Ten DTM drivers prepared for the season on Monday in good conditions at Zandvoort: Aston Martin faster than BMW, Lucas Auer had to watch from the sidelines in the afternoon
This year’s DTM test regulations allow for two fixed test days organized by the ADAC in Oschersleben and at the Sachsenring, as well as three freely selectable private test days during the season: After 14 drivers tested at the Lausitzring on May 6, another private test day took place today in Zandvoort – and ten DTM drivers took the opportunity to prepare for the race weekend in three weeks.
This time, the BMW Schubert team was also there, having decided against the Lausitzring in its test strategy. “They’re all faster than everyone else on the straights there anyway,” jokes Abt sports director Martin Tomczyk. “They’ll have more problems with that in Zandvoort.”
In fact, at the end of the test day, which took place in temperatures between 16 and 20 degrees Celsius and mostly sunny conditions, there was no BMW at the front of the field on the wet dune circuit, but Gilles Magnus in the Comtoyou Aston Martin, who had not been in contention for the lead up to that point.
“Marathon man” Rast sets fastest time in the morning
The Belgian DTM rookie set the fastest time of the day in 1:33.781 shortly before the checkered flag at 4:55 p.m. – and was thus 0.383 seconds faster than Schubert BMW driver Rene Rast, who was fastest in the morning, finished second in the overall standings and was the busiest driver with 116 laps. The third-fastest time of the day was set by “Grello” Porsche driver Thomas Preining, who was 0.453 seconds behind Magnus in the afternoon.
Comtoyou was the only DTM team alongside HRT to compete in the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) sprint series at Zandvoort last weekend and still took advantage of the testing opportunity today. The Lamborghini team Grasser, the Ferrari squad Emil Frey and the AMG team Winward decided against it, apparently satisfied with the experience gained over the weekend.
Pole times in 2024 DTM significantly faster
At 9:00 a.m., when the lights turned green, the air temperature was already over 15 degrees Celsius, and it remained similarly warm throughout the day. As the Zandvoort schedule, which was changed due to the Le Mans test, means that Sunday’s qualifying takes place on Friday evening at 5 p.m., the conditions were ideal for the qualifying simulations that are so important in the DTM.
However, a comparison with last year’s times shows that there is still plenty of room for improvement: In the evening qualifying, Maximilian Paul clocked 1:32.780 in his pole lap, which was one second faster than Magnus’ best time of the day. Jack Aitken even clocked 1:31.762 in his Saturday morning pole at lower temperatures.
Technical problem: Auer has to watch from the sidelines in the afternoon
The best Mercedes-AMG driver in the test was Landgraf youngster Tom Kalender, who was 0.609 seconds off the pace. Teammate and Oschersleben winner Lucas Auer was even in the lead at times in the morning, but only completed nine laps in the afternoon session from 1:00 p.m. to 4:55 p.m. due to a technical problem. As a result, he had by far the fewest laps on his tally with 44, finishing tenth, 1.076 seconds behind.
Also in action were Preining’s Manthey teammate Ayhancan Güven (+0.628/5th), Comtoyou Aston Martin driver Nicolas Baert (+0.678/6th) and Arjun Maini, who was 0.697 seconds behind in seventh place in the HRT team’s Ford Mustang. Eighth place went to last year’s winner Marco Wittmann (+0.842), who had set his personal best time in the morning, and local hero Morris Schuring (+0.876) in the Manthey Porsche.
Timo Glock’s McLaren team Dörr had already completed its Zandvoort test at the end of March. Who will forego testing in Zandvoort in 2025, where the tires are particularly stressed? The GTWC teams Grasser, Emil Frey, and Winward, who were at least able to make use of the race weekend, the Lamborghini teams Abt and Paul, and Ricardo Feller’s Audi squad Land.
Overall results of the private DTM test in Zandvoort (May 19):
1. Gilles Magnus (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) 1:33.781 (100 laps)
2. Rene Rast (Schubert-BMW) 1:34.164 (116)
3. Thomas Preining (Manthey Porsche) 1:34.234 (93)
4. Tom Kalender (Landgraf Mercedes) 1:34.390 (101)
5. Ayhancan Güven (Manthey Porsche) 1:34.409 (102)
6. Nicolas Baert (Comtoyou-Aston-Martin) 1:34.441 (98)
7. Arjun Maini (HRT-Ford) 1:34.478 (91)
8. Marco Wittmann (Schubert-BMW) 1:34.623 (103)
9. Morris Schuring (Manthey Porsche) 1:34.658 (100)
10. Lucas Auer (Landgraf Mercedes) 1:34.857 (44)