2012 Audi DTM driver lineup confirmed

Audi Sport has officially announced their 2012 DTM driver lineup. Notable changes for this year's season include Rahel Frey joining Audi Sport Team ABT Sportsline and Mike Rockenfeller and Miguel Molina joining Team Phoenix. Full report after the jump.

Ingolstadt, February 24, 2012 – At Audi, the current DTM Champion, the "title defense” project is running at full stretch. A week before the homologation of the new Audi A5 DTM on March 1 the drivers and their assignment to the total of three Audi factory teams have been confirmed.

New car, new technology, new rules – particularly because the season opener at the Hockenheimring on April 29 is bringing a lot of changes to the most popular international touring car racing series and ringing in a completely new era in the DTM, Audi, the 1990, 1991, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011 DTM Champion, is banking on continuity. The long-standing partner teams, ABT Sportsline, Phoenix Racing and Team Rosberg, are fielding the seven Audi A5 DTM cars and the drivers taking the wheel of the seven Audi A5 DTM vehicles at the Hockenheim season opener on April 29 are well-known quantities too.

Spearheading the Audi squad yet again will be the two-time DTM Champions Mattias Ekström (Sweden) and Timo Scheider (Austria) who will compete for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline as in the past. In the 2011 season, Hans-Jürgen Abt’s team won four of the ten DTM races and clinched the DTM team title for Audi as well. Ekström’s and Scheider’s new team-mate will be the young Swiss Rahel Frey, who will be tackling her second DTM season in 2012.

Audi Sport Team Phoenix that provided the DTM Champion last year will be competing with an all new formation. After a one-year absence from the team, Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) is returning to Ernst Moser’s squad for which he successfully competed as early as in the 2010 season. Rockenfeller’s new team partner will be the Spaniard Miguel Molina.

Audi Sport Team Rosberg’s line-up has remained unchanged. Like last year, the Portuguese Filipe Albuquerque and the Italian Edoardo Mortara, who were the two strongest rookies in 2011, will be running for Arno Zensen’s squad.

All three Audi factory teams and the seven drivers were involved in the development of the Audi A5 DTM from the outset and reeled off an intensive test program with the new race coupé in the winter months. "We wanted all of our teams and drivers to start into the new DTM era with the same prerequisites,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "I’m convinced that with our three long-standing partner teams and the proven drivers we’re extremely well set for the new DTM season which promises to become particularly thrilling due to the battle between the three German premium manufacturers, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and will be a tough competition. Not least due to the tightened regulations even the minutest details will count. That’s why continuity with the teams and drivers was important to us. Mattias (Ekström) and Timo (Scheider) know how to win the DTM and each of them is drawing on experience from more than 100 DTM races. Mike (Rockenfeller) won his first DTM race in 2011, Filipe (Albuquerque), Edoardo (Mortara) and Miguel (Molina) all mounted the podium for the first time last year. And I also believe that Rahel (Frey) is able to cause some surprises in her second DTM season. During the winter tests she showed that she has a lot of potential.”

The Audi teams in the 2012 DTM:

ABT Sportsline
Mattias Ekström (Sweden)
Rahel Frey (Switzerland)
Timo Scheider (Austria)

Phoenix Racing
Miguel Molina (Spain)
Mike Rockenfeller (Germany)

Team Rosberg
Filipe Albuquerque (Portugal)
Edoardo Mortara (Italy)

Source: Audi Motorsport

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Martin Tomczyk leaving Audi; joins BMW for 2012 DTM season

After 11 years with Audi Sport, 2011 DTM Champion Martin Tomczyk will be trading in his four rings for a roundel come next year's DTM season. While a report of Tomczyk's official departure was released by Audi Sport on Monday, news of him joining BMW officially broke today. Tomczyk is the fourth works driver signed to BMW Motorsport's new DTM team, joining Andy Priaulx, Augusto Farfus and former Mercedes rival, Bruno Spengler. Full Audi Sport press release after the jump.

Ingolstadt, November 21, 2011 – DTM Champion Martin Tomczyk seeks a new sporting challenge. The 29-year-old man from Rosenheim will no longer compete for Audi in the 2012 season.

"I won the Championship for Audi after eleven years together. The entire Audi Sport team and in particular Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich have always been behind me throughout the many years we spent together,” explains Martin Tomczyk. "I’m delighted that I could repay the trust by winning the 2011 championship title together with team Phoenix. Despite this joint success, and after careful consideration, I have now decided to accept a new challenge. To conclude, I would once again like to thank everybody with whom I have worked together during my eleven years at Audi Sport and assure every single individual that these years were, in hindsight, something very special.”

Tomczyk started his DTM career in the 2001 season as 19-year-old in Team ABT Sportsline with the Abt-Audi TT-R and was, at that time, the youngest DTM driver in history. In 2003 he became Audi factory driver in the ‘S line Audi Junior Team.’ Since 2004 he has competed with the Audi A4 in the DTM, initially for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and for the first time in 2011 for Audi Sport Team Phoenix. In his sixth DTM season in 2006 he finally recorded the first of his seven DTM race wins to date. By winning the championship title in 2011 at the wheel of a year-old car he achieved the greatest victory of his career up to now.

"It goes without saying that we deeply regret that he decided, at this moment in time, to seek a new challenge after his most successful DTM season with Audi,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "I can, however, completely understand that after eleven special years of highs and lows with Audi he would like to try something new – after all by winning the DTM title at the wheel of an Audi A4 DTM he has achieved exactly the goal for which he was worked so hard for many years. I’m personally delighted that Martin showed his many critics this year because I always believed in him. I can understand that to start he viewed the transfer to team Phoenix and a year-old car as demotion. But it gave, as I hoped, his career new impulses. I always enjoyed working together with Martin. He is a complete professional who I personally hold in high regard. I wish him all the best for the future.”

How Audi will line up in the DTM next year will be decided over the forthcoming weeks. In Mattias Ekström (Sweden) and Timo Scheider (Germany) the brand with the four Rings has two DTM Champions under contract who have both won the championship twice for Audi. No less than eight of the nine Audi drivers mounted the podium at least once in the DTM in 2011. Audi currently plans to contest the DTM 2012 with a maximum of seven cars.

Official BMW Motorsport press release can be found here.

Source: Audi Motorsport/BMW Motorsport

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Video: Audi TV recap of the 2011 Audi Sport DTM season

Whether you've followed every race as they happened or just casually took notice, all of you probably know by now that 2011 was one of the best DTM seasons in Audi Sport history. From Martin Tomczyk's early championship title to last weekend's official team title for Audi Sport Team ABT Sportsline, there were many four-ringed milestones this year. This video from Audi TV covers them all in spectacular fashion.



Source: Audi TV

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Audi A5 DTM makes appearance at Hockenheim finale

In addition to Audi clinching all DTM titles at Sunday's season finale in Hockenheim, fans got a sneak preview of what to expect from next year's DTM lineup. Parading the track with BMW's new M3 DTM and the AMG Mercedes C-Coupe, Audi took the chance to showcase the luscious lines of the all-new A5 DTM. And to top things off, behind the wheel was none other than Mr. Le Mans himself, Tom Kristensen. Photo gallery after the jump.







Photos: Audi Motorsport and DTM Media

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Audi clinches all DTM titles at Hockenheim finale

Sunday's race in Hockenheim marked the 2011 DTM season finale. And what a season it was. Audi can now officially boast not only Martin Tomczyk's championship driver's title but also a runner-up position for Mattias Ekström, a team championship title for Audi Sport Team ABT Sportsline and a "rookie of the year" nod for Edoardo Mortara. As Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich commented after the race, "you can’t really wish for more than this." Full report and photos after the jump.

Ingolstadt/Hockenheim, October 23, 2011 – It was a perfect 2011 DTM season for Audi: After Martin Tomczyk’s early win of the drivers title, the brand with the four rings at the Hockenheim finale in front of an impressive crowd of 120,000 spectators (throughout the weekend) secured the position of the runner-up in the championship and won the team classification as well. Edoardo Mortara had previously been determined as "Rookie of the year.”

"You can’t really wish for more than this,” commented Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich after the finish at the Hockenheimring. "It’s truly been a perfect year for Audi. And today we clinched everything we still had on our agenda: the runner-up’s slot for ‘Eki’ and the team classification win for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline – my thanks go to everyone who has had a part in this great success for Audi.”

In its 84th and – for the time being – last DTM race the Audi A4 DTM made another strong showing. With Martin Tomczyk, Miguel Molina, Mike Rockenfeller, Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Oliver Jarvis on positions two to four and six to eight, six Audi drivers scored points. In its career the A4 DTM, since 2004, has clinched five out of eight possible champion’s titles, 44 pole positions, 31 fastest laps and 34 race victories

The decision at the finale at Hockenheim was made as early as at the start which Mercedes driver Jamie Green decided in his favor, followed by a lonely race at the front of the field. Similarly solid were the runs of Audi drivers Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) and Miguel Molina (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) that ended on positions two and three.

Martin Tomczyk crowned his brilliant season with another podium finish. At all ten races the new DTM Champion scored points and mounted the podium eight times. The 29-year-old, who did not finish any event this year in worse than fifth place, took three race victories.

"The finale here at Hockenheim in front of this fantastic crowd was brilliant too,” said Martin Tomczyk, after receiving the champion’s trophy on the podium. "My A4 was perfect and my team did another great job. I wasn’t able to completely keep up with Jamie’s (Green) pace but that was only secondary today.”

Another overjoyed driver was the Spaniard Miguel Molina who despite not having been able to take advantage of his pole position at the start in the end managed to celebrate third place and the first podium in his still young DTM career. "Being on podium at the last race of the Audi A4 DTM is really special,” says the 22-year-old. "I’m very happy – particularly because Audi has clinched all the titles. That’s fantastic.”

Miguel Molina is thus the eighth Audi driver to have mounted the DTM podium this year, which proves the performance strength of the 2011 driver line-up that gives Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich a perfect base for the 2012 season.

Mike Rockenfeller and Mattias Ekström on positions four and six at the finale secured the team classification for Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline that has won this title for the third time, after 2004 and 2007. Having started from position ten on the grid Mattias Ekström’s sixth-place finish sufficed to clinch the runner-up’s slot since the previous runner-up in ninth place scored no points.

"I’m even happier about the team classification than about finishing as the runner-up,” said Mattias Ekström. "The guys deserve this. And this year, including at this last race, we’ve learned a lot for 2012. I can hardly wait to drive the first race in the new Audi A5 DTM.”

At the end of their first DTM season the three rookies Filipe Albuquerque (tenth place), Edoardo Mortara (13th place) and Rahel Frey (16th place after jump starting) finished out of the points. Nevertheless, all three left a good impression in their first DTM year. Mortara had already secured the "Rookie of the year” title with a score of 21 points and ninth place in the standings before the final race.


Quotes after the race:

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport)
"Jamie Green was the quickest driver throughout the race today. But we achieved our aims here nonetheless. We won the team championship as well and clinched the runner-up’s slot in the championship with Mattias Ekström. It’s been a perfect DTM season for Audi with seven victories and the champion’s title for Martin (Tomczyk). And I don’t think that the DTM has often seen eight drivers from one marque mounting the podium in one year.”

Martin Tomczyk (Schaeffler Audi A4 DTM), 2nd place
"It was an outstanding race and a nice conclusion of the season, which I enjoyed very much. I wasn’t able to completely keep up with Jamie’s (Green) pace, but that was secondary today. It was great to finish the year on the podium and to start into the winter break this way. My thanks go to everyone in Audi Sport Team Phoenix and at Audi who has supported me. It’s been a brilliant season.”

Miguel Molina (Red Bull Audi A4 DTM), 3rd place
"A tremendous race. Unfortunately, I made a small mistake at the start but then we had a good pace and were fighting for positions. It’s great to have mounted the podium in the last race of the Audi A4 DTM. I’m also happy about my pole position. We’d like to continue like this.”

Mike Rockenfeller (E-POSTBRIEF Audi A4 DTM), 4th place
"Obviously, I’d have preferred a podium finish after starting from position four. I had a good start. Unfortunately, I had a bit of a drop in brake performance. I tried to maintain my position. On the last set of tires we corrected the air pressure a little. That led to a slight improvement and I was able to enlarge the gap to Gary Paffett a bit. It was a little easier for me then but the front runners were out of my reach by that time. That’s a shame. On the other hand, we still clinched the team championship with Abt. So it ended on a relatively positive note after all.”

Mattias Ekström (Red Bull Audi A4 DTM), 6th place
"I’m very pleased. As far as performance goes, this has been my best season in the DTM. In the first half the results weren’t the way I’d have liked them to be, but the second half was very good. On the whole, I’m proud and happy. We made a lot of improvements in the Abt team and the people from Audi Sport worked hard as well. We’ve learned a lot for the coming season.”

Timo Scheider (AUTO TEST Audi A4 DTM), 7th place
"I had a very good start and almost gained two positions. I’d have had to attack Mike (Rockenfeller) harder to move forward but with respect to the team championship I chose not to. During the first first stint Mike was relatively slow. The opposite was true for me: I was quick in the beginning and then a bit slower. I’d have wished for that to have been a bit different at the finale. But this picture fits the whole season, which is over now.”

Oliver Jarvis (Audi Sport performance cars A4 DTM), 8th place
"We had a good race and a strong pace. The start and the first lap were good. In the end I was slowed a bit behind Timo (Scheider). Unfortunately, we didn’t score a larger number of points.”

Filipe Albuquerque (TV Movie Audi A4 DTM), 10th place
"I had a good start and a few battles in the first turns. Mattias Ekström overtook me. We had good pit stops and a fitting strategy. I was then faster than Spengler but didn’t get close enough to him to overtake him. I learned a lot this season. It’s a big difference between the first race at Hockenheim and the season finale here. But I still need to learn more.”

Edoardo Mortara (Playboy Audi A4 DTM), 13th place
"It was a difficult race and a pretty disappointing weekend for me. We need to analyze what went wrong here. But the most important thing this year was winning the rookie championship. This allowed us to show that we’re competitive. I’d like to thank Audi and my team for always having supported me in good as well as in hard times and for being at my side. Even though the result at the finale wasn’t so great, it’s been a good season. I’d like to continue that way in 2012.”

Rahel Frey (Glamour Audi A4 DTM), 16th place
"My start was bad and my nerves were shaking. The race had a weak beginning but a good ending. I’m quite pleased. The times were solid; we had two very good pit stops and finished the race without damage. For me it’s been a nice close of the season. My thanks go to all the people that have supported me this season.”

Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team Director Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline)
"We achieved the aims we’d set ourselves at Hockenheim. We won the team title and Mattias Ekström’s position as the runner-up shows what kind of a recovery he delivered all the way up to the end. I can only thank the whole team for the good performances. I’m absolutely happy. The result shows that we’re well set for 2012. The whole team is very motivated after this season.”

Ernst Moser (Team Director Audi Sport Team Phoenix)
"A fantastic conclusion of the season! We scored points at ten races and achieved another podium at the finale after our early title win. It’s hard to beat such a string of successes. Again, many, many thanks from me to my team, to Martin (Tomczyk) and to Audi. And of course to all who had faith in us and are happy for us to have achieved this result. It’s a shame that Rahel (Frey) was a bit nervous at the start and was given a drive-through penalty for jump starting. Unfortunately, that way she deprived herself of some of the fruits of her learning this year.”

Arno Zensen (Team Director Audi Sport Team Rosberg)
"Well done to Audi. They won the championship with Team Phoenix and Martin Tomczyk. Abt took the runner-up’s slot in the championship with Mattias Ekström and won the team championship. We had the best rookies in team Rosberg. That’s a nice result. Mercedes won the last race. Today everyone can be happy in the paddock. Unfortunately, from our grid positions we couldn’t achieve more in the race – that’s a shame. Still, it’s been a good season. My thanks to everyone and congratulations to Audi!”

Source: Audi Motorsport
Photos: Audi Motorsport and DTM Media

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Audi driver Martin Tomczyk becomes 2011 DTM Champion

With one race left in the season, Sunday's third place finish at Valencia was enough for Audi driver, Martin Tomczyk to secure the title of 2011 DTM champion. Look back at this year's race results, and there's no question that Martin drove the best season of his career. We would like to send out a big congratulations (or better yet, "Herzlichen Glückwunsch") to Martin and the entire team for such a remarkable achievement. Full report and photos after the jump.

Ingolstadt, October 2, 2011 – With a third place at the penultimate race of the season at Valencia Martin Tomczyk converted his first match ball: The 29-year-old driver from Rosenheim, Bavaria, is the 2011 DTM Champion and thus celebrates the biggest triumph in his motorsport career. The exploit also marks the first time in DTM history for a champion to sit in a so-called year-old car.

Valencia, October 2, 2011, 15:16 hrs, start-finish straight of the Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana: Martin Tomczyk has made his dream come true. After the penultimate race of the 2011 season the 29-year-old driver from Rosenheim, Bavaria, is ranking at the top of the standings, with a lead that is out of reach for his rivals, and has thus been determined as the new champion of the most popular international touring car series prior to the finale at Hockenheim. Tomczyk succeeds Paul Di Resta, who has switched to Formula One, and with the biggest triumph in his career has now joined the DTM’s club of champions whose members include stars like Bernd Schneider, Mattias Ekström or Timo Scheider.

"I extend warm congratulations to Martin Tomczyk, his team and the entire Audi squad on this outstanding achievement. The fans experience captivating duels at the highest sporting level and in Martin an absolutely deserving champion of the 2011 season,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. "After the triumph at the Le Mans 24 Hours and numerous other victories this title is already crowning a successful Audi motorsport year now.”

Audi Head of Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich was enthusiastic as well: "Absolutely well done, I’m tremendously happy for Martin. He has been a member of our Audi family in the DTM for eleven years and has experienced many ups and – no doubt – downs. But he has never lost his spirit and has emerged as a leader, particularly in this season. Now he has rewarded himself and his team for the hard work and the fighting spirit with the title. We’ve always known that Martin is a strong racer and a great guy – now he’s also a true champion.”

In the motorsport scene Martin Tomczyk’s title win is regarded as a sensation – first and foremost because the German is driving a 2008-specification Audi A4 DTM. After a decade in a new car of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline he switched to a year-old car of Audi Sport Team Phoenix prior to the season. And where others might take a step back, Tomczyk really revs up: memorizing the names of all mechanics before meeting them for the first time, arranging a "warm-up” barbecue, presenting himself as leader of the whole squad from the first moment. This type of fighting spirit pays off. The chemistry between Tomczyk and team director Ernst Moser, his race engineer Jürgen Jungklaus and the entire Eifel-based crew is immediately right. And it ends in collective jubilation. It is the first time in the history of the "new” DTM that the champion’s trophy that weighs about 25 kilograms goes to the driver of a year-old car and the drivers of the more recent models are left behind. This may also be why it is safe to assume that there is hardly anyone in the paddock who would not be happy for the likeable Bavarian having clinched this success. And there is no doubt that Martin Tomczyk is a deserving champion.

"Despite the big challenge and responsibility in the DTM one should not totally forget the aspect of having fun,” says Martin Tomczyk. And he lives this motto anew on each race weekend. The 1.88-meter tall racer is known and liked for his antics and practical jokes by all team members. At the same time, the ability to switch between humor and total concentration is one of his biggest secrets of success. Before qualifying and the race Tomczyk withdraws into himself, mentally drives every meter of the track with his eyes closed and deeply immersed in thought in order to then squeeze out the crucial hundredths.

Another key to success: Tomczyk’s coolness and inner calm off the track. With his brother Tobias as a close friend and manager and his partner Christina Surer, Tomczyk, the family man, has found his personal comfort zone – at home in Basel, where the couple is now living, just like in the paddock between practice sessions and technical meetings. Whether it is an unusual request by a TV station – before the race at Valencia Tomczyk posed as Don Johnson with a white suit, wig and plastic pelican – or granting what feels like the 1000th request for an autograph: he always remains friendly and down to earth, which is not to say that Martin Tomczyk does not know exactly what he wants and also states his opinion in a fair and frank manner. He can afford to do so because his word carries some weight. The race at Valencia was Tomczyk’s 112th run in the DTM – only Timo Scheider and Mattias Ekström are topping this mark in the current driver field.

It all started on April 22, 2001. There was hardly another new driver in the DTM whose debut raised as many eyebrows as Martin Tomczyk’s. At the age of only 19, then the youngest DTM driver of all time, and without a single race lap in a touring car under his belt, he entered the DTM with the private Abt Sportsline team. It took only a few weeks for all the eyebrows to lower again. At his third race he started from the front row. Since then Tomczyk has long become one of the seasoned campaigners. He has reached his destination in his private life and in motorsport. And on this 2nd day of October he has finally made his dream come true as well.

Source: Audi Motorsport
Photos: Audi Motorsport and DTM Media

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DTM: Audi dominates at Valencia with 1-2-3-4-5-6 victory

Following a disappointing result for the R18s at Petit Le Mans, Sunday's DTM race in Valencia shined some much needed light on Audi Sport's weekend. Marking his third win of the season, Mattias Ekström lead a pack of triumphant Audi's to a staggering 1st through 6th place finish. Topping off Audi's success in Valencia, a third place finish would be enough for Martin Tomczyk to secure his place as 2011's DTM champion. Suffice it to say, it doesn't get much better than this! Full report and photos after the jump.

Ingolstadt/Valencia, October 2, 2011 – Triumph at Valencia: With a 1-2-3-4-5-6 result and an early title win Audi managed to crown its 2011 DTM season. Mattias Ekström celebrated his third victory of the season, Filipe Albuquerque, as the runner-up, his first podium finish and Martin Tomczyk in third place is the new DTM Champion.

Third place was sufficient for Martin Tomczyk to be determined as the early title winner. With a 13-point advantage over his title rival, Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz), the Bavarian managed a special feat: For the first time he won the coveted DTM trophy, for the first time Audi Sport Team Phoenix achieved this with a year-old car, and it has been seven years that an Audi driver was determined as the champion even before the finale. In 2004, Mattias Ekström, who now celebrated overall victory at Valencia, had last secured an early title win. Tomczyk had managed a perfect recovery after having started from position ten on the grid. As early as on lap one he was on position six, and in third place after his second stop.

"I extend warm congratulations to Martin Tomczyk, his team and the entire Audi squad on this outstanding achievement. The fans experience captivating duels at the highest sporting level and in Martin an absolutely deserving champion of the 2011 season,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. "After the triumph at the Le Mans 24 Hours and numerous other victories this title is already crowning a successful Audi motorsport year now.” His fellow board member Michael Dick, who is responsible for Technical Development, also congratulated the new champion: "’Well done’ to Martin Tomczyk, who has driven an outstanding season and always proved to be a fair and tremendous sportsman both on and off the track. At the same time, the fifth DTM title of the Audi A4 DTM since its debut in the 2004 season is a fantastic farewell gift. The development of our new Audi A5 DTM for the next season is concurrently in full swing. At Audi, we’re working on this car to follow in the successful footsteps of its predecessor with all our passion.”

The driver who definitely dominated the racing action in Spain was Mattias Ekström. The two-time champion led the field on 38 of the 45 laps. After the successes at the Nürburgring and Oschersleben the Swede from Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline celebrated his third race victory within four races. Behind him, Filipe Albuquerque complemented what was a perfect weekend for him. The DTM rookie from Portugal had started from position two, defended his place up to seeing the checkered flag, and thus gave himself and Audi Sport Team Rosberg the best result of the season. He finished 15.847 seconds ahead of Martin Tomczyk.

Subject to an appeal which two Mercedes-Benz teams have filed against the disqualification of their drivers, three other Audi racers finished in the subsequent places at Valencia. Timo Scheider, who managed setting the fastest lap, achieved fourth place in front of his Abt team-mates Miguel Molina and Oliver Jarvis. Mike Rockenfeller took ninth place, Rahel Frey 14th. Edoardo Mortara retired in the pits three laps before the end of the race due to a handling problem.

"This has been a fantastic day for Audi,” said a pleased Dr. Martin Mühlmeier, the Technical Director of Audi Sport. "Six Audi A4 DTM cars on the top six positions, Mattias Ekström has shown another top-class performance, Martin Tomczyk has clinched the title with a tremendous recovery on his own power, and Filipe Albuquerque has achieved his first podium result. We’re overjoyed.”

From the United States Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, who was on location at the ILMC race at Road Atlanta, sent his congratulations as well: "Absolutely well done, I’m tremendously happy for Martin. He has been a member of our Audi family in the DTM for eleven years and has experienced many ups and – no doubt – downs. But he has never lost his spirit and has emerged as a leader, particularly in this season. Now he has rewarded himself and his team for the hard work and the fighting spirit with the title. We’ve always known that Martin is a strong racer and a great guy – now he’s also a true champion.”

Source: Audi Motorsport
Photos: Audi Motorsport and DTM Media

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DTM: Audi pulls off back-to-back 1-2-3 victories with win at Oschersleben

Today's race at Oschersleben marked Audi's second, back-to-back, 1-2-3 DTM victory. Once again, a rain-soaked track proved to be optimal conditions for the Audi Sport teams as Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline), Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) and Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Team Rosberg) would find themselves at the first, second and third place steps of the podium (respectively). Oschersleben would also mark Audi's 60th DTM win and the second straight podium finish for (the exact same) drivers from each Audi Sport team. Full report after the jump.

Ingolstadt/Oschersleben, September 18, 2011 – Audi, Audi, Audi – only 14 days after the one-two-three triumph in the rain battle at Brands Hatch the brand with the four rings again took the whole podium at a DTM race in similarly difficult conditions. At Oschersleben, Mattias Ekström (Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline) triumphed in front of leader of the standings Martin Tomczyk (Audi Sport Team Phoenix) and rookie Edoardo Mortara (Audi Sport Team Rosberg).

For Audi this marked the 60th victory in total in the most popular international touring car series, the sixth in the current season and an important step toward another DTM title. With a sensational recovery Martin Tomczyk managed to advance to second place after having started from position 14, extending his overall lead by nine points before the last two races. Consequently, the Bavarian driver living in Switzerland will already have the first match ball and chance of securing an early title win for Audi at Valencia (Spain) on October 2.

On the wet track at the Motorsport Arena Tomczyk pushed forward to sixth place right on the starting lap and was subsequently one of the quickest drivers in the field. Nevertheless, he was kept on edge all the way up to the finish. After having been touched by Jamie Green right at the beginning of the race the hood of Tomczyk’s car came off on lap 18. "That caused me to completely lose the front aerodynamics,” said the leader of the standings. "But we had so much mechanical grip today that it didn’t even make such a big difference. Oschersleben was extremely slippery in the rain today. When I saw that one car after the other in front of me was spinning off the track I took it a little easier. That paid off.”

No less impressive than Martin Tomczyk’s recovery was the victorious drive of Mattias Ekström, who by clinching his second success of the season narrowed his gap to the runner-up in the standings, Bruno Spengler, to ten points. The Swede pushed forward from fourth to second place at the start and only needed eight laps to overtake the Canadian who had been leading up to that point. The two-time DTM Champion then drove one fastest lap after the other and had an advantage of no less than 42 seconds on crossing the finish line. "The car was simply fantastic,” said a jubilant Ekström. "I can only say ‘thank you’ to my engineer and to the team.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Edoardo Mortara, who mounted the podium for the second time in a row and with a score of 21 points is now ranking in seventh place of the standings in his first DTM season. "I’ve never driven a car in the rain that has been as good as my A4 today; my engineer did an incredible job,” commented the Italian, who shielded Martin Tomczyk against the cars behind him almost throughout the race.

With Mike Rockenfeller on position six and the quickest in qualifying, Miguel Molina, in eighth place two other Audi drivers scored points at Oschersleben. Molina managed a good start. The Spaniard braked into the first turn on the wet track a little too late though. Despite body contact with Timo Scheider he was able to continue his drive and finally scored his overdue first point of the year.

After spinning twice on the starting lap Timo Scheider had started a similar recovery as Martin Tomczyk that caused him to advance to fourth place. After 25 laps though Scheider had to park his A4 DTM because a stone had destroyed the radiator.

After a turbulent race with several incidents Oliver Jarvis in ninth place barely missed scoring a point. In difficult conditions Rahel Frey achieved her so far best DTM result in twelfth place. Filipe Albuquerque was forced to retire after a collision with Ralf Schumacher in which he was not at fault.

"We’ve seen very spectacular motorsport today,” said Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. "Similar to the round at Brands Hatch our A4 DTM was extremely strong in the rain. Mattias (Ekström), Martin (Tomczyk) and Edoardo (Mortara) again drove tremendous races. We’re happy about our 60th victory and another fantastic result for Audi.”

Source: Audi Motorsport
Photos: Audi Motorsport and DTM Media

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