Mirko Bortolotti has highlighted his determined runner-up finish at Zandvoort as a pivotal moment in his 2024 DTM title-winning campaign, as he fought through the challenge of a delaminating left-rear tyre.
The SSR Performance Lamborghini driver finished 7.239 seconds behind race winner Marco Wittmann of Schubert Motorsport, but managed to hold off a long line of cars despite struggling with his tyre. Speaking to Motorsport.com, Bortolotti explained how this race became one of his most memorable due to the critical impact that losing several positions in the final laps could have had on his title hopes.
Thomas Preining finished just 2.73 seconds behind Bortolotti in 10th place, earning only six points, while Bortolotti secured 20 points for his second-place finish. His nearest title rival, Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Audi), finished third and would have benefited the most from any issues Bortolotti faced. Ultimately, Bortolotti clinched his first DTM championship by a margin of 17 points.
“I had a tyre failure two or three laps before the end, and I had to bring it home in P2 with, I think, seven cars on my bumper,” the 34-year-old explained. “And Kelvin was the first car on my bumper in that case. It was probably one of the hardest races, which was really important. If the tyre would have blown, it would have been a big setback for us. Probably it would have been game over.”
Bortolotti had been battling Wittmann for the lead before his Lamborghini Huracan EVO2 became increasingly difficult to drive in the final laps. “And it’s all right-handers in Zandvoort, so you put a lot of load on the tyres,” he added. “It was pretty hard to bring it home. That was one key race.”
Bortolotti and van der Linde were evenly matched for most of the season, with both consistently finishing in the points. However, Bortolotti came out on top despite winning only one race compared to van der Linde’s three. The Italian driver believes that maximizing his results in races where victory was out of reach was crucial to his title campaign and pointed to another second-place finish—this time behind van der Linde at the Nurburgring—as an example of his consistent approach.
The season opener, which featured a new Pirelli wet tyre, was dominated by van der Linde, who won by 15.23 seconds, leaving Bortolotti struggling for pace. “Kelvin was flying, and we were nowhere; not only us, but the rest of the field was struggling as well,” he recalled. “On a day where you have no chance, to limit the damage and finish second was really important.”