At the fourth race weekend of the ADAC GT Masters at the Lausitzring, it will come down to a balanced car set-up. As one of our engineers, Steffen Mohr is in high demand and puts his more than 20 years of experience in motorsport to good use. In the following interview, he reveals how he decided on his career path and what is important in his work.
Why did you become an engineer?
As is true for many, my passion for motorsport actually started when I was a kid. I remember my first Formula 1 race at the Nürburgring in 1985. This fascination back then was less directed towards a specific driver or team, and more about the sport itself. My professional career through studying mechanical engineering was always geared towards gaining a foothold in motorsport and I have to say that I am very happy that I became an engineer.
What does a race weekend look like for you and what is particularly important?
The preparations actually start before the race weekend. Each track has different characteristics that are important for my work. You think about which set-up would be best suited and prepare the draft racing strategy in advance. During the test day, we try out various set-up options. On the one hand, there is track-specific knowledge that we are looking for, but also some that contribute more to a general understanding of the car. For qualifying and the race, different conditions influence the requirements for a good set-up. We use data analysis, experience and discussions with the drivers to perfect the set-up over the course of the weekend. Consistently good performance is our aim and that works best if you tinker precisely with these individual screws on a racing weekend. After an event, we look again at the session data and try to gather information from it for the next time.
What do you enjoy the most about your job?
What I like most is the data analysis and the constant improvement, the learning and the progress. Never standing still and always trying to get a little bit more out of it: that’s what drives me in my role. That applies to the individual race weekends just as much as to the entire season, and that’s what I enjoy the most.
More about the set-up at the Lausitzring can be found here: Lausitzring: Christopher Haase reveals what is important.
