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The Motorsport Arena circuit is well known to WTCC drivers having featured on the calendar ever since the Championship was instated in 2005 and the majority agree; the track’s chicane and its curbs are extremely demanding on tyres.

As racing tyres specialists, a circuit’s layout is an everyday factor for the Yokohama ADVAN race team as Yokohama’s Technical Consultant, Ian Beveridge, explains: “Throughout a race weekend, it’s the driver’s job to drive the car as fast and efficiently as possible and that sometimes leads to the tyres hitting curbs pretty hard.

“Such impacts could lead to tyre damage but this is something that we know long in advance and is incorporated into our development programme. We simulate those kind of impacts when we develop the tyres and test for endurance on severe loads to stress the casing more than we would normally see in a race.”

N.Technology Alfa Romeo driver James Thompson also believes that tyre grip will be key to racing success in Oschersleben with the German track’s combination of slow and fast corners.

“The mixture of corners means we rely heavily on tyre grip,” said the double British Touring Car Champion. “Finding the right set-up that works in both types of corners can be hard but having grip throughout makes things a lot easier.

“We also have to use the curbs through the fast chicanes which can be very hard on the tyres. The ADVAN’s are very resistant though and our car tends to be gentle on its tyres so I don’t expect any problems there for this weekend’s races.”

Yokohama ADVAN will also be supplying WTCC partner series International Formula Master with control tyres this weekend in Germany.