The 2008 DTM calendar features a total of eleven thrilling races. Six rounds will be held at German venues, with the other five rounds of the most popular international touring car series being contested on racetracks located in the other important European automobile markets: France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
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[Source: DTM]
DTM 2008 Car Pictures
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2008 DTM: Action at its best – eleven times
The 2008 DTM calendar features a total of eleven thrilling races. Six rounds will be held at German venues, with the other five rounds of the most popular international touring car series being contested on racetracks located in the other important European automobile markets: France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
Two German premium manufacturers, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, will once again form the DTM starting grid. There is some interesting news regarding the 2008 driver lineup, particularly the signing of Ralf Schumacher, the second-best German GP driver in the history of Formula 1.
The 2008 DTM season features a new edition of the battle of the two premium manufacturers Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Last year, Mercedes-Benz entered the racing version of its new C-Class and now, Audi is taking this step. At the Geneva Motor Show, the venue of the C-Class last year, the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer launched the new Audi A4 DTM about a month prior to the start of the 2008 season.
While Audi is determined to successfully defend its title, Mercedes-Benz is determined to take the title back to Stuttgart this year Attendance figures confirm that DTM still is extremely popular: 800,138 spectators attended the ten events of the 2007 season. The average crowd of more than 80,000 spectators per DTM event is twice as big as the average attendance figure of the 1st Bundesliga matches (38,854 spectators per match in the 2006/2007 season).
In mid-October, the DTM season finale, traditionally held at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, attracted a new DTM race-weekend record crowd of 152,000 spectators. At the same time, the TV coverage figures also increased again: altogether, DTM coverage increased to 2,086 hours - 649 hours more than the previous year, for a 30 percent increase. Reports about DTM were broadcasted in 175 countries, and races were covered live or re-broadcasted in 44 nations. In 2007, the series’ official website, www.dtm.com, attracted 38,362,580 visitors, for 12 percent increase of 4,313,590 visitors.
Mix of experienced aces and up-and-coming young drivers
The DTM-driver line-ups represent a mix of experienced aces and up-and-coming young drivers. The racing version of the new Audi A4 DTM, entered by Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, will be raced by reigning DTM Champion Mattias Ekström, seven-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen as well as the two young Germans Martin Tomczyk and Timo Scheider. France’s Alexandre Prémat and Briton Oliver Jarvis will contest the season for Audi Sport Team Phoenix, with Markus Winkelhock and Mike Rockenfeller racing for Audi Sport Team Rosberg. All the four will drive 2007-spec Audis A4 DTM. Audi customer team Futurecom-TME will enter a 2006-spec Audi A4 DTM for British works driver Katherine Legge who will be teamed-up with the Netherlands‘ former Formula 1 driver Christijan Albers who finished runner-up in the 2003 DTM season.
He also will race a two-year-old car. For former ChampCar driver Katherine Legge, the 2008 season will be her maiden year on the DTM grid. The same applies to Audi’s new signing Oliver Jarvis who won the 2007 edition of the prestigious Macao Formula 3 Grand Prix.
DTM record champion Bernd Schneider, Briton Jamie Green who won two rounds in 2007 and Franco-Canadian Bruno Spengler – runner-up in the past two DTM seasons, will race the new version of the AMG Mercedes C-Class for Team HWA. And Scotland’s Paul di Resta, the 2006 Formula 3 Euro Series Champion who delivered a stunning DTM debut season, last year, also may look forward to driving the latest version of the C-Class. Former Formula 1 Ralf Schumacher will be provided with a 2007-spec Mercedes entered by Berlin-based team Mücke Motorsport, for his debut season on the DTM grid. He will be teamed-up with German DTM newcomer Maro Engel, runnerup in the 2007 British Formula 3 Championship. Team Persson Motorsport enters three cars: for Scotland’s Susie Stoddart, Austrian Mathias Lauda, son of three-time Formula 1 World Champion Niki, and Briton Gary Paffett. Last year, the 2005 DTM Champion and McLaren Mercedes F1 test driver was the first driver in the DTM history to have won a race with a previous-year spec car. It’s possible to battle it out for points or even podiums with cars representing one or two-year-old specs as a result of sophisticated DTM regulations. Every generation of cars on the DTM grid races with another basis weight. Furthermore, the current weights of the respective brand and car generations are newly defined for every race, based on the results from the previous race. Depending on these results, all cars will have to contest the next race with less or more weight aboard.
Cost-efficient regulations and fascinating technology
One of the reasons for the popularity of DTM is the fascination generated by the DTM cars. The powerful roar of V8 engines, and advanced safety characteristics are captivating features of the vehicles. From the very beginning DTM sought to provide fascinating motor racing at manageable costs. This goal was achieved with standard components such as gearbox, brakes, rear-wing profile and drive shaft as well as the ban of expensive materials and driver aids.
DTM regulations stipulate 4-litre V8-engines with a 90° cylinder-bench angle. Throughout the entire season, every two DTM competitors may use just three engines that have to be sealed prior to the season. Turbo charging is prohibited; with two 28mm-diameter air restrictors ensuring that the loads the engines have to cope with remain sensible.
Yet even with these regulations, the 480 bhp horsepower output delivered by the DTM engines of Audi and Mercedes-Benz is remarkable, nevertheless. The basic weights for the cars have been defined provisional before the first race: 1050 kg for 2008-spec-cars, 2007-spec cars will contest the season with a basic weight of 1040 kg, while the 2006-spec cars must weigh 1030 kg. The respective car weight includes the driver wearing full racing gear. A sophisticated handicapweight system makes for equality of opportunities between the manufacturers involved in DTM and the cars of the different generations.
For the best possible safety, a carbon-fibre safety cell is integrated in the cockpits, and every car’s front and rear is equipped with crash structures. Another safety feature, the Head And Neck Support System (HANS) has been mandatory for every DTM driver since 2002.
The 2008 DTM calendar features eleven races in six nations
Altogether, the 2008 DTM season comprises eleven rounds held in six European countries. With the rounds held at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (20th April), the EuroSpeedway Lausitz (18th May), Nuremberg’s Norisring (24th June), the Nürburgring (27th July) and the season kick-off and finale held at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (13th April and 26th October), DTM will make appearances in
Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Germany. While the venues of this year’s abroad races held on the other important European automobile markets will be Mugello, Italy (4th May), Zandvoort, Netherlands (13th July), Great Britain’s rich in tradition Brands Hatch circuit (31st August), Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya (21st September) and the Bugatti Circuit of France’s motor-racing city Le Mans (5th October).
The DTM events: three action-packed days for the entire family
Every DTM weekend features three days of action for the entire family. The so-called roll-out as well as two 90-minute tests are scheduled for Friday. The one-hour free practice session held on Saturday morning is the last opportunity for teams and drivers to perfectly set up their cars before the qualifying session is held in the thrilling shoot-out format early Saturday afternoon. This session is crucial for the starting-grid positions. Half an hour prior to the race on Sunday the teams have a final opportunity for testing last-minute changes. At 2:00 p.m., the starting lights will be switched off and the field will rocket away into the first lap of the race. Every DTM race features two obligatory pit stops. In every stop, all the four tyres have to be changed.
Precise rules for the pit stops are defined in the DTM regulations. But the race weekend does not only feature a lot of on-track action alone. With concerts, autographing sessions, interviews with the drivers and guided pit-walks DTM represents the fan-friendliest series there is. And thanks to the ‘DTM Magazin’ and the
special ‘Event Guide’ published for each race, the supporters are perfectly informed at any time. The ‘DTM Season Guide’ contains the details, stats and background information for the entire season, while the free paddock paper ‘DTM News am Sonntag’, including the starting grid and up-to-date reports about the qualifying session and the Saturday races of the support series’ is published on the Sunday of every
German DTM round.
The partner series also contributes to a successful DTM weekend. With the Formula 3 Euro Series, the ADAC Volkswagen Polo Cup, the Porsche Carrera Cup as well as the Seat Leon Supercopa, every DTM event features loads of single-seater and touring car action. Hence, the motor-racing enthusiasts may look forward to weekends packed with exciting, thrilling and attractive motor sport.
DTM is:
... the world’s most popular international touring car series
... on a top motor racing level. DTM drivers such as Ralf Schumacher and Bernd
Schneider already have proven their skills in Formula 1. Other drivers such as
Michael Schumacher, Giancarlo Fisichella, Alexander Wurz and Christijan Albers
have been racing in DTM before moving to Formula 1. With seven wins under his
belt, DTM ace Tom Kristensen is the record winner of the Le Mans 24-Hour Race
and Mattias Ekström prevailed in last year’s ‘Race of Champions’ for the second
consecutive time
... a series with German roots but international orientation and charisma
... a reliable constant with clearly defined and stable regulations
... a premium platform used by global players such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz,
Deutsche Post, Dunlop etc. for showcasing themselves
... a massively growing lifestyle platform in the media landscape
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