Mercedes signs Juncadella – Reduces to six cars

Mercedes have announced their driver line-up for the 2013 DTM. New to the team is Daniel Juncadella while Mercedes reduces their number of cars from eight in 2012 to six this year.
“Developing young talent has a long history at Mercedes-Benz, so it is entirely logical to increase the size of our DTM junior team in this second year and welcome a fourth driver to the team,” said Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes Motorsport.

Other than signing Juncadella, Mercedes retains Gary Paffett, Ralf Schumacher, Roberto Merhi, Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens.
“We have two seasoned and very experienced racing drivers in the squad – Gary Paffett and Ralf Schumacher – who will also act as guides to our youngsters both from a racing and human perspective. With the aim of making the best possible use of resources in mind, we have decided to race six DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupés this year. We hope to gain more flexibility in the development of our vehicles by focusing on six cars and using resources more efficiently,” said Wolff.

Top Mercedes driver last year was Paffett, finishing as runner-up after a close and hard fight with champion and BMW driver Bruno Spengler.
“The new DTM season marks an anniversary for me. This will be my tenth season in the world’s most popular touring car series as a Mercedes-Benz driver. Last year, I led the standings from the opening race right through to the season finale at Hockenheim. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that bit of luck that would have seen us win the championship. Anyway, I’ll be pushing even harder this time and going all out for my second DTM title,” said Paffett.

The announcement is also a confirmation that former F1 driver Robert Kubica, who tested for Mercedes earlier this year, will not be in the DTM this year.

Other news is that Mercedes team Persson Motorsport, fielding two C-Coupés for Merhi and Susie Wolff last year, has closed down.