DSC’s Daily Notebook (18/04/2023)

Engel sets best time in DTM testing

Maro Engel set the pace in the 2023 DTM test at Red Bull Ring last week, in the #48 Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter AMG GT3, with a time of 1:28.117.

“It was a good day, and it was a lot of fun working with the team. That was my first test in 2023 with the Mercedes-AMG Team Mann-Filter. It is always just so much fun to drive in the Mamba. The car has a really big fanbase and it’s superb to feel all this support,“ said the 37-year-old works driver.

Second-fastest over both days, which featured six sessions and 13 hours of track time, was last year’s champion Sheldon van der Linde in his Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, followed by Indian racer Arjun Maini for the Mercedes-AMG Team.

Over the course of the test it was Audi factory driver Luca Engstler from the Liqui Moly Team Engstler Motorsport outfit that completed the most laps. The 23-year-old completed 288 laps in Styria in his Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, ahead of his first DTM season.

“It was a crazy weekend. As expected, there is immense media interest in the DTM. I am really proud to be on the grid,” he said. “It was important for me and the team to gather as many kilometres and as many insights as possible. We still do have a bit of homework to do before the start of the season, but I am ready for the DTM.”

The first race weekend of the season will take place at Oschersleben from the 26th to the 28th of May.

Black Bull Whisky chair buys stake in Barwell

After 10 years as title sponsor of its race cars, Black Bull whisky chairman Euan Shand has acquired a stake in Barwell Motorsport to become a co-owner of the team.

A self-confessed life-long motorsport fan, Shand has always had a fascination with speed, from building model cars as a boy to rebuilding his own cars and engines as he got older, admitting that he ‘enjoyed getting as much speed out of my basic cars’ as he could. With family ties to motorsport too, future involvement was almost certain.

“My father used to take me to hill climbs and races as a boy and, as soon as I was old enough, I went to my first British Grand Prix, at Brands Hatch, way back in the day,” Shand recounts. “My uncle — _who I never met as he sadly passed away in an air crash on the way to Le Mans — _raced a Lagonda, so I was always intrigued by that and started going to Le Mans in the early ’90s. I’ve only missed three 24 Hours since!

“Having sponsored a rally car in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I was quickly convinced by Barwell to do the same with their GT cars and, as such, have been a partner of the team since 2013. Now, after ten years together, that relationship has led to me buying into the team, and I’m excited to see where the future will take us.”

“Although we have seen Euan as part of the Barwell family for the past 10 years, we are delighted to welcome him as an official member,” team principal Mark Lemmer commented. “Black Bull has been amongst the most recognisable sponsors in GT racing for the past decade but, with Euan’s involvement, we have a number of exciting projects in the pipeline that will take both Black Bull and Barwell to greater heights.”

Iron Lynx to join GT2 European Series

Iron Lynx has announced it will contest its first Fanatec GT2 European Series event this weekend when the series heads to Monza for its 2023 season opener.

Driving for the team will be father-son duo Luciano and Donovan Privitelio at the wheel of its #8 Super Trofeo Lamborghini.

B-Quick Absolute Racing enters Audi quartet to Super Series

B-Quik Absolute Racing has revealed that it will compete in the 2023 TSS Super Series with a quartet of Audi R8 GT3 LMS evo IIs.

This multi-car effort from the team builds on a highly successful 2022 season, which netted it the Super Car GT3 Drivers’ and Teams’ titles. For this season B-Quik Absolute has retained the bulk of the drivers that combined so well to deliver those crowns with some very exciting new additions coming into the mix.

Leading the charge when Round 1 gets underway at Buriram’s Chang International Circuit later this week will be the #26 Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II which will feature an unchanged driver lineup of Henk Kiks and Eshan Pieris.

A new partnership will share the #25 Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II, where the reigning GT3 Drivers’ champion, Akash Nandy, who clinched the crown last year in his rookie year, will be joined by Adisak Tangphuncharoen, who graduates to GT3 after a season driving a Porsche Cayman in GT4.

Back for a second season in Super Car GT3 will be Vicente Floriendo in the #55 Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II, racing alongside Audi Sport driver Markus Winkelhock.

Finally, there are a pair of all-new names to TSS in the #13 Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo II, where Cheng Congfu will team up with Sun Jingzu.

The first round of TSS The Super Series by B-Quik 2023 gets underway at Chang International Circuit this weekend.

Images courtesy of ADAC/DTM, Barwell and B-Quick Absolute