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Olsen Tops Final Portimao Pre-Season Test Session

Porsche goes quickest as DTM pre-season testing comes to a conclusion…

Photo: DTM

Dennis Olsen concluded the final pre-season DTM test session by setting the fastest time for SSR Performance at Portimao.

The Norwegian posted a time of 1:41:378 behind the wheel of his No. 94 Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Olsen’s time was the fastest set across the two days, just under two tenths of a second faster than the time Abt Sportsline’s Ricardo Feller set to top the first day of running on Tuesday.

Much like the first session a day earlier, running started late in the afternoon and concluded under the cover of darkness due to TV construction work going on during the day.

Olsen demoted the No. 51 Team Rosberg Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Nico Mueller to second place after the Swiss driver had climbed to the top of the sheets at the beginning of the evening.

Mueller held the top spot with a 1:41:662 before dropping to second behind the Porsche.

An improvement of 1:41:647 was not enough to surpass Olsen, leaving him 0.269 seconds down.

The Porsche driver was also one of the most productive drivers during Wednesday’s running with 80 laps.

Only Mueller’s Team Rosberg teammate Dev Gore completed more laps with 85.

Nicki Thiim made it three different manufacturers in the top three, as the Dane reeled off a 1:41:690 in the No. 95 T3 Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo.

Feller, fastest on Tuesday, ended the day in fourth place with Thomas Preining fifth for KÜS75 Team Bernhard.

Porsche showed more pace during the final official session, with Olsen and Preining in the top five and Laurens Vanthoor seventh in the second SSR Porsche.

This was an improvement compared to Tuesday’s running, which saw both SSR cars outside of the top ten even though Preining took second place.

All three 911s also set times in the 1:41s for the first time, something Vanthoor and Olsen had not managed the day before.

Vanthoor, the slowest of the three Porsches, posted a fastest lap of 1:41:822, 0.444 seconds behind his teammate.

Mirko Bortolotti’s sixth-placed Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini separated Preining and Vanthoor on the timesheet. 

The Italian had held the top spot in the session shortly after a red flag interruption before surpassed by Preining, who in turn saw his time bested by Mueller.

That red flag was caused by an off-track moment for the No. 19 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Marco Wittmann.

Details on the incident involving the two-time champion remain unclear, although it is believed no other cars were involved.

Mercedes and BMW runners completed the top ten, with Luca Stolz eighth for Team HRT ahead of Schubert Motorsport’s Sheldon van der Linde and the GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Mikaël Grenier.

Felipe Fraga was the best-placed of the two Ferrari runners in eleventh place, just ahead of Rene Rast and reigning champion Maximilian Götz in thirteenth position.

Götz’ 2021 title rival Kelvin van der Linde came in fourteenth, with Lucas Auer rounding out the top fifteen some seven tenths behind Olsen.

The Austrian failed to complete any laps during running on Tuesday, although his tally on Wednesday also remained relatively low with 39 laps.

In contrast to Tuesday, all thirty cars completed meaningful running during the final pre-season test session.

With testing now finished, the first free practice session of the season kicks off on Friday at 11:10 am local time.

RESULTS: DTM Portimao Test – Wednesday

Davey Euwema is Sportscar365's European Editor. Based in The Netherlands, Euwema covers the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, among other series.

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