Im Interview spricht der jüngste DTM-Pilot der aktuellen Saison über die Herausforderungen der DTM, das Verhältnis zu seinen Fahrer-Kollegen und seine Emotionen vor einem Start.
Quelle und weitere Informationen: sportschau.de

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For Johannes Seidlitz and the KOLLES Futurecom-TME – Team the weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona started with a roll-out on Friday. First of all Johannes had to get familiar with the 2.977 km track. At the beginning in Saturday’s free practice the track was very slippery and dirty. Johannes did his programme as usual but after around 20 laps he was interrupted. His car had a problem with the steering and the repairing costed a lot of time. At the end of the free practice Johannes was able to do some laps again. It became serious in midday’s qualifying. Johannes did a good job. He was faster than both of his experienced team mates Tomas Kostka and Christian Bakkerud. ”The qualifying was very good. The car was superb and I was in front of my team mates.“ After Ralf Schumacher was put back to the end of the grid due to an engine change Johannes was put another position forward so that he started from P17.

During the race Johannes had to deal with some problems. His AUDI A4 DTM 07 was difficult to handle and the first stint didn’t go well. Due to engine overheating Johannes had to drop back a bit. Johannes did both of his mandatory pit stops in lap 22 and 42. Unfortunately he had to do a third unscheduled pit stop because it seemed on the straight that he could get some tyre problems. To avoid a puncher Johannes decided with the team to change tyres to be on the safe side. With having done three pit stops he finished on P18 and was not content. After his pleasant qualifying Johannes was hoping for a better result in the race. ”My race weekend was good till Saturday evening. After that it didn’t go well. The second and third stint were very good in the race but with having some problems and having to deal with a third pit stop didn’t allow to get a better position. All in all the race was not ideal but it is positive that all three cars of the team were able to close the gap to the 2008 models. Now I am looking forward to the next race in Dijon.“
The next DTM race will take place in Dijon / France on the 11th October.

Last weekend Johannes Seidlitz did his first overseas race with his AUDI A4 DTM 07 in Brands Hatch. The free practice on the 1.929 km ”Indy-track“ went well for Johannes in Brands Hatch. He did some short runs and one long run. He only had a problem with the front suspension of his car and did 61 laps in total. Nothing worked in hands in qualifying for Johannes. He didn’t get his best sector times in one lap together. In the first qualifying segment Johannes improved his qualifying time but he wasn’t satisfied with it. After qualifying Johannes was penalised for blocking Ralf Schumacher. At the end of his qualifying on the way back to the pit, Johannes checked his rear mirror too late. When Johannes saw Ralf Schumacher’s Mercedes in his rear mirror he switched to the left but Ralf Schumacher also switched to the left. When Johannes switched to the right Ralf Schumacher did the same. Unfortunately both drove to the same side. Johannes got the minimum penalty for this action. He had to start five positions down on the grid. In additon to that he got a fine of 2000 Euros. Due to his qualifying position the penalty of going five places down didn’t do any harm to Johannes.

The race didn’t go well from Johannes’ point of view. The start went well but before turn one Johannes backed off because he wanted to survive in the first corner. Johannes and his team KOLLES Futurecom-TME had planed a long first stint for the race. The plan didn’t work out because Johannes had to come to the pit in lap 15 which was an unscheduled stop due to a puncture. The pit stop window for the mandatory pit stops was in lap 24 to 70. So Johannes had to come to the pit for a tyre change before the pit stop window was open. That meant three instead of two pit stops for Johannes in the race. Due to the short circuit that meant Johannes got passed very often and had to drive offline again and again. It was very difficult because there was a lot of dirt offline. For Johannes it was difficult to push hard with dirty tyres and he tried to get the grip back. Finally Johannes crossed the finish line on P17 and stated: “I am not happy with the weekend. The short track was a handicap for us. I am looking forward to Barcelona, the Circuit de Catalunya is a longer track with a longer straight and I think we will have better chances there.“

The next DTM race will take place on the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona on the 20th September 2009.