This coming weekend, the DTM and Hankook move closer to the season finish with the eighth of ten rounds at Lausitz.

The driver’s title could be sealed on the 3.478-kilometre Grand Prix Lausitzring in Germany as holding an almost fail-safe lead of 64 points over second-placed Mattias Ekström (Audi) is Marco Wittmann (BMW). Scoring fourth this weekend would be enough for Wittmann to take home the championship crown early in the most popular international touring car series.

In his four victories so far this season, the 24-year-old utilised the full potential of the option tyres from premium manufacturer Hankook, often opening a gap to the rest of the field on the ultra-fast rubber of the exclusive DTM partner, which he defended in the second half of the race after switching to the standard tyre. In the Lausitz on Sunday, the BMW pilot could very well play his masterstroke to wrap up the series.

The Lausitzring in Germany is one of the few DTM circuits that is driven in a counterclockwise direction. The track surface is smooth and compact but five sections have been resurfaced. For the drivers this means they need to adjust to the different grip levels and an unstable vehicle when driving over the joining sections. “Although most of the track is smooth, heavy understeer and slipping make the Lausitzring a real challenge for our race tyres which, with this circuit’s many corners, are under quite a load on the inside,” explains DTM race engineer Christophe Stucki.