Three weeks after the spectacular Sunday race at the Norisring in Nuremberg, premium tyre maker Hankook and the DTM are in Russia. The race at the Moscow Raceway is the ninth of the DTM season in what is probably the most popular international touring car series. The DTM then enters its second half of the season on the third week of July. The demanding 3.931-kilometre circuit to the northwest of Moscow hosts the DTM for the fifth year in a row and, with its many changes in direction and combinations of corners, was posing a real test for the 18 drivers. In the past, the Hankook race tyres – Ventus F200 for dry and Ventus Z207 for wet – have offered the drivers optimal support with its high grip level, as well as its high degree of reliability and consistency.

Moscow/Russia, 11^th August 2017 – With an average speed of about 160 km/h, the Moscow Raceway is one of the slower circuits on the DTM calendar. The drivers hit their top speed of approximately 245 km/h on the 900-metre start/finish straight. The best overtaking opportunity then comes at the end of that section. “At the Moscow Raceway it is important to drive smoothly through the corners, in order to carry momentum out of the turns and to accelerate as well as possible onto the straights. Whoever does that best will be able to overtake on other parts of the track,” explains Hankook DTM race engineer Thomas Baltes.

The Hankook race tyres, which were newly developed for the start of the season, must be brought up to the ideal working temperature as quickly as possible on the smooth surface at the Moscow Raceway. Only then will the tyre develop its high level of grip. Thomas Baltes: “Since the start of the year, it has been forbidden to pre-heat the race tyres. With a balanced car set-up and slightly higher air pressure, the Hankook race tyres slick will soon reach the optimal temperature window on the closed surface structure at the Russian circuit.”

The increased number of corners and many changes in direction, especially the middle section of the track at the Moscow Raceway, are a real challenge for the construction of race tyres. “Whilst this doesn’t affect the Hankook race tyres, generally tyre tread is under greater strain here. However, compared to other DTM circuits, the overall technical stress placed on the race tyre is relatively low,” says the Hankook DTM race engineer.

All three automobile manufacturers – Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz – have tasted success at the Moscow Raceway in recent years, so fans can look forward to eventful and exciting races this weekend. Thomas Baltes said: “The Moscow Raceway has hardly any bumps, so braking ahead of the many corners is easier than at the Norisring, for example, where the cars were very unstable due to the way they bounced across the surface. Good traction is important here in Moscow, in order to be able to accelerate quickly out of the many slower passages. As it has previously, our race tyre will offer the drivers the ideal support in this regard.”