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GT Racing
DTM: Hand Learning Quickly On Series Debut
Marshall Pruett checks in with American star Joey Hand after his first DTM race for BMW at Hockenheim.
After a career-defining 2011 season with BMW, the German manufacturer promoted Joey Hand to its new DTM squad for 2012. (Photo: LAT)
For the first time since Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan ventured over to do a handful of DTM races in the 1990s, Americans have one of their own to support in Germany’s top touring car series.
Sacramento, California’s Joey Hand spoke with SPEED.com after his first DTM race for BMW last weekend at Hockenheim, and despite a rough and tumble introduction to the silhouette series, the reigning ALMS GT champion says he came away with a positive outlook after finishing 13th on his debut.
“Believe it or not, I left feeling not so bad about it,” Hand said while in transit to this weekend’s DTM race at the Lausitzring. “Most of the weekend went right, and only a few things didn’t. The cool thing to find out was that we had the pace. That’s what everybody was wondering, especially for a new manufacturer coming into the series, and we had the pace to be competitive.”
On a personal front, Hand was also pleased to reward the efforts by his BMW Team RMG crew and the manufacturer as a whole in what has been a massive undertaking to bring BMW back to the DTM after an absence of nearly two decades.
“I had a good run in the second practice where I was atop the charts for a while,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘Man, I hope somebody takes a picture of that,’ and my wife, Natalie, did. So there were some personal highlights. That was a great morale booster for our team. The BMW teams have been working so hard—all-nighters, just a few hours of sleep—for weeks leading up to the first race, so it was emotional for everyone to see how good the BMW M3s have been right out of the box.”
Never lacking in confidence, Hand was caught out by a bit of over exuberance during his first DTM qualifying session, which left him in 16th when the knockout-style time trials were over.
“I expect to go out and be a contender, personally, but I’m also learning every track for the first time, so there’s a lot to get done and to get right each weekend. Going out for qualifying, the only thing that wasn’t spot-on was in Qualy 2. I was fast enough to make it into Qualy 2, but went wide on one corner, two wheels in the gravel, and if you lose one-tenth of s second, that’s like eight spots, and I lost four- our five tenths on that one mistake. It put me 16th, so I wasn’t able to transfer to the next qualifying round.
“Had I completed the lap without the mistake, I would have transferred, but it was a mistake of my own. I was bummed because the car could have done it. It put me in a spot where the start was tough; it doesn’t matter what series you’re in. Starting 16th anywhere, especially in a sprint race, means you’ll have a lot of work to do, so that was a big lesson for me in my first DTM qualifying session.”
Just as the DTM is known for its high-tech cars, it’s also known for the type of hard driving that brings plenty of contact, spins and crashes. Hand managed to move forward in the field, but found himself on the receiving end of two blows that ended any hopes of finishing inside the top 10 on his introduction to the series.
“In the race, I fought my way back and made up a lot of spots, but then I got hit hard by a guy and that cost me a lot of spots and track position,” he said. “Then I got hit again later in the race, so that hurt us even more. All in all, it was a good first weekend—a good first experience—and finishing 13th wasn’t what we wanted, but I learned a lot. We know how much potential we have, which is the encouraging part.”
With a substantial learning curve to overcome, Hand believes he’s on an accelerated pace to pick up all the nuances required to contest each weekend like a DTM veteran.
“The best thing for me, I’d say, is that I feel like I got a good handle on the differences of racing in the DTM,” he remarked. “I’ve been in the ALMS for so long, that everything becomes a habit—it all happens naturally. The starts, the pit stops, the procedures, how to launch the car from a stop, the pit strategy, and all the little things that are unique to the series, but become automatic over time. I’m not at that place after only one DTM race, but I definitely feel like I know what to expect now.
"It’s not feeling like a totally new experience. BMW has done an amazing job to prepare me and the rest of my teammates for this new challenge.”
Sacramento, California’s Joey Hand spoke with SPEED.com after his first DTM race for BMW last weekend at Hockenheim, and despite a rough and tumble introduction to the silhouette series, the reigning ALMS GT champion says he came away with a positive outlook after finishing 13th on his debut.
“Believe it or not, I left feeling not so bad about it,” Hand said while in transit to this weekend’s DTM race at the Lausitzring. “Most of the weekend went right, and only a few things didn’t. The cool thing to find out was that we had the pace. That’s what everybody was wondering, especially for a new manufacturer coming into the series, and we had the pace to be competitive.”
On a personal front, Hand was also pleased to reward the efforts by his BMW Team RMG crew and the manufacturer as a whole in what has been a massive undertaking to bring BMW back to the DTM after an absence of nearly two decades.
“I had a good run in the second practice where I was atop the charts for a while,” he said. “I was thinking, ‘Man, I hope somebody takes a picture of that,’ and my wife, Natalie, did. So there were some personal highlights. That was a great morale booster for our team. The BMW teams have been working so hard—all-nighters, just a few hours of sleep—for weeks leading up to the first race, so it was emotional for everyone to see how good the BMW M3s have been right out of the box.”
Never lacking in confidence, Hand was caught out by a bit of over exuberance during his first DTM qualifying session, which left him in 16th when the knockout-style time trials were over.
“I expect to go out and be a contender, personally, but I’m also learning every track for the first time, so there’s a lot to get done and to get right each weekend. Going out for qualifying, the only thing that wasn’t spot-on was in Qualy 2. I was fast enough to make it into Qualy 2, but went wide on one corner, two wheels in the gravel, and if you lose one-tenth of s second, that’s like eight spots, and I lost four- our five tenths on that one mistake. It put me 16th, so I wasn’t able to transfer to the next qualifying round.
“Had I completed the lap without the mistake, I would have transferred, but it was a mistake of my own. I was bummed because the car could have done it. It put me in a spot where the start was tough; it doesn’t matter what series you’re in. Starting 16th anywhere, especially in a sprint race, means you’ll have a lot of work to do, so that was a big lesson for me in my first DTM qualifying session.”
Just as the DTM is known for its high-tech cars, it’s also known for the type of hard driving that brings plenty of contact, spins and crashes. Hand managed to move forward in the field, but found himself on the receiving end of two blows that ended any hopes of finishing inside the top 10 on his introduction to the series.
“In the race, I fought my way back and made up a lot of spots, but then I got hit hard by a guy and that cost me a lot of spots and track position,” he said. “Then I got hit again later in the race, so that hurt us even more. All in all, it was a good first weekend—a good first experience—and finishing 13th wasn’t what we wanted, but I learned a lot. We know how much potential we have, which is the encouraging part.”
With a substantial learning curve to overcome, Hand believes he’s on an accelerated pace to pick up all the nuances required to contest each weekend like a DTM veteran.
“The best thing for me, I’d say, is that I feel like I got a good handle on the differences of racing in the DTM,” he remarked. “I’ve been in the ALMS for so long, that everything becomes a habit—it all happens naturally. The starts, the pit stops, the procedures, how to launch the car from a stop, the pit strategy, and all the little things that are unique to the series, but become automatic over time. I’m not at that place after only one DTM race, but I definitely feel like I know what to expect now.
"It’s not feeling like a totally new experience. BMW has done an amazing job to prepare me and the rest of my teammates for this new challenge.”
FIA GT Nogaro
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