Dennis Olsen put Porsche on top on the final day of DTM pre-season testing at Portimao, beating the Audi of 10-time race winner Nico Muller.
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/1_d19c0ae83d.jpg" alt="" />
SSR Performance driver Olsen lapped the Portuguese circuit in 1m41.375s, usurping Abt Audi driver Ricardo Feller&rsquo;s benchmark from Tuesday by just over two tenths of a second.
It ended Audi&rsquo;s unbeaten streak in pre-season testing, with the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer having also topped the opening two days of testing in Hockenheim earlier this month.
Second-quickest on Wednesday was the Team Rosberg Audi of Muller, who ended up 0.269s off the pace with a time of 1m41.697s.&nbsp;
The Swiss driver narrowly edged out the top Lamborghini of Nick Thiim, who continued his impressive form in pre-season testing to finish third for the T3 Motorsport team.
Feller couldn&rsquo;t match his chart-time topping from Tuesday but still ended up a respectable fourth on the timesheets, just ahead of the Team Bernhard 75 Porsche of Thomas Preining.
Factory Lamborghini driver Mirko Bortolotti ended the day sixth-quickest for the Grasser Racing Team, just ahead of his Porsche counterpart Laurens Vanthoor in the second of the two SSR Performance cars.
HRT&rsquo;s new recruit Luca Stolz was the top Mercedes representative in eighth, half a second off the pace of Olsen, while the top 10 was rounded by the lead BMW of Sheldon van der Linde (Schubert) and Mercedes driver Mikael Greiner (GruppeM).
Red Bull driver Felipe Fraga posted a time of 1m42.005s to end the day 11th quickest in his AF Corse Ferrari, just ahead of the Abt Audi of three-time DTM champion Rene Rast.
Fraga&rsquo;s teammate and WRC legend Sebastien Loeb completed a full day of running for the first time in pre-season testing, logging 75 laps in his AlphaTauri-liveried Ferrari ahead of his DTM debut later this weekend at Portimao.
Loeb&rsquo;s best time was a 1m42.990s which put him 28th on the timesheets, just ahead of T3 Motorsport&rsquo;s Esmee Hawkey and GRT rookie Alessio Deledda.
British driver Ben Green again joined the 29-car field as a reward for winning the GT4-based DTM Trophy last year, finishing just ahead of Loeb in 27th position.
Wednesday&rsquo;s test again ran late in the evening to allow the DTM to complete TV construction work in daylight, although all drivers returned to the pits by 9pm - an hour before the official end of the day&rsquo;s running.
There was also a disruption earlier in the day around 6pm when Marco Wittmann crashed his Walkenhorst BMW at Turn 6 with what the team suspects to be a technical problem. The two-time DTM champion didn&rsquo;t venture out on track again after the incident as the squad investigated the issue in detail, leaving him 19th in the classification with just 16 laps on board.
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/2_5d8f94fdef.jpg" alt="" />
Portimao DTM test - Day 2 results:
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/res_7b73be9c6d.jpg" alt="" width="598" height="958" />

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

Porsche Motorsport

Dennis Olsen

SSR Performance

large_0.jpg

medium_0.jpg

small_0.jpg

thumbnail_0.jpg

0.jpg

By: Rachit Thukral

Porsche tops final day of Portimao DTM testing

The intriguing, serrated floor edge that Alfa Romeo revealed at the launch of its new Formula 1 car has been confirmed as a &lsquo;fake&rsquo; by team insiders.
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/3_122779f07d.webp" alt="" />
The Hinwil-based operation was the first squad to unveil a genuine 2023 challenger earlier this year at an event it held in Zurich.&nbsp;
Launch renders of the new C43 showed the car with a unique serrated solution that featured a run of fins all along the edge of the floor.&nbsp;
However, when the new car ran for the first time in a shakedown at Barcelona, the floor design was very different and was much more traditional.
That prompted a number of theories, including that Alfa Romeo could be waiting to unleash the floor later in the year, or it was a development route that got abandoned early on.&nbsp;
There were also suggestions that Alfa Romeo had played a trick with its launch images &ndash; and played around with the design to not show off what it was really doing with this critical area of the car.&nbsp;
With the season now underway, high-level sources within Alfa Romeo have confirmed that the serrated floor design was indeed a total fake &ndash; put on the car as a bit of fun and to distract rival teams about what it was up to.&nbsp;
What made the Alfa Romeo launch floor so intriguing was that while it seemed extreme, it did appear to be a perfectly acceptable approach to dealing with the current F1 regulations.&nbsp;
From a legality perspective, the vertical flap and the nine winglets attached to it appeared to obey the rules laid out for the floor edge and the 'edge wing', with the vertical flap they are anchored to being aided by the brackets that are also allowed.
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/0_c0f07125c0.jpg" alt="" width="1130" height="753" />
Other than the winglets being mounted upon the vertical flap, there were two interesting side effects to note in this solution.&nbsp;
Firstly, on the left, you could see how the flap would provide a corridor for the airflow between it and the sidepod's flank.&nbsp;
Secondly, on the right, the flap was mounted above the floor edge's level (dotted yellow line to help show the separation), with the brackets allowing the airflow a route with which to circulate to the outside of the flap.&nbsp;
However, while legal, it is now clear that Alfa Romeo never seriously intended to race with the floor &ndash; and instead it was all just part of the pre-season gamesmanship with rivals.&nbsp;
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/2_503ae82e94.webp" alt="" />
<iframe style="width: 1196px; height: 673px;" src="https://motorsport.tv/embed/3BZfv4kN" width="1196" height="673" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Alfa Romeo

Formula One

By Jonathan Noble

Alfa Romeo’s mystery F1 2023 launch floor was a total fake

Toto Wolff insists his Mercedes Formula 1 team is "sticking together" amid comments from Lewis Hamilton that it 'didn't listen' to his input on the 2023 car.
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/0_ef6b57eb0a.jpg" alt="" width="1125" height="751" />
After making rapid progress towards the end of a troubled 2022 campaign, Mercedes was hopeful of closing the gap with Red Bull and Ferrari but instead has found itself further adrift in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Mercedes came out of the 2023 season opener as the fourth-fastest team after Hamilton was powerless to resist Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso on his charge to the podium behind both Red Bulls. Team-mate George Russell was similarly beaten to sixth by Lance Stroll.
Having dialed out crippling porpoising issues with help from the raised floor rules for 2023, Mercedes hoped it would finally be able to unearth the full potential of its design philosophy.
But when Bahrain qualifying confirmed that Mercedes had regressed instead, team boss Wolff admitted the Brackley outfit would have to abandon the W14's design concept, saying he "didn't think this package is going to be competitive eventually."
After the race Lewis Hamilton told BBC 5 Live that the team 'didn't' listen' to his input on the 2023 car, saying: "Last year, there were things I told them, I said the issues that are with the car.
"I've driven so many cars in my life, so I know what a car needs, I know what a car doesn't need. And I think it's really about accountability.
"It's about owning up and saying: 'Yeah, you know what? We didn't listen to you. It's not where it used to be and we've got to work.'"
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/2_5d8e9c44a8.jpg" alt="" width="1135" height="756" />
Despite those hints of frustration from the seven-time world champion, Wolff insisted the team is sticking together and its strong relationship with Hamilton is intact.
"The Lewis situation is you heard him on the radio. He is an integral part of the team, picking the team up and we are all sticking together and I don&rsquo;t think that is going to change just because we had a start that was really bad," Wolff said.
"We have won eight constructors' championships and six drivers&rsquo; championships with him and that relationship holds.&rdquo;
Hamilton's Mercedes deal is running out at the end of the year, but Wolff says he is not yet worried about losing the eight-time world champion.
"As much as being transparent as to how we need to turn the car around, it is not the point to talk about the driver situation in 2024," he replied when asked if he has a plan B in case Hamilton decides to walk away.
"It is far too early, we need to all push in then same direction, the drivers, the engineers, all the management rather than throwing in the towel. We have never done that and we will not do it.&rdquo;
"We just need to really dig deep and deeper than we have every done and provide both drivers with a car they are able to fight with."
<iframe style="width: 1132px; height: 637px;" src="https://motorsport.tv/embed/nZd8VDuU" width="1132" height="637" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Torger Christian Toto Wolff

Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton

large_2.jpg

medium_2.jpg

small_2.jpg

thumbnail_2.jpg

2.jpg

By Filip Cleeren

Wolff: Mercedes F1 "sticking together" amid Hamilton's 'didn't listen' remarks

McLaren technical director James Key says that the team's current problems result from a late change of aerodynamic philosophy triggered by the 2023 Formula 1 rule changes.
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/2_e6b7e26597.webp" alt="" />
Last summer the teams and the FIA agreed to a rise of 15mm in the floor edge height as part of an attempt to address porpoising.
Having tried the new spec in the wind tunnel, McLaren decided that it would be difficult to recover performance with the 2023 car with the package it was running.
Thus, in September, the team decided to take a different route, one that offered much more potential.
The call was made too late to ready the full new package for Bahrain, which is why the team is instead aiming to make a big leap when it is introduced in Baku.
"Where this happened actually is when we took the 15mm floor step," said Key.
"So we all agreed that as porpoising protection, which was very sensible given at the time last year that was still quite a major issue. It began to improve for everyone as things improved during the year.
"That sounds very small, but these floors are huge and incredibly sensitive. Look at how much downforce it generates, massive. So when we did it on our car, it actually gave us a much bigger loss than anticipated. It seems to have affected different teams in different ways.
"And to a certain extent, it seems to be related to the floor edge geometry that you're running at the time."
<img src="https://production-cms-mss.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/0_4f26bfc38f.jpg" alt="" width="1203" height="802" />
The call was made too late to ready the full new package for Bahrain, which is why the team is instead aiming to make a big leap when it is introduced in Baku.
"Where this happened actually is when we took the 15mm floor step," said Key.
"So we all agreed that as porpoising protection, which was very sensible given at the time last year that was still quite a major issue. It began to improve for everyone as things improved during the year.
"That sounds very small, but these floors are huge and incredibly sensitive. Look at how much downforce it generates, massive. So when we did it on our car, it actually gave us a much bigger loss than anticipated. It seems to have affected different teams in different ways.
"And to a certain extent, it seems to be related to the floor edge geometry that you're running at the time."
"Which is a big change, because they're very big projects, and very complex projects.
"So I think the timing of the reg, and the fact that we took a particularly large hit, and then that it clearly wasn't going to come back easily, meant that we had to change direction quite late."
Key insists that the reason why the team didn't rush to get the complete new package to the first race in Bahrain was because it wanted to ensure that it was fully developed and understood.
"It wasn't like we were dawdling around and thinking what to do, and actually why don't we do this," he said. "It was sort of forced upon us by a recognition that the new regs weren't going to recover with what we knew from last year.
"That led to a completely refreshed and revamped approach to that area of the car. It takes a while to develop these things. We tried to get it for race one, it wasn't mature enough.
"It would have performed a bit better. But with these floors, you've got to maintain stability, good correlation and everything else to guarantee that it's going work, and it was a little bit risky for race one."
Asked by Motorsport.com if it was frustrating to have made the call so late, Key said: "Absolutely, I mean, it is frustrating because, to be honest, the route we're on now seems to be pretty prolific, it's doing what we hoped it would do. There's still some work to do.
"The development rate on that is so much higher than what we had. Had the reg been earlier or had we clocked the fact that actually you need to do a different thing with this four weeks earlier, we wouldn't be talking about it right now, to be honest.
"So it's a bit it's a bit of a shame, but we are where we are, and we're just going to recover from it."
<iframe style="width: 1204px; height: 677px;" src="https://motorsport.tv/embed/eHWKIl1a" width="1204" height="677" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

McLaren

2023 Bahrain Grand Prix

By Adam Cooper

How a 15mm difference triggered McLaren's F1 2023 woes

The race itself will stay with a simplified format – two heat races to set the All-Star Race starting lineup, a 100-lap All-Star Open, and a 200-lap main event at the historic .625-mile track that pays $1 million to the winner.However, several new features will debut including a tire strategy element, a new qualifying/pit crew challenge format and pitting requirements.Potentially, three ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/2024-nascar-all-star-race-format-includes-different-tire-compounds/10602569/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

The race itself will stay with a simplified format – two heat races to set the All-Star Race starting lineup, a 100-lap All-Star Open, and a 200-lap main event at the historic .625-mile track that pays $1 million to the winner.However, several new features will debut including a tire strategy element, a new qualifying/pit crew challenge format and pitting requirements.Potentially, three ...Keep reading

2024 NASCAR All-Star Race format includes different tire compounds

While Rosenqvist was able to the lead opening lap, which started under caution due to a Race Control issue. Once the green flag came out on lap 2 of 85, though he quickly lost the top spot to fellow front row starter Will Power, who surged by with an outside move into Turn 1 in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet.It proved to mark the beginning of a downward slide as the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/brake-issues-hinder-rosenqvists-chances-for-victory-in-long-beach/10602566/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

While Rosenqvist was able to the lead opening lap, which started under caution due to a Race Control issue. Once the green flag came out on lap 2 of 85, though he quickly lost the top spot to fellow front row starter Will Power, who surged by with an outside move into Turn 1 in the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet.It proved to mark the beginning of a downward slide as the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing ...Keep reading

Brake issues hinder Rosenqvist’s chances for victory in Long Beach

Dixon sliced ahead of Power on lap 24, taking the benefit of his fresh set of alternate tires, and went on to score a famous victory by managing his fuel saving to perfection.Power started the race from the front row on his softer-compound rubber, and jumped ahead of poleman Felix Rosenqvist at the opening corner.He extended a 6.5s lead only for Christian Rasmussen to cause the race’s sole ...<a class='more' href='https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/will-power-defense-scott-dixon-tire-strategy/10602562/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=RSS-ALL&utm_term=News&utm_content=www'>Keep reading</a>

Dixon sliced ahead of Power on lap 24, taking the benefit of his fresh set of alternate tires, and went on to score a famous victory by managing his fuel saving to perfection.Power started the race from the front row on his softer-compound rubber, and jumped ahead of poleman Felix Rosenqvist at the opening corner.He extended a 6.5s lead only for Christian Rasmussen to cause the race’s sole ...Keep reading

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters News