Photo: DTM Media

Preview: Four-way battle heading into town at the Norisring

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The DTM heads for its highlight event of the year this weekend at the Norisring, with a fierce battle on the cards for the lead of the championship between Audi and Mercedes.

Audi Sport driver René Rast leads the standings heading to the 2.3km Nüremberg street circuit after a strong weekend and a maiden series victory at the Hungaroring two weeks’ ago.

The Team Rosberg driver knows the track from his Porsche Carrera Cup days and is looking forward to tackling the track with his RS 5 DTM: “The Norisring is a great challenge. It’s bumpy and you have to brake late, that suits my style.”

Team-mate at Rosberg Jamie Green has been traditionally nicknamed “Mr. Norisring” after achieving four victories at the circuit. The Briton lies third in the standings, five points behind Rast and is looking to recover from a difficult weekend at Budapest: “The Norisring suits me well is something I’ve not only proven by having won there four times. I’ve always been fast there.”

Early points leader Lucas Auer had a difficult, pointless, Hungarian round, still managing to stay just one point behind René Rast in the classification. The Austrian is confident that Mercedes’ good record in Nüremberg will help him to have a positive weekend: “The Norisring is my favourite track on the DTM racing calendar. I’m sure we’ll be able to give the fans a great show this weekend. The racing will be great at the Norisring as it is every year. The race weekend is an absolute highlight every season. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Fellow Mercedes AMG driver Robert Wickens will carry a special livery to commemorate 50 years of AMG.

Audi leads the manufacturers’ table with 284 points, 50 over Mercedes AMG and 260 ahead of BMW Motorsport, with Timo Glock the best-placed driver for the Bavarian squad in seventh position, 21 points behind Rast.

Both Audi and Mercedes reach the fourth round of the season level in terms of weights, with the RS 5 DTMs and the C63 DTMs starting the weekend on 1,125.5kg, with the BMW M4 DTMs with a bse weight of 1,117.5kg

The Norisring presents a conventional city tarmac which has been patched over and over again. Different from other races this season, the smooth surface favours a low tyre degradation, although the bumpy nature of the track presents an additional challenge for drivers and tyre partner Hankook. For the fourth time this season. teams and drivers will face a new tyre challenge this weeked.

Timetable

Friday 30th June
17:00: Free Practice 1

Saturday 1st July
08:45: Free Practice 2
11:20: Qualifying 1
13:28: Race 1 (55 minutes + 1 lap)

Sunday 2nd July
11:10: Free Practice 3
14:00: Qualifying 2
17:23: Race 2 (55 minutes + 1 lap)