From some absurd Friday showers, the night has folded into a warm, beautiful sunny morning.
The damp streaks, marked so starkly with dark patches – obvious offline – was soon to be swept and scrubbed dry by fierce German technology.
But it’s the sounds of the morning at Brands Hatch that truly astounds. The DTM cars are bloody loud at the Kent circuit, probably moreso than anywhere else on the calendar. Brands Hatch acts like a bowl and the engine sound – note, not noise, but tuneful sound – reverberates in glorious undiluted fashion.
There is no point using headphones to listen to the circuit radio – you will never hear it.
It is not a shriek, but rather a guttural roar that really punishes, as the eighteen DTM machines – mixtures of Audi’s, BMW’s and Mercedes’ – ease through the gears exiting the final bend at Clark Curve and extending the throttle down the Brabham straight, before hanging on for dear life through Paddock Hill Bend.
There is only a few seconds before the cars briefly fall out of sight as they ascend Hailwoods Hill and into the hairpin at Druids, returning then down toward Graham Hill Bend.
As the second practice session finished, all three manufacturers were represented in the top four and they were close – thoughts on gaps and advantages or otherwise seem to pale into nothing when times are so close.
When the DTM was last here at Brands Hatch, the short Indy circuit was used – the thought being that the fans would see the cars loop more often and therefore provide more action; however the actual racing on the Indy circuit was dreadful.
Approximately ninety laps of follow the leader on a circuit where overtaking was impossible due to cars that had huge amounts of downforce and no straights long enough to build momentum to pass.
The Grand Prix loop of Brands Hatch may not necessarily provide more overtaking, but it will be more of a challenge for drivers pushing their machines to the edge.
It is in this and through the simplest of errors that Brands Hatch will bite.
