Photo: Audi

Audi remains unchanged for 2019 DTM season

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Audi has confirmed that it will field an unchanged line-up for the 2019 DTM season having retained the same six drivers it ran in 2018.

Loïc Duval, Robin Frijns, Jamie Green, Nico Müller, René Rast and Mike Rockenfeller will all remain with the manufacturer as it heads into a new era in the series with the introduction of the new two litre turbo charged engines.

The line-up has secured a combined record of 32 victories, 26 pole positions and 42 fastest laps, with Rast having finished second in the standings last year after a stunning end of season run that saw him take six wins in a row.

As well as retaining the same drivers, Audi will also field the same pairings across its three teams, with Frijns and Müller with Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. Duval and Rockenfeller at Audi Sport Team Phoenix and Green and Rast representing Audi Sport Team Rosberg

“There’ll be many exciting innovations in the DTM next year,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. “The more powerful engine will no doubt be the most significant one.” The first pre-season tests confirmed that at the wheel of the new Class One race cars the drivers’ performance is even more crucial than it used to be. That is why Audi is filling its six cockpits with drivers that have previous DTM experience and are able to handle the demands that have grown once again.

“In Loïc, Robin, Jamie, Nico, René and Mike we already had an extremely strong driver squad in 2018 and are continuing this line-up in the new season. In my view, they’re the right six for Audi Sport. All of them have the potential to battle for the DTM title. Aside from that, they again proved to be extremely good team players last season.

“In the past, we changed the team compositions from time to time. However, in the current pairings, the drivers complement each other perfectly so that we didn’t see any room for improvement in this respect.”

Audi’s customer team WRT will field two additional Audi RS 5 DTM cars, with drivers to be confirmed at a later date.