Mirko Bortolotti has pinpointed his determined runner-up finish in an eventful race at Zandvoort as being crucial to his 2024 title-winning DTM campaign, as he defied a delaminating left-rear tyre.
The SSR Performance Lamborghini driver trailed race winner Marco Wittmann's Schubert Motorsport BMW by 7.239s at the flag, holding up a long queue of cars as he struggled to make the finish.
Speaking to Autosport, Bortolotti explained that the race was one of his standout memories of the year because of the dire implications of losing several positions in the closing stages.
Thomas Preining finished just 2.73s behind Bortolotti, but only scored six points for coming 10th while Bortolotti still banked 20 points.
His nearest title rival Kelvin van der Linde (Abt Audi) finished third and stood to gain most from problems befalling Bortolotti, who eventually claimed his first DTM championship by 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 battled Wittmann for the lead before falling back in the closing tours, as his Huracan EVO2 "became really difficult to drive".
"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 year and finished in the points at every race, yet the Italian came out on top despite only taking one victory to van der Linde's three.
He believes that claiming the maximum result from races he had little chance of winning was imperative to his title hopes and picked out another second place, this time to van der Linde at the Nurburgring, as an example of his consistent approach.
The first race of the year on a new Pirelli wet tyre was dominated comprehensively by the South African, who won by 15.23s, but Bortolotti ensured he kept the damage to a minimum by securing second.
"Kelvin was flying and we were nowhere; not only us, but the rest of the field was struggling as well," he said.
"On a day where you have no chance, to limit the damage and to finish second was really important."
