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Furthermore, the three Audi Sport teams combine the know-how gained in more than 450 DTM races. A rookie again, despite his 83 DTM races, is Jamie Green, who will be competing at his first race weekend as an Audi factory driver at Hockenheim. The Briton, who has previously won eight rounds – including four events at the Norisring – is the only newcomer to the driver squad of the brand based in Ingolstadt. In addition to Green, Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich and Dieter Gass, Head of DTM, rely on drivers from last year: a mix of seasoned campaigners and ambitious youngsters with an average of 28 years. The youngest of them will be featured in a unique way at Hockenheim: Adrien Tambay, on his race suit and on his Audi RS 5 DTM, will be advertising the movie “Iron Man 3.” His pit crew will be sporting the theme of the hero as well. In the new Marvel action film featuring Robert Downey Jr.and Gwyneth Paltrow, the Audi R8 e-tron is one of the protagonists. The movie will arrive at German theaters on Wednesday, May 1, before the DTM weekend at Hockenheim. In line with the compact schedule, the timing of the two most important events of the weekend has slightly changed as well: Qualifying starts at 14:30 on Saturday, May 4 and the race on Sunday at 13:30. As always, ARD will air live coverage on both days on “Das Erste.” Tickets for all DTM races of the 2013 season are available at www.audi-motorsport.com/DTM Quotes by the officials Dieter Gass (Head of DTM): “I’m looking forward to working even more closely with the drivers and the teams in the DTM. The first run at Hockenheim is new territory for me but I know that I’ve got a strong squad backing me that, like me, is tackling the job highly motivated. The season opener will be interesting because even after the track tests in the past few weeks we can’t assess exactly where we stand. In the few areas permitted by the regulations, we worked extremely hard at Audi Sport in the winter.

Allan McNish fastest in the rain Race preparations completed World premiere for the Audi R8 e-tron Audi Sport Team Joest has completed its preparations for the 78th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours with a fastest time in the warm-up session. On a wet track Allan McNish recorded the quickest time of all 56 participants in the number 7 Audi R15 TDI. With 3m 51.401s the Scotsman was over a second faster than the best Peugeot. The two other Audi R15 TDI prototypes were also quick in the difficult conditions in positions four and five. All nine Audi drivers have been driving in the warm-up session, all of them being happy with the handling of their cars despite the slippery track. “The race can come, we are well prepared,” said Allan McNish. Dry conditions are forecast for the start of the race at 3 p.m. Allan McNish (#7), Marcel Fässler (#8) and Timo Bernhard (#9) have been nominated as start drivers for the three Audi R15 TDI prototpyes. As usual the drivers will rotate in alphabetical order during the race: #7 McNish > Capello > Kristensen #8 Fässler > Lotterer > Treluyer #9 Bernhard > Dumas > Rockenfeller Before the race starts, the five-time Le Mans winner Frank Biela will pilot an Audi-e-tron technological show-piece based on the R8 around the race track. The high-performance electric sports car was presented on Friday evening in the pitlane of Le Mans.