First laps in the DTM 2024: Güven celebrates successful start with Manthey EMA

Ayhancan Güven (TR) has made a successful start with his new team Manthey EMA. The 25-year-old was the fastest driver on the first of two days of testing at the DTM opener in Hockenheim, posting a time of 1:37.414 minutes. Late on Tuesday afternoon, Güven recorded the best time in the second session, which was considerably faster than the first trial of strength had been, two and a half hours previously. “I have the fantastic opportunity to be racing with defending champion Thomas Preining in my new team Manthey EMA. However, working with such a top driver does generate a certain amount of pressure. I do feel good about recording the best time today, but it would be even better to do that in a qualifying session. I wanted to get used to my new team and to the car, and that went well,” explained Güven. 

Defending champion Thomas Preining (A) finished 0.122 seconds behind his team-mate in second place, showing that he and his team are perfectly prepared for the season ahead. The champion’s summary: “That was a superb first day and it is just wonderful to be driving a DTM car again. We hit plenty of testing targets and still have lots to do tomorrow. Of course, it is more important to start well in Oschersleben. But it’s always good when things go well and you are competing up front.”

Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde (ZA) from Abt Sportsline rounded off the top three on the first day of testing. He, Güven, and Preining were the only drivers to break the 1:38.000-minute barrier. Thierry Vermeulen (NL) recorded the fourth-best time in the Ferrari 296 GT3 from Emil Frey Racing. Clemens Schmid (A) put the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo in fifth place to make it a good DTM debut for his Dörr Motorsport team. “That was a nice surprise,” said a delighted Schmid. “I would never have thought it would go so well from the word go. We were also able to collect plenty of comparative data and tomorrow we will try out some other stuff, like different camber settings, shocks, and springs. With a new team and a new car, we couldn’t have hoped for a better start on day one.”

René Rast (Bregenz) from Schubert Motorsport came out on top in the first session on Tuesday. In cool temperatures of around eleven degrees, the BMW driver went round the 4.574-kilometre circuit in 1:38.396 minutes. “I hadn’t sat in a DTM car since the Hockenheim finale, but it felt great from the first minute and I am very pleased with the first day of testing. The structure has changed somewhat as Schubert Motorport now runs three cars and has expanded the crew. We were getting back into the saddle today, while tomorrow will be about fine-tuning. It is important to finish testing successfully and then take those positive feelings to the opening race in Oschersleben,” explained the three-time DTM champion. In this test session, Austrian driver Preining also claimed second place in the Porsche 911 GT3, while his compatriot Lucas Auer (A) from the Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter finished in third. They were followed by championship runner-up Mirko Bortolotti (I) and his new team-mate Nicki Thiim (DK), the Lamborghini drivers from SSR Performance.

Two more test sessions, with a total of 4 hours and 40 minutes of driving time, are scheduled for Wednesday.