Joel has completed his on-track pre-season preparations ahead of the 2019 DTM campaign, wrapping up four days of official testing at the Lausitzring this week.
Spanning Monday-Thursday, the full DTM grid was on site at the German circuit, with Joel setting the fastest time among the six BMW drivers (1m35.884s).
In total, BMW completed over 1250 laps and 5500 kilometres during the test.
Lap times indicated that the new-era DTM turbo cars are already more than two seconds per lap quicker than their predecessors, with Audi’s Robin Frijns recording a test-topping 1m35.169s to compare with last year’s pole position effort of 1m37.343s.
“We had some slight issues on the first two days, but that was solved and everything is looking good and promising,” says Joel. “I am actually feeling very comfortable with the car. Everything is quite new for everyone but it’s working fine for me. There are still a few things to improve but that’s the same for everyone. I am feeling positive.”
The DTM season kicks off at Hockenheim in two weeks’ time. BMW is facing competition from Audi and series newcomer Aston Martin.
Just like last year, Joel will be sporting the #47 on his BMW M4 DTM this season, once again racing for BMW Team RBM.
