Bortolotti: “Smallest Mistake” Would Have Cost Sunday Victory

Mirko Bortolotti characterized his battle for victory with Ricardo Feller in Sunday’s DTM race at the Lausitzring as “really hard and fair”, saying that the “smallest mistake” would have allowed the Audi driver to clinch the win instead.

Bortolotti took his second win of the year during Sunday’s 60-minute race at the German circuit, becoming the season’s first repeat winner and taking the championship lead away from Manthey EMA driver Thomas Preining in the process.

The win came after a tightly contested race, in which Feller’s No. 7 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II pressured the No. 92 SSR Performance Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 throughout.

After the race, Bortolotti admitted that it was necessary to carry out a flawless race in order to keep Feller at bay.

“It was a really tough race honestly, from the start,” he said. “I had a really, really quick guy behind me with Ricardo pushing me the whole race.

“I knew exactly if I make the smallest mistake it would be enough for him to get a chance and get the position. The tension was there throughout.

“It was a great fight, at least that’s what I can say from my side. It was a great fight, really fair and hard at the same time.

“That’s how we want to race and at the end we had the better ending today, so really proud about this victory.”

Bortolotti explained that he focused on perfecting his entry and exit to corners in order to prevent Feller from launching any overtaking attempts.

“I think if it would be like a football game, you would say you park the bus,” he said.

“That’s what I tried to do. Park the bus everywhere. Make sure I hit every apex, stop the car there.

“I was happy to get a little love tap from him here and there at the apex but for me it was important to have a good position for the exit and I knew we are strong on braking, I would say same as the Audi.

“Usually we are quite similar on braking so I knew that if I don’t really mess up my braking point, it would be difficult for him to get a chance.

“That’s basically what I tried to do the whole race.”

Bortolotti added that he anticipated that it would have been difficult for Feller to attempt an attack into Lausitzring’s revamped first corner.

Unlike previous years, where the series utilized the layout using the banked oval Turn 1, ADAC opted to return to the Sprint configuration last used during the final year of the Class One regulations in 2020.

As a result, Bortolotti reckoned the straight was not long enough for Feller to gain a sufficient tow to launch an overtake, adding that the cars were “barely pulling sixth gear at the end of the straight.”

With the victory, Bortolotti rose to first place in the championship standings, scoring 138 points and holding a seven-point lead over Thomas Preining.

Despite the success, the Italian played down the prospects of a points lead at this stage of the campaign.

“The cherry on the cake is if you have the championship lead at the end of the season, not now,” Bortolotti said.

“It’s just good to be in a much better position than we used at the beginning of the weekend, because we came here with a huge margin to the leader and we managed to go home with a small advantage.

“That’s for sure the advantage we want to go and the direction we want to keep.”

Feller “Had No Chance” to Pass

Feller, for his part, said he couldn’t find a way past the Lamborghini driver despite his best efforts.

“I tried everything but it was just not enough,” he said. “It was very tight. I enjoyed it a lot. It was very, it was cool.

“He didn’t [make] any mistakes, so I had no chance. But it was cool. Let’s continue like this.”

The Swiss driver added that the similar characteristics between his Audi and Bortolotti’s Lamborghini added to the challenge, as it didn’t present him with an advantage to exploit.

“It’s very difficult to make a plan,” he said.

“I think the best way is to try to always put him under pressure, that he makes a mistake or something.

“But I think the cars are quite equal on braking, quite equal on tire degradation so we don’t really have an advantage anywhere and he didn’t do any mistakes like I said, so it was just okay. I’m happy.”