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Drivers’ thoughts on DRS and option tyres for 2013

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Due to a ‘technology freeze’ at the end of 2012, this year’s DTM cars will remain largely the same, despite the teams having made obvious improvements over the winter.

However, as the series attempts to improve the quality of on-track action, DTM 2013 will see the introduction of a Formula 1 style DRS to try and increase overtaking, as well as option tyres which have a life of an estimated shelf life of around five to seven laps.

On the eve of the new season, TouringCarTimes caught up with some of the drivers from BMW, Audi and Mercedes to gauge their feelings about these new technical innovations.

BMW: Timo Glock: Team MTEK:

“I enjoyed the option tyre during testing as you can really push yourself to the limit with it on a flying lap. The fact that it is not particularly durable will add an additional tactical element to races, and will hopefully provide for a great number of overtaking manoeuvres. I have seen for myself in Formula One that it can work and it will be exactly the same story with DRS. You notice clearly that you have a higher top speed on the straight. Even with DRS, it will not be easy to overtake. However, it might give you more chance of launching an attack than previously.”

Audi: Jamie Green: Abt Sportsline

“I’m really happy about it. In my opinion the fastest car should win the race, not the one that qualified best. Sometimes it was very hard to overtake even if you where 2-3 tenth quicker, so DRS and option tyres will give us the opportunities to have more action on the track. I’m excited to see what happens in Hockenheim.”

Mercedes: Gary Paffett: HWA Team:

“I think it’s a good move. We have seen it work in F1 although it took a bit of time to adjust things to make it work properly. Hopefully we can have a system and regulations that will make the racing more interesting for the fans and drivers while still making it fair and not too easy to pass each other. We want to see overtaking but we still want there to be skill involved in doing it.

The option tyres are a completely different level of performance to the standard ones and are great fun to drive with. This should make strategies more interesting and the increased tyre wear will make the end of some stints in the race interesting.”