Albuquerque, Frey and Mortara to Audi

Audi has confirmed three new drivers for their Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters programme for 2011: Swiss driver Rahel Frey, Portuguese driver Filipe Albuquerque and Italian driver Edoardo Mortara.
“All three made an excellent impression during our driver sighting tests in December,” said Audi Motorsport boss Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.

Mortara and Albuquerque join the Audi Sport Team Rosberg while Frey is going to team up with Martin Tomczyk at Audi Team Phoenix.

While Tomczyk has been bumped down to a year old car, Mike Rockenfeller has been moved up to a new car and is going to race along side Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider, Oliver Jarvis and Miguel Molina [2008 spec Audi] at Audi Sport Team Abt.

“The last DTM season did not run according to plan for Audi. Which is why we tried over the winter to improve in every area – this also includes the driving squad. I see it as a chance for Tomczyk that he races in an older car and in a team other than Abt Sportsline for the first time. British race drivers Green and Paffett are examples of the fact that you can certainly win races with a last year’s car and give his career new impetus,” said Ullrich.

Albuquerque has mainly raced single seaters before and was Formula One test driver for Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Last year the Portuguese took part in the Italian GT Championship for Audi Sport Italia, finishing second in the championship. His most recent result was claiming the Race of Champions title in 2010.

Frey has also got her background in single seaters. The Swiss driver became the first girl ever to take a victory in the German Formula 3 championship in 2009. Last year she took part in the FIA GT1 World Championship as well as the Le Mans 24 hours for Matech Competition.

Mortara is the reigning Formula 3 Euro Series champion and has previously raced in GP2 as well as World Series By Renault.