Pirelli, the P Zero DHF and Cinturato WHA praised by the drivers win the DHF challenge

With the title win by Thomas Preining of the Manthey Ema Porsche team, the 2023 DTM season, Pirelli’s first as sole supplier, came to a close.

The closing event at the Hokenheimring, which saw Preining win Race 1 and Race 2, confirmed the level of competitiveness that has characterised all eight rounds of the season in one of the world’s top motorsport championships:

• Battles with uncertain outcomes and drivers bunched within seconds, both in races and in qualifying
• Reliability and performance of the P Zero DHF dry tyres and Cinturato WHA wet tyres, which were able to accompany and support such close competition

PIRELLI QUOTE
"We are deeply satisfied with our contribution to the success of the newly concluded DTM season, which this year was one of the most competitive championships in the world: it is not usual, in fact, to award the title at the last race with three contenders still in the running. It is a pleasure to work in such a professional environment and with such top drivers. And of course, we are satisfied with the performance of our tyres. In particular of P Zero DHF, which proved to have the right characteristics to support the very high competitive level of the DTM, while ensuring the implementation of the fundamental principle of fairness in sport. We are not surprised by this result, even though the DHF was not specifically designed for the DTM format. In fact, it is the product we developed for GT3s and use on all continents, for different championships and race formats, constantly evolving to adapt to the constant innovations of GT cars, which represent an exceptional platform not only for racing tyres, but also for road tyres, to which we transfer the technological solutions we have tried and tested on the track".

THE SEASON IN FIGURES
The competitiveness expressed by the 2023 DTM season is summed up in the following numbers. In the 16 races of the championship, spread over the eight rounds of the season, the winners were

• 12 drivers out of 29 entries from 6 different countries, i.e., in addition to the newly crowned champion Preining and his pursuer Mirko Bortolotti, Marvin Dienst, Franck Perera, Ricardo Feller, Maro Engel, Sheldon Van Der Linde, Maximilian Paul, Jack Aitken, Luca Stolz, René Rast, Kelvin Van Der Linde
• 9 out of 12 teams, i.e. – in addition to Mantey Ema winning the 2023 team title – Ssr Performance, Tok Sport WRT, ABT Sportline, Landgraf, Shubert Motorsport, GRT Grasser Team, Emil Frey, HRT
• 6 out of 6 manufacturers, Porsche, which takes the manufacturers‘ title, and in order Lamborghini, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Ferrari
• 5 races (Oschersleben2, Nurburring2, Laustitzring2 and Hockenheim1 and 2) ended with tenths of a second between first and second placed, while none ended with gaps of more than 4 seconds, with the sole exception of Zandvoort1 (6.00 seconds) 

THE DRIVERS‘ COMMENTS
Thomas Preining (Manthey Ema, Porsche): "The Pirelli tyres work. In particular, qualifying were particularly satisfying with these tyres. We had no tyre damage all season and that is very positive".

Mirko Bortolotti (Ssr Performance, Lamborghini): "The Pirelli tyres have been a great product for this championship, allowing us to run spectacular races throughout the season, without any problems and failures".

Christian Engelhart (GRT Grasser Racing Team, Lamborghini): Pirelli is a very good tyre. You have a peak and then a fairly constant phase throughout the race. You can push hard and that’s good in races".

THE DTM TYRES: P ZERO DHF AND CINTURATO WHA
Pirelli P Zero DHF is a tyre developed to meet the specific needs of all GT classes. Features of the DHF include a wide working range and a new construction solution that optimises the car’s balance with a better connection between the front and rear axles. The Cinturato WHA are the wet-weather tyres designed to maintain the performance and reliability characteristics of the DHF even in wet asphalt conditions.

UR : https://press.pirelli.com/pirelli-the-p-zero-dhf-and-cinturato-wha-praised-by-the-drivers–win-the-dtm-challenge/

ITALIAN VERSION: https://press.pirelli.com/it/pirelli-le-p-zero-dhf-e-cinturato-wha-promosse-dai-piloti-vincono-la-sfida-del-dtm/