Rounds five and six of the 2015 DTM season may not be on Augusto Farfus’ favourite track, but the Brazilian BMW Team RBM driver certainly hopes he can produce a good result in his Shell BMW M4 DTM at the Norisring street circuit.
His honest comment about the track and his feelings for it were: “The track is difficult to like, but I think the atmosphere is fantastic and the fans are great. All the excitement from the large crowd makes it a really a cool place to be. Not the best circuit in the world, but it is part of the history of the DTM.”
Not only does it have a special place in the history of the series, with the 2.300 kilometre track having opened in 1947 and hosted the DTM since 1984, but it is also the home race for BMW, as it is in Bavaria and Nürnberg is only 160 kilometres down the A9 autobahn from Munich.
“It is great to have a track so close for all the BMW employees to visit. There is always a large crowd and lots of BMW fans waving our flags. As a circuit itself it is pretty simple on paper with just four corners, but none of them are easy. Here it is all about top speed and braking, and the focus for me is to extract the maximum top speed out of the car. In the past it has not been the best track for us, but maybe we will have the chance to turn it around and make it happen,” said the driver from Curitiba.
In the past the weather has been unpredictable for the race and last year there was a heavy storm just before the start, which led to the race being declared wet. The Brazilian and BMW Team RBM gambled on an early pit stop on a rapidly drying track, but this didn’t pay off and he left with no points.
The DTM action on the track, which is the shortest on the series’ calendar, starts on Friday from 11.15 to 11.50 with two 15-minute roll outs separated by a five minute break. Free practice one is then from 15.45 to 16.30. On Saturday free practice two is from 09.15 to 10.00, followed by qualifying for race one from 12.25 to 12.45. The 40-minute race starts at 15.48. On Sunday there is a 15-minute warm up starting at 08.50, qualifying for race two is from 10.40 to 11.00 and the 60-minute race starts at 14.18.
