Since the Prototype Cup Germany visited the Dekra Lausitzring this season, Maxim Dirickx (21/BEL) and Sven Barth (44/Eberbach, both Aust Motorsport) have developed a taste for the podium: in three of the past four races they have finished in the top three.

The 2025 season began with a home outing for Belgian Maxim Dirickx in Spa-Francorchamps, at which he was hungry to excel. In the end, however, he and his partner Sven Barth had to settle for fifth and sixth place in the two races. In Hockenheim, they again came up short of the podium they were striving for. “At that point, our mood was not particularly good, because we had hoped for more. I then had an intense chat with Maxim, as we both had to clear our heads,” says Barth. Dirickx is reading from the same page. “I put myself under a lot of pressure up until Hockenheim. Since the Lausitzring, I have tried to view the races as fun, and things are already going better. In the end, it was really a mental issue.” Barth can imagine that a youngster like Dirickx might have put himself under too much pressure. “Maxim came straight out of karting in 2024. That is a huge jump up to LMP3 racing. He is obviously not going to get in an LMP3 car and win everything, particularly as the field in the Prototype Cup was and remains strong. I think he first had to come to terms with that and not set his sights on top results at first, as he was basically used to success on the karting scene.

As well as the mental aspect, both drivers believe it also took a certain amount of time for all the cogs in the team to fall perfectly into place. “Our car is better than it was at the start of the season, and our set-ups have also improved. Drivers, team, engineers, mechanics – all are more in tune with each other than at the start of the season.” Also important: both are happy at Aust Motorsport. “Our team principal Frank Aust is the kind of boss, to whom you can talk about anything. And he believed in me from the word go. Another positive is the fact that we are only running one car, which benefits from the full focus over everyone involved,” says the Belgian.

Having twice finished runner-up at the Lausitzring and picked up a third place at the Norisring, where Barth and Dirickx were both making their first appearance, they are now taking a long hard look at the overall standings. “The Konrad duo of Danny Soufi and Pavel Lefterov is probably too far off, but second place in the table is absolutely possible for us. And I want to be the Junior champion,” says Dirickx, revealing his goals. Barth finds them realistic. “At first, Maxim was a little behind me. Now, however, I really have to work hard to keep up with him. And that is a good thing, as Maxim is a young guy with his whole career ahead of him. The fact that we are both similarly fast definitely makes us stronger as a duo.”