Each year, the exclusive tyre partner to arguably the most popular touring car series, the DTM, awards a prize to the mechanics team with the fastest pit stops. Last Friday, Hankook presented the Best Pit Stop Award for the 2015 season to the fastest pit stop crew of the 2015 season, the Audi Sport Team Abt where the challenge cup was awarded at the Abt company premises in Kempten.
The Audi Sport Team Abt with Audi driver Adrien Tambay achieved the fastest tyre change throughout the 2015 DTM season and won the coveted trophy awarded by the exclusive DTM tyre partner for the second time. Last Friday, the cup was presented to the winning team at the Abt company premises in Kempten. During the past season the Audi mechanics from Abt managed the fastest pit stop on two of the nine DTM racing weekends and were the best team overall at the end of the season with a total of 96 points. This meant the DTM Team Abt was awarded the coveted Hankook Best Pit Stop Award for a second time since 2012 when Mattias Ekström’s pit crew were the winners. For the marque with the four rings it was the third overall victory in the unofficial championship among the DTM pit crews in five years.
Michael Seifert, the DTM team manager responsible at Audi Sport Team Abt, was delighted to receive the cup from Hankook Motorsport Manager Marcel Hofmayer. “The Best Pit Stop Award is a very special honour for the mechanics team. If the pit stop takes only fractions of a second longer, it can have extremely negative effects on the rest of the race. Throughout the season our mechanics worked hard at speeding up their pit stop times, so we are very proud of this award.”
Hankook has been presenting the Best Pit Stop Award to the team with the fastest pit stop in the DTM since 2011. After each race, the fastest crew receives an immediate prize of three crates of beer. In addition, the daily winner collects 25 points and the other teams collect points in alignment to the points scheme for the DTM drivers, with these being awarded in accordance to the official times list approved by the DMSB, from the moment the car drives into the pit to the moment it leaves the pit lane.
Once the season has finished, the exclusive tyre partner to the DTM presents the winners with a crystal trophy representing a stylised pit stop scene and organises a party for the successful team, which post 2015 season took place in Oberjoch in the Allgäu mountains.
Previous winners of the Hankook DTM Best Pit Stop Award:
2011: Audi Sport Team Phoenix
2012: Audi Sport Team Abt
2013: BMW Team Schnitzer
2014: HWA
2015: Audi Sport Team Abt
