Motorsport news: Audi prepares to defend DTM crown

The brand with the four rings last won the season opener in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg three consecutive times - and in the end took the champion’s title three times in a row as well. No automobile manufacturer in DTM history has ever managed this feat before.

Still, the brand’s aims for 2010 are equally ambitious. "After the season, we want to be all the way in front again," says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. Michael Dick, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development at Audi, adds: "That we have won three consecutive titles and are thus the record holder in the DTM does fill us with a certain amount of pride but makes us no less hungry for further victories. Our drivers and teams will give everything to continue last year’s exploits, with all their heart and passion."

This will be no mean feat because the DTM issued a ban on developments in the interest of maximum efficiency.

For DTM fans this means that the entire field of entrants will be similarly close as last year. Perhaps even closer because the vehicles of the older generation will receive an even greater weight advantage than before - and they definitely made good use of it as early as during the official DTM tests at Valencia. The fastest Audi driver in the tests was the 21-year-old Spaniard Miguel Molina, the only newcomer to the Audi driver squad.

The Technical Regulations of the DTM do not allow much leeway. But despite the constraints, Audi Sport has continually managed to stay a small step ahead of its rivals with the A4 in recent years. Will the squad succeed in this endeavor again this year? "We were only able to try out combinations with existing components," explains Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "And that’s what we did. I hope that we’ve again made a few steps in the right direction. The first races will show how big these steps have been."

In any event, the Audi drivers are looking forward to the season opener with eager anticipation. "I’m dying for the season to get underway," says Mattias Ekström, the 2004 and 2007 DTM champion and winner of the season openers in 2007 and 2008. "Hockenheim is always a great track to start the season."

Title defender Timo Scheider is already thinking a step further - namely title number three: "This sounds easier than it is. But as a two-time champion that’s the only aim you can have!"

For Katherine Legge, the Hockenheimring will mark the beginning of a new stage in her career. The only woman to have managed setting a fastest race lap in the "new" DTM so far will compete for Audi Sport Team Rosberg - which means that she will also be tackling her third DTM season in a new team. Legge received the vehicle previously driven by Mike Rockenfeller and is hoping for a good result. "Hockenheim is the track on which I’ve driven most of my kilometers in DTM races and experience is simply a huge factor," says the Briton who lives in Switzerland.

The 29-year-old recently assumed a function with the FIA as well. As driver’s representative on the newly formed Women & Motor Sport Commission (WMC) whose President is the former Audi "factory" driver Michèle Mouton, her job will be to help strengthen the role of women in motorsport.

"It’s a great honour for me to work for the FIA and I think that the campaign will really help improve the position of women in the motorsport industry, not only with respect to us as racers but in all areas. We will drive this effort forward."

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