Red Bull Ring preview: the DTM rocks the Alps

The second round of the 2016 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season takes place this weekend at the Red Bull Ring. The Austrian track welcomes one most levelled fields in recent years, with little room for predictions.

The season opener at Hockenheim two weeks ago yielded action-packed races, with Mercedes AMG having the upper hand against their rivals in terms of performance. Paul Di Resta, Robert Wickens and Gary Paffett showed strong form at the Baden-Wüttemberg tracks.

Incidents during the second race hampered Audi’s progress after a triumphant start, with Edoardo Mortara having won Saturday’s race. BMW Motorsport was a consistent points’ scorer, managing to climb to second position in the Manufacturers’ table.

The Red Bull Ring features two long straights and a couple of hard-braking corners as it goes up into the mountains. The descent runs along the fields with mid-speed bends. The 4,326-metre track is one of the favourites among the DTM drivers.

Last year Audi drivers Edoardo Mortara and Mattias Ekström shared the wins in an event mostly remembered by the ‘schieb ihn raus’ incident, one of the season’s pivotal points.

After two calculations of performance weights, the manufacturers reach Spielberg in their original base weights: 1,120 kilos for both the Audi RS 5 DTM and the Mercedes AMG C63 DTM, and 1,112.5 kilos for the BMW M4 DTM.

The new DRS regulations for the 2016 season limit the activations to 42 for Saturday’s race and 63 for Sunday’s, with a maximum of three per lap.

Timetable

Action takes place during three days, with the following agenda (all the times are CEST):

Friday 20^th of May

– 17:00 – 17:30: Free Practice 1.

Saturday 21^st of May

– 12:40 – 13:10: Free Practice 2.

– 15:25 – 15:40: Qualifying for Race 1.

– 17:45: Race 1 (40 minutes plus one lap).

Sunday 20^th of May

– 10:20 – 10:50: Free Practice 3.

– 12:50 – 13:10: Qualifying for Race 2.

– 15:10: Race 2 (60 minutes plus one lap).