Rast switches brand

Rene Rast will switch to a different car brand for the 2023 season. The 35-year-old German racing driver has been racing in Audis since 2011, doing pretty much every series and car that they participate in. But when 2022 is over, he will switch the four rings to another Bavarian car manufacturer – BMW. Rast has been pretty much synonymous with the VW Audi Group throughout his career. He did however do Formula BMW in 2003 and 2004, before moving into Volkswagen Polo Cup, which he won in 2005. He…

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Audi changes focus

There is a lot of changes coming in the Audi concern. The German car manufacturer made an announcement early this afternoon, that Dieter Gass will leave Audi, having worked for them since 2012. He previously worked at Audi from November 1994 until March 2001, where he was engineer and race engineer, including their sportscar programme. After just over 10 years in Formula 1 at Toyota and Lotus, he returned to Audi in 2012, where he worked as the right hand to Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, and went on to replace him…

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Audi ends DTM commitment after 2020

After many months of speculations, it’s now official: Audi Sport will pull out of DTM following the 2020 season. It’s been on the cards since August 2018, where they aired some discomfort about the series, and put its organisation, ITR under a lot of pressure. The announcement followed Mercedes-AMG pulling out of DTM at the end of 2018, with Audi putting out the ultimatum of a third constructor had to be entered at the start of the 2020 season, or they would be gone too. R-Motorsport appeared for the 2019…

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Kubica in private BMW

Robert Kubica will be running in the DTM 2020 in a private BMW M4 DTM. The 35-year-old Polish driver will race for ART Grand Prix, entering a single car, so we get to a total of seven BMW cars this year. Kubica has most recently raced in Formula 1 for Williams F1 Team, after being out of single-seaters for almost ten years due to his series accident in a rally car. While Kubica hasn’t raced in DTM previously, he did two seasons for Formula 3 Euro Series, which was a…

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BMW signs sixth driver for DTM

BMW has signed their sixth driver for the DTM 2020 season. That will be South African racer Jonathan Aberdein, who will make the switch from Audi Sport Team WRT last year, into the BMW M4 DTM for 2020. He will race for the Bavarian car manufacturer alongside Timo Glock, Marco Wittmann, Philipp Eng, Lucas Auer and his fellow countryman Sheldon van der Linde. There were rumours about Robert Kubica getting the last seat, after he tested for BMW in December, but that won’t happen – at least not for now.…

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No changes at Audi

Audi Sport will continue unchanged in the 2020 DTM season. After several months of speculation about the team and their involvement in the series, they have confirmed that there are no changes regarding the 6 “works-seats”. It will once again be double DTM Champion Rene Rast, DTM Champion Mike Rockenfeller, FIA WEC World Champion Loic Duval plus Robin Frijns, Nico Müller and Jamie Green, who will race for Audi Sport Team Rosberg, Audi Sport Team Phoenix and Audi Sport Abt Sportsline. In addition to that, Audi Sport Team WRT will…

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R-Motorsport pulls the plug on DTM programme

R-Motorsport has chosen to end their DTM commitment, after only a single season. The Swiss team made a very swift entry to the German series, following the departure of Mercedes-AMG pulling out at the end of 2019. R-Motorsport struck a deal with HWA, who build and ran the Mercedes cars, but since they had close ties to Aston Martin, they got an AM body shell on the Dallara chassis, so it looked like a Vantage. The team had a lot of technical issues, with only a few highlights, where they…

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BMW announces 5 DTM drivers

BMW Motorsport has announced five out of their six drivers for the DTM 2020. Marco Wittmann, Timo Glock, Philipp Eng and Sheldon van der Linde will all be back in a BMW M4 DTM car. Lucas Auer is the new driver at BMW, after previously racing at Mercedes in the series. He went to Japan in 2019 but will be back on the Mid-European racing tracks again, after striking a deal with BMW Motorsport boss, Jens Marquardt. Auer managed seventy-three DTM starts for the three-pointed star, but he will have…

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BMW confirms IMSA drivers

BMW Team RLL has confirmed the 8 drivers, who are going to race for them in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship 2020. The majority of the drivers are well-known faces, but Bruno Spengler will be the new full-season driver in #25, saying goodbye to DTM after 15 seasons for BMW and Mercedes. Spengler will share BMW M8 GTE #25 with Connor De Phillippi throughout the season, with added help from Philipp Eng and Colton Herta i #25 during the Daytona 24 Hours. John Edwards and Jesse Krohn will continue working…

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Jones and Scherer to DTM

WRT Team Audi Sport has announced their two drivers for DTM 2020. Ed Jones and Fabio Scherer will be the two drivers for the Audi RS5 DTM cars. Jones has raced in NTT IndyCar Series for the previous seasons, following the same path as Pietro Fittipaldi, who did the same in 2019. Jones is born in Dubai, but by British parents, and has lived in the USA for the last few years. He did some years for smaller teams, where he did quite well and got awarded with a seat…

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BMW invites Kubica and Yelloly

BMW has invited Robert Kubica and Nick Yelloly for a 4-day test in Spain. The two drivers will test one of the BMW DTM cars, at the traditional winter test, which usually is run in November or December. Jerez will host the test. The test runs a little later this year since the teams had to make their way home from Japan, where they did the common race with the Japanese Super GT series. Yelloly won the Chinese GT Championship for FIST-Team AAI, and got the DTM test as an…

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DTM ready with 2020 schedule

DTM has made quite a shake-up regarding their 2020 calendar. Two brand new tracks out of 10 race weekends, and it’s a long time since there has been that big changes to the schedule. Hockenheim has traditionally been the opening round, since the DTM series was “re-launched” in Year 2000 – but that won’t happen in 2020. Zolder will be hosting the opening round in April, before we go to Lausitzring. Race 3 is TBA so far, but the series hints at a big surprise – Kimmi Ring in Finland…

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Audi dominated Sunday at Brands Hatch

It was an Audi dominated Sunday, when round twelve of this year’s DTM season was run at British Brands Hatch. All eight Audi drivers were 1-8 on the starting grid, with Rene Rast fastest ahead of Loic Duval, Robin Frijns, Jamie Green, Mike Rockenfeller, Nico Müller, Pietro Fittipaldi and Jonathan Aberdein. Philipp Eng was the best BMW driver in P9, before Daniel Juncadella qualified R-Motorsport Aston Martin in P10. Loic Duval had the best start and came out first in Turn 1, in front of Rast and Green. Rast was…

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Changeable Saturday at Brands Hatch

DTM was back at the British track Brands Hatch, where the German touring car series used the long Grand Prix version, instead of the Indy version, which the series has previously used. Marco Wittmann had grabbed Pole Position, in a qualifying that started wet but slowly dried up. Rene Rast started in P2, ahead of Loic Duval, and the local surprise, Paul Di Resta. It was good to see BMW, Audi and R-Motorsports Aston Martin all in top four. Pietro Fittipaldi unfortunately wasn’t able to participate today, since he went…

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Audi dominance with a twist

The weather was the opposite of yesterday for the second DTM race in Assen, where the asphalt was bone dry for the tenth round of the season. Rene Rast led an Audi dominant qualifying, followed Jonathan Aberdein, Mike Rockenfeller, Nico Müller and Robin Frijns. Sheldon van der Linde squeezed a BMW in front of Loic Duval in another Audi. Daniel Juncadella was once again the best R-Motorsport Aston Martin driver, but like yesterday he was down to P14. Yesterday’s winner Marco Wittmann would start the race for the last place,…

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Wet DTM race in Assen

It was a wet debut at the Dutch Assen track for DTM. Shortly before the race on Saturday, the heavens opened and water came pouring down on the spectators. Marco Wittmann had taken Pole Position in the dry, in front of the championship leader Rene Rast, Loic Duval, Pietro Fittipaldi, Timo Glock, Nico Müller, Sheldon van der Linde and Bruno Spengler. The best R-Motorsport Aston Martin driver was Daniel Juncadella in P14. Sadly the four new cars would again start from the back of the starting grid. Robin Frijns had…

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Surprising Sunday dominance at Norisring

It was yet another exciting race day, when the DTM series for the second day in a row drove at the classical Norisring. Audi had overtaken the qualifying, where the winner from yesterday, Rene Rast, was on Pole Position ahead of Nico Müller and Loic Duval. Philipp Eng, Bruno Spengler and Sheldon van der Linde were next, before Jamie Green in P7. In fact, Green was the second best in the quali, but he got a five-grid penalty for ignoring a red flag during qualifying. Mike Rockenfeller and Jake Dennis…

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Typical turbulent Norisring

The DTM series had come to Norisring, which almost guarantees a turbulent race. Nico Müller had secured Pole Position. But after that there was confusion. Philipp Eng had the second fastest time, but he got a three-grid penalty due to blocking another driver in qualifying. Loic Duval should’ve started third but the team broke the Parc Ferme rules after qualifying and hence he had to start second to last – right ahead of his Audi teammate Mike Rockenfeller who had the same fate after being qualified in P8. Thus the…

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Hankook extends DTM contract

The Korean tire manufacturer Hankook has signed a new deal with Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. The new deal runs until the end of 2023, so there will be stability on the tire supplying side of things. Hankook started delivering tires for DTM in 2011, where there hadn’t been any tire war since the series was re-launched in Year 2000. Dunlop had been sole tire supplier for the first 11 seasons. Hankook entered the DTM in 2011 to promote their brand. They were bidding on becoming Formula 1 tire supplier around the…

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Puncture decided DTM Sunday race

If the Saturday was hot in Misano, the Sunday was scorching, in the sixth round of DTM 2019. Audi Sport was even more dominant in Sunday’s qualifying than in the qualifying for the Saturday’s race. Today they didn’t only claim the first four positions, but first to fifth were taken by Audi drivers: Rene Rast, Robin Frijns, Jonathan Aberdein, Nico Müller, and Pietro Fittipaldi. Marco Wittmann celebrated his 100th race, but he had to be satisfied with P6. The four R-Motorsport Aston Martin cars would start from P15 to 18,…

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