Mirko Bortolotti’s tempo within the SSR Lamborghini caught his DTM rivals without warning at Spielberg.
Regardless of being hit with a collection of blows underneath the collection’ Stability of Efficiency system, Bortolotti was in a position to comply with up his victory within the opening race with pole place and a fourth place within the second leg of the assembly.
That allowed him to grab the championship lead from Abt Audi rival Kelvin van der Linde, placing him on the entrance foot for this month’s title decider at Hockenheim
Whereas Bortolotti is extensively recognised as one of many quickest drivers in Lamborghini’s manufacturing facility roster, many felt that his Huracan GT3 EVO2 was barely hindered by the big ballast it was carrying – and the Italian, in actual fact, had extra time in reserve.
In Sunday’s race, three-time DTM champion Rene Rast adopted Bortolotti within the opening stint, the place all drivers inside the highest 10 are required to begin on used qualifying tyres.
The Schubert BMW driver, who ultimately gained the race after leaping Bortolotti within the pits, mentioned: “I caught up with Mirko, however as quickly as he noticed that I used to be coming, he elevated the tempo and immediately drove extraordinarily quick.
“He nonetheless had one thing in his pocket that he may have used to high it off. That is one thing we have to look into. It was very noticeable that Mirko was immediately using inexperienced [personal best] sectors although he was 65 kilos heavier than me the day earlier than.”
Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Efficiency
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
Bortolotti was collaborating in Sunday’s race with 45kg of additional weight on his automotive in comparison with when he gained on Saturday, a mixture of mid-weekend BoP adjustments and the extra success ballast because of his victory.
Rast’s BMW in the meantime had been given a 20kg break underneath the BoP, leading to an in a single day swing of 65kg between the 2 automobiles.
When the German driver handed Luca Engstler’s Grasser Lamborghini for second within the opening stint to place himself instantly behind Bortolotti, the latter was in a position to instantly enhance his tempo to set instances within the 1m29.7s bracket.
Even Rast’s workforce boss Torsten Schubert was shocked by Bortolotti’s tempo as a result of the Lamborghini was carrying a complete of 120kg ballast, making the automotive heavier at any level this season.
Furthermore, Spielberg shouldn’t be a observe that significantly fits the Huracan.
“If I can nonetheless blow away with 120kg in it, i.e. one other 15 kilos after qualifying and the 20 kilos additional weight [under success ballast], then those that organise the occasion ought to take into consideration whether or not this may actually be a case of overperformance,” he mentioned.
It wasn’t simply Bortolotti’s efficiency on Sunday that caught the eye of his rivals.
Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Efficiency Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
The 34-year-old had additionally dominated the opening race of the weekend final Saturday after qualifying in fourth place.
The hour-long contest started on a moist observe, which meant that drivers initially stayed away from kerbs that have been nonetheless moist. However a dry line rapidly began appearing, and the complete discipline switched to slick tyres throughout their obligatory pitstops.
Bortolotti was intently adopted by Mercedes driver Maro Engel within the second stint, however was in a position to fend him off to attain his first victory of the 12 months by 1.3s.
After the race, Bortolotti mentioned the second half of the race was like “a qualifying stint” and he “pushed from the primary to the final lap”.
Nonetheless, apparently, Engel disputed the feedback of his DTM rival.
“In the beginning of the stint all of us deviated from the best line, and sooner or later I made a decision to take the best line in all places aside from Flip 3 [where the apex was still wet],” he advised Motorsport.com’s sister title Motorsport-Whole.com.
“In different phrases, drive onto the surface of the kerb in Flip 1, such as you do within the dry, and brake on the best line in Flip 4. And I noticed that Mirko did not try this.
Podium: Race winner Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Efficiency
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
“And he was nonetheless extraordinarily quick and pulled away from me on the finish. That made it clear to me on Saturday that Mirko can be very sturdy on Sunday along with his bundle [despite the added weight].”
He added: “For those who take a look at the weekend and the adjustments over the weekend, and see what efficiency was nonetheless there, then you must come to the conclusion that they merely managed it on Saturday.”
There have been additionally recommendations that Bortolotti had intentionally slowed down on Sunday to complete exterior the highest three and keep away from successful ballast within the Hockenheim finale. With van der Linde ending one place behind him in fifth, Bortolotti nonetheless managed to extend his factors lead over the South African.
“That is a tactic,” mentioned a paddock insider who didn’t wish to be named. “He intentionally took it out, in any other case he would have gained the race. And everybody would have seen that the Lamborghini BoP was incorrect.”
Nonetheless, that concept could also be extensive of the mark, as Bortolotti braked too late on his out-lap and ran extensive at Flip 2, exhibiting he was certainly pushing the automotive near its restrict.
Nonetheless, the BoP categorisation of the Huracan will stay a speaking level because the DTM returns to Germany for the all-important finale on 19-20 October.
