Mercedes leads the way in official DTM test in Austria

Following its takeover of DTM from ITR, the ADAC organised two days of testing in Austria on Saturday and Sunday to help teams gear up for the new season.

Although there was heavy snow at Spielberg on Friday, the weather had mostly cleared by the time the test started on Saturday morning, allowing for two days of mostly dry-weather running.

Engel, who will race for the new Landgraf team as a works Mercedes driver in 2023, led the way at the Red Bull Ring with a time of 1m28.117s in his #48 AMG GT3.

The lap, set on Sunday, put him just 0.021s clear of van der Linde in the Schubert BMW.

Both Engel and van der Linde had missed the opening day of running to take part in the NLS in Germany, but were able to make the overnight journey to Austria to get some running under their belts.

Third place in the test went to HRT driver Arjun Maini, who triggered the only red flag on Saturday when his Mercedes stopped on track with a suspension problem.

Maini’s time of 1m28.363s left him just 0.025s clear of Turkish racer Ayhancan Guven, who has earned a full-time seat with Bernhard Porsche this year on the back of his impressive debut outing with the Red Bull AF Corse team in 2022.

Two-time DTM champion Marco Wittmann ended up fifth at the wheel of the new Project 1 BMW, less than three tenths off the benchmark set by countryman Engel.

The Project 1 team was unable to complete any running on Saturday due to Wittmann being away at the Nordschleife and its second car developing a technical issue.

Sheldon van der Linde, Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Both cars hit the track for the first time on Sunday, with Dev Gore and Esteban Muth sharing the team’s second entry as they auditioned for the seat alongside Wittmann.

Sixth place in the test went to Engel’s teammate Yusuf Owega, who finished just 0.003s off the best time set by Wittmann.

Rene Rast completed his first official DTM session as a BMW driver at the Red Bull Ring, setting the quickest time on the opening day before improving to a 1m28.417s on Sunday.

This left him seventh overall, exactly three tenths down on Engel, but 0.047s up on Abt driver Ricardo Feller, who was the fastest driver from his former employer Audi.

Feller’s teammate Kelvin van der Linde finished a fraction of a second behind in ninth, while the top 10 was completed by Luca Stolz in the second HRT Mercedes.

Former Williams Formula 1 reserve Jack Aitken set a best time of 1m28.943s in an Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, finishing 19th in Sunday’s individual order.

Factory Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti was absent from the test to take part in the Portimao World Endurance Championship race for Prema. His place at SSR Performance was taken by GT World Challenge frontrunner Sandy Mitchell.

There were three red flags on the opening day of the running; the first was waved due to debris on track, the second when Stolz had to park his car with an open bonnet, and the final one was caused by one of the Emil Frey Ferraris stopping on track.

Day 2 results:

Day 1 results: