Extra tyre info for DTM fans

Spectators watching this Sunday’s DTM round at the Norisring circuit in southern Germany will no longer have to puzzle over which tyres each driver has selected. Championship tyre supplier Hankook has decided to visually differentiate the option tyres by printing its brand name in larger, yellow text on the sidewall. Viewers at home will also be helped in the tyre department through additional on-screen information; graphics shown on televised coverage will now also indicate which tyres a vehicle is using. This information is transmitted via the rim-mounted sensors each DTM car has used since the start of 2012 to convey information on tyre pressure.

Tyre data sent from each sensor carries an individual code that is assigned prior to the distribution of the option tyres. Should a DTM car enter the circuit fitted with option tyres, a receiver within the car notes this information and automatically transmits it to the television graphics interface.

“The use of individual codes that are automatically identified will make the use of the option tyres even more transparent, from the Norisring weekend,” says Hans Werner Aufrecht, chairman of DTM rights holder and promoter ITR e. V. “As next step following the bigger yellow identification marks on the tyre sides that we have already been using since Spielberg, this system makes sure that the TV graphics also are up to date at any time. This provides the spectators and the TV audience a better overview of what is going on in the race.”

Option tyres have been used in DTM since the beginning of the current season. Thanks to their softer compound, they enable the driver using them to set faster lap times – for a certain period of time. With prolonged use, however, their performance quickly deteriorates. Every driver receives – solely for the race – one set of these tyres and must use them in the race. The option tyres allow the drivers to opt for different strategies.

The Norisring, set out on the site of the former Nazi party rally ground in Nuremburg, is the only street circuit on the DTM calendar. The fifth round of the season gets underway there at 12:40pm BST (1:40pm CEST). Highlights of the race will be shown in the UK on ITV4, while German viewers can enjoy live coverage on ARD.