The Sachsenring weekend had started positively for ABT Sportsline. Mirko Bortolotti set the fifth-fastest time in both free practice sessions on Friday, while his team-mate Nicki Thiim also finished in the top ten twice. The race simulations were also promising.
This made the disappointment all the greater after the first qualifying session, in which the team failed to find the optimal working window for the tyres. Heavy rain shortly before the start of Saturday’s race then created completely different conditions, which Mirko Bortolotti and Nicki Thiim coped with well. Both ABT drivers had their sights set on top ten finishes. However, a technical defect on a wheel gun caused a significant loss of time during the pit stops and cemented 15th and 16th places.
On Sunday, Mirko Bortolotti achieved his best qualifying performance of the season so far with sixth place on the grid. But once again, the team suffered a major disappointment: Nicki Thiim suffered a puncture shortly after his pit stop, which immediately led to retirement. Just two laps later, his team-mate slid off the track at the fastest point of the Sachsenring at around 255 km/h as a result of a broken front left brake disc. The Italian was lucky in his misfortune and escaped the high-speed crash into the gravel trap uninjured. His car was also only slightly damaged.
“Unfortunately, it was another weekend to forget for us,” said ABT Motorsport Director Martin Tomczyk, summing up the weekend. “We were just incredibly unlucky again. The good news is that we made good progress from Saturday to Sunday and Mirko was able put in a strong qualifying performance. We will now analyse this at home and take the findings with us to the Red Bull Ring.”
“On Friday, we were able to confirm the positive results from testing,” said Mirko Bortolotti. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get the tyres into the right working window in qualifying on Saturday. Things worked better on Sunday. Then, during the race, the brake disc exploded at the front left, which led to an early retirement. As a result, we were unable to convert a promising start into a positive result.”
“I really don’t know what we did to deserve this,” said Nicki Thiim. “I was doing well in both races and was in a promising position in each. Then on Saturday, we had bad luck with the defective wheel gun, and on Sunday, it was typical hard racing, where I was hit on the right rear wheel and the tyre was punctured. It’s just unbelievable how much bad luck we have this year. But I’m staying positive and looking forward to our home race at the Red Bull Ring.”