Bortolotti grew to become the primary repeat winner of 2023 when he beat Abt Audi’s Ricardo Feller in a race-long battle on the 4.3km circuit, taking the championship lead within the course of.
Nevertheless, his post-race celebrations had been moderately tame resulting from warmth exhaustion on a sizzling day in japanese Germany, with the ambient temperature reaching 30C and temperatures inside his automobile peaking at 70C.
Pictures confirmed SSR Performance mechanics having to pour water and ice cubes over Bortolotti when he returned to the parc ferme. The Italian driver was additionally seen sipping a can of sentimental drinks in an effort to cool himself down after the race.
“I instantly radioed by means of to the fellows: ‘Hey, deliver me one thing to drink immediately. I would like one thing chilly, as a result of I’ve to get out of the automobile as rapidly as doable,'” Bortolotti advised broadcaster ran.de.
“That is why I did not benefit from the lap after crossing the end line, which you usually get pleasure from as a result of that is the way you win a race.”
Bortolotti additionally struggled with warmth contained in the automobile in Saturday’s opening race, the place he completed second to Emil Frey Ferrari driver Jack Aitken.
The Lamborghini Huracan is among the few GT3 automobiles with out air-con, and the primary cooling system on the most recent Evo model can be understood to be worse than the earlier mannequin.
“Particularly once you roll again to the pits after the race, all the warmth comes into the automobile,” he defined. “At that second it will get fairly sizzling within the cockpit, however I am feeling higher now.
“Within the final laps, I used to be all the time asking, ‘What number of extra laps can we do? Fortunately all the things is okay, however we’ve got to work on the cooling by some means, as a result of it is actually sizzling within the automobile.”
Mirko Bortolotti, SSR Efficiency Lamborghini Huracán EVO GT3
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
Bortolotti wasn’t the one driver to endure from a scarcity of cooling in a Lamborghini in the course of the fifth spherical of the season.
Maximilian Paul, who gained on his first outing of the yr on the Nurburgring earlier this month and made a second DTM look on the Lausitzring, needed to retire from each races due to excessive warmth.
The Grasser driver parked his automobile two laps earlier than the end on Saturday, earlier than having to retire with 11 laps nonetheless to run in Sunday’s race.
Paul was heard saying “I am fully exhausted” over staff radio shortly earlier than he pulled into the pits within the opening race of the weekend.
An issue with the air flow system was responsible, with the small cooling duct on his automobile getting clogged resulting from filth from the observe.
“I had an issue with the temperature within the cockpit. The air flow had clogged up and I could not get any air, which meant I used to be fairly beat up and needed to cease,” he defined.
Feller, whose Audi R8 LMS GT3 is supplied with air-con, needed to cope with soiled exhaust fumes coming from Bortolotti’s automobile. The German driver spent practically your complete race on the tail of the Lamborghini, ending just below 4 tenths behind him after 45 laps of racing.
“I did not actually have any respiratory issues, however a bit of contemporary air when getting out and earlier than that on the slow-down lap undoubtedly did not harm,” he mentioned.
“For an hour I used to be inhaling the complete exhaust fumes that come into the automobile by means of the air flow. The exhaust pipes of the Lambo are immediately pointed on the particular person driving behind.”
Except for the new-for-2022 BMW M4 GT3, utilizing air-con usually has a damaging affect on engine efficiency. It is why most drivers from different producers do not usually reap the benefits of the system.
“We drive with out it if doable, as a result of even when the air-con prices little or no energy, in fact you attempt to go as quick as doable within the race,” defined Porsche’s Thomas Preining.