DTM Moscow preview: back to business after the summer

The 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season resumes this weekend after a five-week hiatus. All three championship tables are in hot contention, with the teams and drivers recharged and ready for the final part of the season.

The Russian circuit is located 105 kilometres Northwest from Moscow, and welcomes the series for the fourth time. The track is 3.931 kilometres long, and features a mix of medium corners and a long straight, providing the main overtaking point at the last turn. The tarmac is smooth and gentle on the tyres, offering the drivers a challenging favourite on the calendar.

Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver Mike Rockenfeller holds the record for the most wins in Moscow, with two victories in 2013 and 2015. BMW and Mercedes AMG have one each thanks to Maxime Martin in 2014 and Pascal Wehrlein last year.

The main novelty in Moscow comes from the Mercedes AMG team: Esteban Ocon, who was the only change for the 2016 DTM’s line up, moved to Manor last week to pursue a career in Formula 1. Ocon has been replaced at Team ART by Felix Rosenqvist, who will make his DTM racing debut at Moscow, partnering Gary Paffett. The Swede was named reserve and test driver back in February, and participated in the junior tests with the Stuttgart manufacturer in Jerez last winter.

The series is yielding a yet again very competitive season with nine different winners in 10 races. BMW’s Marco Wittmann leads the drivers’ table with 105 points, seven ahead of Audi’s Jamie Green. The Briton’s team-mate Edoardo Mortara is the only driver with two victories, in Hockenheim and Norisring, and lies third in the table, 17 points behind the leader. Robert Wickens is fourth in contention for Mercedes AMG, a further five points down the line.

The teams’ table is led by BMW Team RMG with 153 points, seven over Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. The best placed formation for Mercedes AMG is Team HWA I in sixth place, 66 points behind the leader.

On the manufacturers’ front, BMW leads by a slim 10-point margin over BMW. Mercedes AMG is 54 points behind the Bavarian squad, and anything could still happen in the four rounds remaining.

The M4 DTMs will start the weekend as the lightest cars on the track, with a weight of 1,115 kg. Both the Audi RS 5 DTMs and the Mercedes AMG C63 DTMs are on 1,127.5 kg. As usual, these weights will be recalculated after Saturday’s qualifying session.

The DRS activation will be limited to 42 for Saturday’s race, with 60 for Sunday’s. There is a maximum of three activations per driver per lap.

The DTM in Moscow will have the following agenda (all times are local, with Moscow on GMT+3 time zone):

Friday 19th August
17:30 – Free Practice 1.

Saturday 20th August
9:30 – Free Practice 2.
11:10 – Qualifying for Race 1.
13:33 – Race 1 (40 minutes plus one lap).

Sunday 21st August
9:10 – Free Practice 3.
10:50 – Qualifying for Race 2.
13:13 – Race 2 (60 minutes plus one lap).