CARTOURINGDTM

Alexandre Prémat DTM

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The magical three letters DTM that stand for “Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft” (German Touring Car Championship). Europe‘s most popular touring car race series began in 1984 with production based cars and peaked in 1996 with a worldwide series for high-tech touring cars. After a three year break, the DTM celebrated a successful comeback in the year 2000 with a ground breaking concept. Today it is considered as the “Top Class” of touring cars and is one of Europe’s largest sporting events.

In 2008 Audi and Mercedes will rekindle their duel. Defending DTM champion Mattias Ekstrom, Tom Kristensen, Martin Tomcyk, Alex Premat and Tim Scheider will lead the Audi charge in the new R13 version of the A4 DTM. Ralf Schumacher has joined the Mercedes camp that will include five-time series champion Bernd Schneider, Canadian Bruno Spengler, Garry Paffet and Paul di Resta.

No longer can the DTM be though of as a national series. The close quarter racing, mandatory pit stops and the various nationalities of its drivers has seen the DTM infiltrate the rest of Europe and can brag of competing on some of the best known circuits on the Old Continent. Sticking to tradition the season will begin and end at Hockenheim. Ochersleben, the Eurospeedway, the Nurburgring and the race through the streets of Nuremberg will be balanced with rounds at Mugello in Italy, Zandvoort in Holland, Brands Hatch in England, Barcelona in Spain and the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans in France.