Uncharted territory at Misano with first ever night race and a special guest
The DTM returns to Italy after a 10-year absence for the seventh round of the season at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Mercedes has dominated the season so far with Gary Paffett and Paul di Resta at the top of the championship table, with BMW’s Marco Wittmann as the ‘best of the rest’ in third.
The series will race for the first time at the 4.226-kilometre track, located near Rimini, on the Italian coast looking at the Adrian Sea, renamed seven years ago in memory of the late MotoGP rider. It features 16 medium to high speed corners, with an abrasive tarmac.
“The track surface has been re-laid and is now far more aggressive,” said DTM tyre partner Hankook chief engineer Thomas Baltes. “This will lead to an increase in the temperature of the running surface on the Ventus Race. However, this will not restrict the performance of the tyre, particularly as the asphalt will cool down in the night.”
Misano will host the first ever night races of the series, to be held after sunset under the floodlights installed at the Italian track. The challenge also raises some safety concerns, as Audi’s Jamie Green recently visited the circuit representing the Ingolstadt-based squad at the Italian GT Championship.
“In some of the sections, it was pretty dark in spite of the floodlights,” said Green, winner of the last DTM race held in Italy at Mugello. “Unlike a GT3 car, our DTM cars only have daytime running lights, but are much faster. That’s why additional lighting is still needed, or else things might get tricky.”
The manufacturers will install special lighting in the cockpits to illuminate the instruments and switches, with Audi incorporating lighting technology previously used at Le Mans in their LMP1 programme.
“We are very much looking forward to this great event,” said Audi Motorsport boss Dieter Gass. “The night races are uncharted waters and at Misano, nobody has any experience with a current DTM car.”
But night racing isn’t the only highlight at Misano. BMW ambassador and motorsport legend Alex Zanardi will make his DTM debut at the Italian track at the wheel of a seventh, non-championship scoring, wild card M4 DTM, a challenge relished both by the driver and the Bavarian manufacturer, as the car will be specially adapted to Zanardi’s disability.
“I’ve been able to fit so many different things into this life of mine and as far of my motorsport experience, out of all the intriguing things I cared to do in my career, DTM was really one of the few I was lacking,” said Zanardi.
“It will be a very emotional weekend,” added BMW Motorsport director Jens Marquardt. “It won’t only be us getting goose bumps watching Alex Zanardi compete in a BMW M4 DTM in front of his home fans. Big thanks to the BMW Motorsport team, who took on the challenge of equipping Alex with the ideal technology he needs to control the car.”
From a sporting point of view, Paffett strengthened his championship lead at Brands Hatch to 177 points in his account, 29 ahead of team-mate di Resta. Wittmann is third, 67 points behind the Briton.
“We’re going to have two night races at Misano, something we’ve never had previously. So far, we’ve only practised at night. Perhaps my experience from the 24-Hours of Spa will help, but it’s going to be a tough challenge. I’m really looking forward to it,” said Paffett.
Mercedes AMG is in a strong position in the championship, with all their six drivers in the top ten of the classification, but also with an important 677-point haul in the manufacturers’ table, 273 points ahead of BMW and 474 over Audi.
Ulrich Fritz, head of DTM at Mercedes AMG, is not resting on his laurels yet: “We’re currently in a comfortable position in the standings, but that’s when you make the most mistakes. We have to keep the momentum going, especially when you consider how well René Rast has been doing in the last few races. Marco Wittmann too has got his consistency back, so no one in our outfit will be sitting on their hands.”
Timetable
Friday 24th August
21:30 – Free Practice 1
Saturday 25th August
17:15 – Free Practice 2
20:00 – Qualifying for Race 1
20:30 – Race 1 (55 minutes plus 1 lap)
Sunday 26th August
16:40 – Free Practice 3
20:20 – Qualifying for Race 2
22:30 – Race 2 (55 minutes plus 1 lap)
