium finishes in four races.
“I always had the pace there to be at the top, but so far not the necessary luck,” van der Linde said. “I hope we can celebrate the first podium this time.”
Lamborghini spearhead Bortolotti, as van der Linde’s closest rival, is keen on top results at the Norisring. The SSR Performance driver impressed in the Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2, especially in qualifying and scored a strong eight points as the best DTM driver.
DTM is particularly tight behind the leading duo — Van der Linde’s teammate Ricardo Feller in third place is just nine points behind Schubert Motorsport driver René Rast in ninth place. In between them is defending champion Thomas Preining. The Porsche works driver from Manthey EMA is still looking for his consistency from the championship season, when he took the first of his four race victories at the Norisring.
A special weekend awaits Maro Engel from the Mercedes-AMG Team Winward. The experienced driver in sixth place will contest the 100th DTM race of his career on Sunday. Lamborghini driver Nicki Thiim travels to Nuremberg with confidence. The Dane from SSR Performance won the 24-hour race in Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.
Norisring Challenge
Two sharp bends and almost full throttle straight ahead in between – at first glance, the Norisring seems rather inconspicuous. But the city course presents the DTM stars with a number of challenges.
Instead of run-off areas or gravel beds, the road is mostly limited by walls or crash barriers. Before the hairpin bend at Dutzendteich and the Grundig bend, the drivers have to brake hard and in between the spectators experience full throttle racing with slipstream duels.
In addition, at 2.162 kilometers, the Norisring is by far the shortest track on the calendar.