Canada’s Bruno Spengler is still in with a mathematical chance of getting into the fight for the drivers’ title this year, having taken his first crown back in 2012, but the Team RBM driver will be celebrating for different reasons this weekend.
The annual trek to the sand dunes of Circuit Park Zandvoort will see Spengler hit the same 150th race start milestone, which longtime rival Gary Paffett also achieved at the Lausitzring earlier this year.
“I am looking forward to Zandvoort. It is rather special there. We are right on the coast and the atmosphere is always great. An awful lot of fans come to the circuit, and they really love motorsport,” said the 33-year-old, who is currently ninth in the standings on 62 points.
“The track itself is very interesting and demanding. There is always a lot of wind, which results in there being a lot of sand on the racing surface. As such, the track can change from one lap to the next. However, that is just part and parcel of racing in Zandvoort.”
RBM team mate Maxime Martin is the leading BMW driver in the drivers’ standings down in fifth, having endured a difficult weekend at Moscow Raceway last time out, which saw him take no points from the two races.
“We will face different challenges in Zandvoort to those we have encountered at the previous circuits,” said the Belgian, who is looking for better results this time around, having already taken a podium at the Dutch track, securing third place in his rookie year back in 2014.
“It is not really possible to make any kind of prediction this year. The current DTM season has shown that. I hope I fare better here than last time out in Moscow.”
The first practice session of the weekend gets underway at 1700 local time (1600 BST), lasting for 30 minutes.
DTM Zandvoort Race Weekend
All times CET (BST + 1 Hour)
Friday 18th August
17:00 – Free Practice 1 (30 minutes)
Saturday 19th August
0945 – Free Practice 2 (30 minutes)
1140 – Race 1 qualifying (20 minutes)
1448 – Race 1 (55 minutes + one lap)
Sunday 20th August
0850 – Free Practice 3 (30 minutes)
12:00 – Race 2 qualifying (20 minutes)
15:18 – Race 2 (55 minutes + one lap)