Wittmann recorded his worst-ever campaign in his 11-year stint in the DTM, with the German driver ending up a distant 13th in the championship with just 91 points in his tally.
Even during the COVID-affected 2020 season in which BMW was completely overshadowed by its sole manufacturer rival Audi, Wittmann had managed to finish inside the top 10 in the standings with a series of top-notch performances.
The 2023 season also marked the first time he ended a campaign without a podium, with a pair of fourth-place finishes at Zandvoort and the Red Bull Ring the best he could manage all year.
BMW had placed Wittmann at the new Project 1 team in 2023, while its other factory drivers Sheldon van der Linde and Rene Rast competed for the better-funded Schubert team with which van der Linde won the 2022 title.
While most of the top teams, including Schubert, held a private test at every track that was on the calendar, with the exception of Norisring where the streets can only be closed for one race weekend a year, Project 1 undertook a very limited testing programme to the detriment of its performance.
The 34-year-old believes a lack of track time was the main reason why he rarely featured at the sharp end of the field in 2023.
"As there is no test ban in the DTM, many teams take advantage of this, which is also legitimate," he explained. "And so you come to every race weekend with a backlog of experience.
“You only have these two practice sessions and a single run on new tyres when the track is dry. It's almost impossible to make up for that.
"We were testing in Zandvoort and that was our strongest weekend [despite a botched pitstop costing a podium].
"What's more, Zandvoort is clearly my favourite track on the calendar. I've always been successful there.
“The situation was similar in Spielberg: We had the pre-season test there and already had a few ideas and information that we could use. At all the other tracks, we had this lack of experience."
He added: "If it's up to me as a driver, I test 20 days a year. That would be the other extreme, but it would have been ideal if we had completed a test before every race like the other teams."
Source: Autosport