Audi with strong partners in the 2007 DTM
- Global players involved in the DTM
- All Audi A4 DTM cars with new designs
- First public appearance at Oschersleben test
The three Audi factory teams Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline, Phoenix and Rosberg enter the 2007 DTM season, which starts on 22 April at Hockenheim, with strong partners. The Audi A4 DTM cars can be seen sporting their new designs for the first time in public at the DTM test days at the Motorsportarena Oschersleben from Tuesday to Friday this week. The official presentation to open the season is held on Sunday on the “Kö” in Dusseldorf.
Audi Sport has gained the support of four global players for its involvement in the most popular international touring car race series: Philips, Red Bull, the Schaeffler Group and Siemens. The two large media partners AutoBild and Playboy are also on board. Furthermore, several subsidiary brands of AUDI AG use the DTM’s enormous popularity to promote their products and services. In 2007, these are the Audi Bank, Audi Gebrauchtwagen:plus, Audi Top Service and quattro GmbH.
The two Audi A4 DTM cars of Mattias Ekström (Sweden) and Martin Tomczyk (Germany) compete – as they have since 2004 – in the colours of Red Bull, market leader in the energy drink sector. This year’s blue is significantly darker than in previous years coming in line with the global motorsport programme of Red Bull.
Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen (Denmark), last season’s most successful Audi driver in the DTM, steers again an Audi A4 DTM, which, as in 2006, bares the logos of electronic concern Siemens. The colour of the car is now silver instead of white.
Philips, a global leading technology concern, uses the white Audi A4 DTM driven by German Lucas Luhr to advertise its Flat Screen TVs equipped with Ambilight background lighting.
Sponsors of the now flat-black A4 raced by Christian Abt (Germany) are, as last year, the men’s lifestyle magazine Playboy and the AUDI AG Gebrauchtwagen:plus programme.
The car raced by Timo Scheider (Germany), which was unveiled at the “Audi Motorsport Launch & Lounge” in Munich at the beginning of March, is also flat-black and promotes the Audi brands Gebrauchtwagen:plus and Audi Top Service.
DTM new boy Mike Rockenfeller (Germany) lines up in a red A4 DTM. The youngest Audi factory driver gets support from the quattro GmbH and its S line sport kits and also Europe’s largest car magazine AutoBild.
The Frenchman Alexandre Prémat, who, like Luhr and Rockenfeller, contests his first DTM season, displays Audi Bank on his silver-gold A4.
The Schaeffler Group, a development partner and production supplier for Audi, has extended its involvement and uses the DTM for the first time this year as platform for all three concern brands (LuK, INA and FAG). The Schaeffler Group will be present on the cars of Mattias Ekström and Mike Rockenfeller.
Further Audi Sport partners in the 2007 DTM are Eibach Springs, O.Z. Racing (wheels) and PTC (Software Solutions).