Mercedes feels optimistic ahead of Norisring
Mercedes Benz heads for Nuremberg, host of the third round of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters 2015 season, confident of having overcome the different issues hampering their progress at Lausitzring, and expecting a good result.
The Stuttgart manufacturer started the season with solid performances at Hockenheim, but a myriad of reasons, including problems to get to grips with the tyres, hampered their progress at Lausitzring.
Norisring has been a traditionally good circuit for the three-point star manufacturer, who has won in 13 of the 15 editions held since 2000. The race is considered one of the highlights of the German racing calendar, and a very special event for everyone involved in the DTM.
Pascal Wehrlein is the best placed Mercedes driver in the standings, in fourth place with 32 points. The German will arrive to the Norisring after testing both the Mercedes and Force India Formula 1 cars, and warns about the hidden traps in the iconic track: “I hope we can be competitive this weekend. If you look at the circuit map you might think that it is a very easy track as the Norisring features very few corners. But honestly the circuit is very difficult to drive. There are a lot of bumps that you have to get right under braking from high speeds. You also need to get the corner exit right to achieve a high top speed on the straights. That’s especially important in the race. You are nearly touching the walls on each lap. One single mistake and the race could be over. It’s crucial to stay focused and not make any mistakes.”
Gary Paffett has had a mixed start of the year, struggling in Lausitzring despite achieving a brilliant podium finish in Hockenheim. The Briton hopes to achieve a good result, and remains confident in the work being done by ART GP, new partners to Mercedes this year: “The pace of the car has been good so far. ART have done a good job with setting the car up. Hopefully we can realise the potential we have in the car and maybe get on the podium.”
For Ullrich Fritz, Head of DTM at Mercedes, it’s important to see the potential of the C-63 DTM realised, and is confident that the latest developments in terms of understanding the tyres will allow the manufacturer to keep their impressive track record at the Norisring: “We have been the second-best of the manufacturers in the four races so far. This shows that we have taken a step forward compared to last year. We can build on that. What we have to do now is continue our hard work to further close the gap and to regularly finish on the podium. The tyre issue appears to have been resolved. We’re working on the assumption that we’ll be using the old specification at the Norisring, as we were promised by Hankook.”
Racing at the Norisring will get underway on Friday afternoon, with the first free practice session.
