Allan McNish believes F3 key to DTM success

Between the Lausitzring and this weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours, TouringCarTimes caught up with Audi’s Allan McNish to discover what it takes to have a successful DTM career.

McNish, a two times Le Mans winner and former Formula 1 driver, also spent a season in the category with the Abt Sportsline team in 2005.

Since leaving the DTM, McNish has remained an integral part of the Ingolstadt manufacturer’s motorsport programme, and has spent the most part of his post-DTM career as an Audi sportscar driver.

In 2008, 10 years after his first Le Mans victory with Porsche, he added another to his name, this time with fellow Audi drivers and one time DTM colleagues, Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello.

So, does sportscar racing help prepare a driver better for a DTM career?

“Well, not really, no. I think if you look back through the DTM, it’s been peppered with people who have had some success with people coming from other formulas,” McNish told TouringCarTimes. “Especially higher formulas like LMP1 sportscars or F1, as opposed to necessarily a clear trend on it.”

“If you think about it, the cars have got reasonable power and downforce, but I would have suggested that in reality, the formula that produces the majority of DTM success candidates is Formula 3.

“This is because the power to weight ratio is kind of similar and the driving style is significantly closer to DTM than it is, say, coming from a very high powered Formula 1 or LMP car.

“If you’re looking for a key of why that particular trait is, I’m not so sure. I think the biggest trait is F3, and it’s the biggest feeding line into DTM.”

McNish also believes the specific nature of certain DTM circuits, is why some drivers, irrespective of previous categories, struggle when they come to the series.

“The other thing about it, is that the circuits are kind of unique, so if you’ve developed your career through the general formulas, then you probably haven’t been to the Norisring, Oschersleben or the Lausitzring prior to jumping into a DTM car.

“When you’re fighting against people like Mike Rockenfeller, who’s done it for nearly 10 years, then you can see why there’s an element of struggling to find out the ‘ways’ of it, never mind if you add in the idiosyncrasies that the tyres have played in the past.”

McNish went on to single out Rockenfeller as an example of a driver who has made a smooth transition from sportscars to the DTM.

However, whilst the DTM drivers’ championship leader contested the Le Mans event with Audi from 2007 t0 2012, and took victory in 2010, McNish believes the 29 year old’s background in the GT sportscar category, is what has helped him in his DTM career.

“I mean, “Rocky” is kind of an exception in that particular one, but his predominant category in a way, has been DTM for the last God knows how long.

“He came from GT, did a bit of LMP, but in reality his background has been GT which is kinda more similar to a DTM car as opposed to a full on LMP car, which has is more similar to F1 than anything else, but that’s just my opinion.”

McNish will team up with Kristensen and Loic Duval in the #2 Audi R18 E-tron quattro for the Le Mans 24 Hours, which starts at 15:00 CET on Saturday.