Photo: DTM Media

DTM Nürburgring preview: three-way battle at the Eifel

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The 2016 DTM enters its final part this weekend with the visit to the Nürburgring. The fight for the three titles is as close as ever, with all manufacturers feeling ready and expecting good results this weekend.

The historical circuit is located 75 kilometres South of Bonn and close to the Belgian border in the Eifel valley. The series raced in the legendary Nordschleife back in 1993 for the last time. Since the inception of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, the DTM has raced at the 3.629-kilometre grand prix track. The circuit features a slow first section followed by fast corners and prominent kerbs later on. Marco Wittmann has the track record, set back in 2014 with a lap time of 1:23.175.

The 2016 event will mark the golden anniversary of the DTM at the Nürburgring, with this year’s visit being the 50th in the history of the series. 22 races have been held since 2000 at the Eifel track, with Mercedes winning nine times, Audi eight and BMW three since their return to the series in 2012. Last year, BMW’s Maxime Martin and Audi’s Miguel Molina scored victories.

BMW driver Marco Wittmann arrives to the Eifel as the championship leader, with 130 points, 12 over Mercedes’ Robert Wickens and 26 over Audi’s Jamie Green. Edoardo Mortara is a further four points behind the Briton, in what looks set to be the final contenders for the 2016 crown.

In the Manufacturers’ table, BMW Motorsport leads with 436 points, 46 ahead of Audi Sport and 50 over Mercedes AMG. With three rounds and six races left in the championship, the battle looks set to heat on.

The weekend at the Nürburgring will start with the Mercedes C63 DTMs as the heaviest cars on track, with a base weight of 1,127.5 kg. The Audi RS 5 DTMs will start on 1,117.5 kg, with the BMW M4 DTMs being the lightest on 1,115 kg.

The DRS activation will be limited to 45 for Saturday’s race, with 66 for Sunday’s. There is a maximum of three activations per driver per lap.

The DTM in Nürburgring will have the following agenda (all times are local, CEST time zone, GMT+1):

Friday 9th September
17:00 – Free Practice 1.

Saturday 10th September
10:45 – Free Practice 2.
12:35 – Qualifying for Race 1.
14:58 – Race 1 (40 minutes plus one lap).

Sunday 11th September
10:40 – Free Practice 3.
12:50 – Qualifying for Race 2.
15:13 – Race 2 (60 minutes plus one lap).