Expectations will be even higher at this year’s Nürburgring 24H, which marks the 40th anniversary of BMW Motorsport. Two teams will receive works assistance at the “Green Hell” endurance battle: BMW Team Schubert and BMW Team Vita4One, both of whom will run two BMW Z4 GT3 racing cars.

Team Principal Michael Bartels will lead the Vita4One team, which features Pedro Lamy, Frank Kechele, Mathias Lauda and Ricardo van der Ende at the wheel of the number 17 BMW Z4 GT3. The number 18 car will be driven by BMW Motorsport test and development driver Marco Wittmann, Pedro Lamy, Jens Klingmann and Richard Göransson.

They will be joined by the Schubert BMW team, who have set themselves the target of overall victory with the BMW Z4 GT3. Wearing the classic BMW Motorsport colours, two BMW Z4 GT3′s have been entered and will be driven by BMW Driving Experience Chief Instructor Claudia Hürtgen, Dirk Adorf, Uwe Alzen, Dirk Müller, Jörg Müller, Nico Bastian, and Dominik Schwager.

The Z4 GT3 has become a popular car with BMW Motorsport customers, after winning in FIA GT1 and the Nürburgring VLN series during 2012, so it seems somewhat dissapointing that BMW’s road car customers cannot buy anything remotely similar to the race car.

But what, I hear you ask, is so different about the Z4 GT3 from BMW’s top production model, the £45,350 335bhp Z4 sDrive35is?

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The Z4 GT3 in focus

While the production version of the BMW Z4 sDrive35is is driven by a six-cylinder turbocharged engine (as used in the 1 Series M Coupe), the GT3 car is powered by a 4.4-litre eight-cylinder engine based on the unit from the M3 GTS.

Engine output is substantially increased from the M3 GTS’ 444bhp, now delivering a buxom 515 bhp at 8,200 rpm, and the wick has been turned up to maximum peaking at 9,000 rpm thanks to a clever new exhaust system. According to BMW, the torquey power delivery of the production M3 GTS has been retained, so the Z4 GT3′s engine is as much a slugger as well as a screamer with approximately 515 Nm of torque available at 5,500 rpm.

That’s approximately 15bhp and 15Nm more than the 4.0-litre V8 engine used in the Z4 GT3′s predecessor, the M3 GT, and the 4.4-litre engine delivers this more than 500 rpm lower in the rev range.

Engine power is transferred via a sequential six speed gearbox initiated using two “Quick Shift” paddles, whilst a modern ECU408 takes over the engine management and Power400 electronic control unit controls all the actuators.

Other improvements for the 2012 season include a rear wing made from carbon fibre instead of aluminium, which produces greater downforce with less drag. A more optimised front brake cooling system and new rear axle differential. The front axle of the Z4 GT3 is an all new design based on the latest production model, whilst rims are now secured with a central locking fitment and safety clip.

The steel body of the car comes from the BMW Plant in Regensburg, whilst the safety cell made of precision steel tubing is welded into the body frame. The engine block of the V8 engine is produced in the BMW foundry in Landshut, whilst the BMW Plant in Dingolfing provides the rear axle differential. Front and rear wings, bonnet, roof, fenders and many other components are made of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) produced in Landshut.

The end result is a vehicle with a kerb weight of 1,190 kg with a price tag of 315,000 Euros plus VAT (circa £250,000).

With an intended lifespan until at least 2015, what chance is there for a production GTS version to appear sometime in the future? Here’s hoping.

Technical specifications

Fear not though, DTM is back again this weekend from Lausitzring situated just 80 miles south of Berlin, whilst highlights of last weekend’s race from Hockenheimring can be viewed tomorrow (Saturday 5th May) on ITV4 and next week (8th & 9th May) on Sky Sports.

Lausitzring is typically a Mercedes-Benz circuit, with their drivers claiming twelve of the last fourteen pole positions and nine of the last twelve race wins at the circuit. However Audi were the dominant team last year, with Martin Tomczyk and Timo Scheider scoring a memorable one-two finish.

Meanwhile, for BMW, the race at Lausitzring this weekend will be a journey of discovery. Whilst all three BMW teams spent a few days testing there last year, this was quite early in the development of the BMW M3 DTM and the car has changed a lot since then.

Last weekend’s race winner, Gary Paffett, won there in 2005 and 2009, so he’s looking forward to another competitive race, “Our one-two result in the season opener at Hockenheim was a great start to the new era of the DTM,” said Paffett.

“We have a long season ahead of us, and we’ll be taking each race as it comes. The Lausitzring makes different demands from those we have to contend with at Hockenheim: the track is technically very demanding, with only one fast corner but several chicanes. It was clear in Hockenheim that our new DTM C-Coupé is very fast. Now, we aim to keep pushing and to improve our performance in qualifying.”

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Race schedule and known TV coverage

To help you find your way, we’ve updated our TV listing to include the latest changes since last week. As before, to find out how to watch the broadcasts, take a look at our ‘How to watch it’ section below.

ITV4

ITV hold the rights to broadcast highlights of each race, with coverage delayed until a week after each live event (so far). The programming is filmed and produced by Whisper Films, the company founded by Harriet Humphrey, wife of BBC’s Formula One presenter Jake Humphrey.

Voice-over commentary is provided by none other than BTCC and F1 presenter, Louise Goodman, so you’re in safe and familiar hands.

You can keep an eye on the ITV website for any further details.

ESPN

If you’d like to watch the tyre-smoking action LIVE in the UK, then you’ll need to subscribe to ESPN, but that doesn’t mean you should expect live coverage of every race.

Coverage begins on Sunday 29th April on ESPN (CH.442 on Sky) from 10:30pm to 12:15am (Duration : 105 mins), with the race repeated on Monday 30th April at 8:15pm. However ESPN’s live coverage doesn’t kick-in until the Brands Hatch round on 20th May.

To gain access you’ll need to subscribe on either Virgin Media, Freeview, BT Vision or Sky. It will cost £9 extra a month for Sky Sports subscribers, or £12 extra a month for other Sky subscribers.

Sky Sports

If you are already a Sky Sports subscriber, then you can watch highlights of each DTM race on Sky Sports 3 and 4, but like ITV’s coverage, it is broadcast some 7-10 days after the live event.

Online coverage

If you don’t fancy forking out a minimum of £108 to watch each race in full on ESPN, then apart from the ITV4 highlights programme you’ll find additional coverage on dtm.tv and auditv.com.

The first highlights programme is now available on AudiTV, whilst you can also watch track previews from Lausitzring and interviews with the drivers over on DTM TV.

In Germany, the races are broadcast on ARD, n-tv and Sport1 – you can also catch video highlights and interviews (in German) on the Sport1 Mediencenter.

ARD is a public service broadcaster (just like the BBC), funded by German licence payers, and offers a ‘Livestream’ service on its website. You can then watch the livestream by accessing through a proxy server.

How to: (5 minute task) find a German proxy server address usinging http://hidemyass.com/proxy-list/. Copy down an IP address and Port No. Then open up your browser settings (in Chrome, go to Settings > Under the hood > Network (change proxy settings) > LAN settings > click the ‘Use a proxy server..’ checkbox > then enter the IP address and Port No of your proxy server. You should now be able to view the ‘live’ broadcast.

It was Paffett’s 18th DTM win and one of his most dominant. Despite starting in 6th, the 31-year old McLaren F1 test-driver had gained 3 places by the second lap.

Mercedes-driver Jamie Green passes Ekström on lap 5, followed shortly after by Paffett, who shadowed Green for the next 9 laps before taking the lead on lap 15. Ekström lost these two positions after locking up under braking and was never able to recover. “Of course, it is disappointing. Today, we simply weren’t quick enough and I have made a mistake. The result hurts a little bit, but surely, we will get chances to win”, said Ekström.

By this point, the race seems to be a two-horse battle between last year’s champions, Audi and their rival Mercedes, with only Priaulx and Farfus in the top-10.

Farfus’s race turned from good to bad on lap 22 when he came into the pits but missed his box. He came in again a lap later, but exceeded the pit lane speed limit, earning him a drive through penalty which he took on lap 25.

British driver Andy Priaulx finished up as the best-placed BMW driver in sixth position. “If somebody would have offered me sixth place before the weekend, I would gladly have accepted it. It was great fun, we had a fantastic crowd and we have seen that BMW is on the right way”, said 38-year old Priaulx.

Meanwhile David Coulthard was progressing through the field, from his start position of 18th, finishing up in 7th, just behind fellow Mercedes driver Ralph Schumacher.

Fellow-Scott, Susie Wolff, who started in 21st position, came through to finish a creditable 12th, just ahead of American-driver Joey Hand, who was BMW’s second highest finisher in 13th.

Of the Mercedes-Benz Junior Team drivers (mentored by F1 champion Michael Schumacher), Christian Vietoris finished highest in 4th just under 6 seconds behind Ekström. Canadian Robert Wickens ended the day in 14th, whilst the Persson Motorsport driver Roberto Merhi was the final runner in 18th.

Retirements included Timo Scheider (spin on lap 1 followed by collision with Mehri), Martin Tomczyk (retired on lap 4 after being forced off the track), Adrien Tambay (collision on lap 3 with Spengler) and Bruno Spengler (collision on lap 3 with Tambay).

Paffett’s Mercedes team mate Jamie Green, set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:34.901, further underlining the dominance of the Stuttgart car maker.

Paffet said after the race, “What a fantastic start to the new DTM era. Many thanks to the team for their hard work – my THOMAS SABO Mercedes AMG C-Coupé was tuned perfectly. After a difficult season in 2011, I am pleased to have found the way back to the podium top spot.”

71,000 spectators attended today’s race, whilst 142,000 spectators came through the gates during the race weekend. Unlike the (BTCC) touring car racing here in the UK, the inaugural DTM race from Hockenheim was run in unseasonably dry conditions.

A new points scoring format came into force this weekend, bringing DTM closer to the system used in Formula 1. Paffett leads the drivers’ standings with 25 points, followed by Green (18 points) and Ekström (16 points).

BMW Motorsport Director, Jens Marquardt, said after the race, “On the whole, I am very happy with our DTM comeback. Nobody really knew what the balance of power would be at the start of the new DTM era. The unexpectedly strong performance in qualifying on Sunday, and the good sixth place achieved by an in-form Andy in Sunday’s race are just reward for the hard work put in by our entire team.”

Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport, reflected on a disappointing race result, “On the whole, it was a fabulous start for the new DTM in front of a great crowd. All three manufacturers put all their cars on the grid under extreme time pressure. The cars functioned well and were very close together in terms of performance. Next week, in Lausitzring, we need to show that a perfect performance in qualifying can be converted to a win in the race.”

The next race is in a little over 6 days time, at the Lausitzring (May 4th to 6th), so we’ll soon see if Mercedes’ early lead in the championship is just a fluke and if BMW can inflict further damage whilst Audi struggles for pace.

DTM Race 1: Hockenheim. 27th – 29th April 2012.

Gallery

The traditional season opener at Hockenheimring provided the perfect backdrop for the first real test of strength, with each manufacturer securing a qualifying position in the Top-3.

Mattias Ekström in the new Audi A5 DTM, nosed in front to secure pole position for Sunday’s race. Ekström lapped the 4.574-km circuit in 1:34.680 minutes, pushing Mercedes-Benz driver Jamie Green down to 2nd place.

BMW celebrated a great comeback to DTM after a 20-year absence, with Dirk Werner landing third on the grid in his BMW M3 DTM.

Double DTM champion Ekström will start from his 19th pole position in DTM and was delighted to start the season where he left off at the end of 2011:

“A pole for the start of the season is the best thing that could happen to us. It’s like in school: You learn to do your homework and now you see the result.

“Although there are no points for the pole, it’s definitely the shortest path to finish from in the race”, said Eki.

* * *

Runner-up Jamie Green was equally pleased with his start to the new season, “We worked a lot in the winter and now we know where we stand. We are well on our way. You could see that it is very close between the three manufacturers and they all get to start at the front.”

Third place Dirk Werner was enthusiastic about BMW’s return to the DTM series, “This is a crazy result. I never thought that I can do it in the final qualifying round. We already had a good feeling, but it makes it even more beautiful to do so good,” said the delighted BMW driver.

Two Audi drivers, the Italian Edoardo Mortara and Mike Rockenfeller, are in fourth and fifth in the race, whilst Brit Gary Paffett was 6th in his DTM Mercedes AMG C Coupé.

A further six pilots celebrated their DTM debut at Hockenheim. Andy Priaulx (BMW) finished the qualifying session in 7th place, whilst Adrien Tambay (Audi) qualified in 12th. Canadian Robert Wickens (Mercedes-Benz) was 13th quickest, whilst Joey Hand (BMW) from the USA qualified in 16th.

Augusto Farfus (BMW) starts tomorrow’s race in 19th position, whilst Spaniard Roberto Merhi (Mercedes-Benz) will start from 20th.

* * *

FIA president Jean Todt spoke about the “new DTM”, saying “The cars are very interesting. I have seen many things you can learn from. The DTM is a good mix of young drivers and experienced pilots, many of whom come from Formula 1.”

The 40-lap race around Hockenheimring begins tomorrow at 14:00 CET, with all 182.960 kilometres broadcast live on German channel ARD. If you’re a UK viewer and would like to know how to catch the action, take a look at our 2012 DTM TV Guide.

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Qualifying Positions

Gallery

The new 2012 season brings with it a new era for DTM racing. BMW join the line up after a 20 year absence, to fight it out against bitter rivals Audi and Mercedes whilst no fewer than five British drivers battle for glory, including Gary Paffett, Suzie Wolff, Andy Priaulx, Jamie Green and F1 legend David Coulthard. Whilst new coupe-style racing cars have been introduced which are both safer and cheaper to run.

Among the more revolutionary features are identical safety structures for all cars, a better protected safety fuel tank, and a new ‘Incident Cam’ which can be used as evidence in controversial racing situations.

Furthermore, the seat – similar to formula cars – is now installed in the carbon fibre monocoque that is joined to the roll cage made of high-strength steel.

Each car is powered by a 4.0-litre V8 engine with approximately 500bhp, carrying a minimum weight of 1,100kg – including driver and helmet.

Sticky 18″ Hankook tyres keep the cars glued to the track, 300 x 18 at the front and 320 x 18 on the rear. AP supplies the regulation carbon fibre brakes for all cars, with a limit of 3 sets per front and rear wheels during the season.

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It looks like being a great spectacle, so how do you get to see it?

ITV4

ITV hold the rights to show highlights of the series, with coverage beginning on Saturday 5th May on ITV4 from 10:30am to 11:00am (Duration : 30 mins).

Future broadcast times have yet to be scheduled, so keep an eye on the ITV website.

ESPN

If you’d like to watch the tyre-smoking action LIVE in the UK, then you’ll need to subscribe to ESPN, but that doesn’t mean you should expect live coverage of every race.

Coverage begins on Sunday 29th April on ESPN (CH.442 on Sky) from 10:30pm to 12:15am (Duration : 105 mins), with the race repeated on Monday 30th April at 8:15pm. However ESPN’s live coverage doesn’t kick-in until the Brands Hatch round on 20th May.

To gain access you’ll need to subscribe on either Virgin Media, Freeview, BT Vision or Sky. It will cost £9 extra a month for Sky Sports subscribers, or £12 extra a month for other Sky subscribers.

Sky Sports

If you are already a Sky Sports subscriber, then you can watch highlights of each DTM race on Sky Sports 3 and 4, but it appears little better than ITV’s coverage, being broadcast some 7-10 days after the event.

Online coverage

If you don’t fancy forking out a minimum of £108 to watch each race in full on ESPN, then apart from the ITV4 highlights programme you’ll find additional coverage on dtm.tv and auditv.com.

In Germany, the races are broadcast on ARD, n-tv and Sport1 – you can also catch video highlights and interviews (in German) on the Sport1 Mediencenter.

ARD is a public service broadcaster (just like the BBC), funded by German licence payers, and offers a ‘Livestream’ service on its website. You can then watch the livestream by accessing through a proxy server.

How to: (5 minute task) find a German proxy server address usinging http://hidemyass.com/proxy-list/. Copy down an IP address and Port No. Then open up your browser settings (in Chrome, go to Settings > Under the hood > Network (change proxy settings) > LAN settings > click the ‘Use a proxy server..’ checkbox > then enter the IP address and Port No of your proxy server. You should now be able to view the ‘live’ broadcast.

Many thanks to Systems Engineer, Jason Patel, who has added further suggestions in the comments below, both for UK and US viewers.

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Race schedule and known TV coverage

Whilst the race calendar has been finalised, TV coverage is only confirmed for the first two races. Here’s what we know for now:

More than 55,000 tickets have been sold for the eagerly anticipated first race of the new DTM season on the Hockenheimring next weekend. Organizers expect the grandstands to be completely sold out for the first battle between German’s big 3 car makers in DTM since the 1990s.

As you would imagine, there is a mountain of promotional material, some of which would bore even the most dedicated enthusiast, so we’ve selected some of the best snippets of information together with some great new pictures of the 2012 contenders.

BMW in the DTM 2012

BMW return to the DTM championship in 2012 for the first time in almost 20 years. The company’s most recent works involvement in the series came between 1984 and 1992, during which time it left its mark with 49 victories, 30 pole positions and 3 drivers’ titles.

The very first DTM race ever was won by a BMW driver: Harald Grohs, at the wheel of the BMW 635 CSi. By the end of the season, Volker Strycek had secured the title in the same car.

BMW Team Schnitzer is once again involved under the leadership of Team Principal Charly Lamm. Bruno Spengler and Dirk Werner will line up for the team from Freilassing. Three-time World Touring Car Champion, Andy Priaulx, and Augusto Farfus will represent BMW Team RBM, while reigning DTM champion Martin Tomczyk will race alongside Joey Hand in the newly formed BMW Team RMG.

The BMW M3 DTM has been developed from scratch by BMW Motorsport and is powered by the 4.0-litre BMW P66 V8 engine, equipped with
regulation air restrictors and producing around 480bhp.

BMW’s M3 made its racing debut in 1987 and was designed specifically to compete in the DTM. It went on to become the most successful touring car of all time and set new standards both on track and on the road.

Eric van de Poele finished in the points at nine of the ten races, clinching the 1987 DTM title for BMW in the M3′s first season.

BMW has scored more DTM victories at the Hockenheimring than any other circuit, with BMW drivers crossing the finish line first on ten occasions. Many of the stars from back then will also be there at the track to watch the return of BMW to the DTM live: Grohs, van de Poele and Ravaglia will be joined in Hockenheim by Steve Soper.

Mercedes-Benz in the DTM 2012 – Vital Statistics

Eight drivers from four countries will contest the 2012 season in the Mercedes AMG DTM C-Coupé, the successor to the AMG Mercedes C-Class – the most successful ever DTM car to date.

Two rookies – Roberto Merhi and Robert Wickens – will make their DTM debuts with Mercedes-Benz in 2012.

These rookies, together with Jamie Green, Ralf Schumacher, Gary Paffett, Christian Vietoris, Susie Wolff and David Coulthard form a powerful Mercedes-Benz works team in the DTM.

A new Mercedes-Benz Junior Team has been formed for the first time in 2012 with Merhi, Vietoris and Wickens. It is modelled on the successful concept from the 1990s – which launched the careers of Michael Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger.

The eight Mercedes-Benz DTM drivers have a combined total of over 29 years’ experience and 294 DTM races to their credit.

Gary Paffett and Jamie Green – with win rates of 21 percent (17 wins in 81 races) and 10 percent respectively (7 wins in 74 races) – are among the four most successful current DTM drivers.

Mercedes-Benz is the most successful manufacturer in the DTM with 165 victories and ten drivers’, thirteen team and nine constructors’ championships.

The DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé weighs 1100kg and is powered by a 500bhp 4.0-litre V8 engine with 500 Nm.

100 facts about Audi and the DTM

1. Audi has won a total of eight DTM titles to date.
2. 2012 marks the 17th DTM season tackled by Audi.
3. The brand with the four rings has so far contested 194 DTM races and won 61 of them. 64 times an Audi racer took the pole position and 53 times the fastest race lap to date was set by an Audi driver.
4. In 1990 and 1991, Audi was the first automobile manufacturer to achieve two consecutive DTM title wins.

DTM coverage on TV (UK viewers)

The good news is – ITV4 have secured a deal this season to show all 10 rounds of the 2012 DTM championship. The bad news is – they’ll only be showing the highlights and at the moment there’s nothing in the schedule to indicate ‘when’ coverage will be shown and importantly how long after the race it will take to see it.

We’ll update you the moment we get confirmation from the folks at ITV, but at least DTM will be on free-to-air TV, which is something that hasn’t been the case for many years.

5. In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Audi was the first – and has so far remained the only –automobile manufacturer to win the DTM title three times in succession.
6. The Audi V8 quattro won in 1990 at its seventh race, the A4 DTM in 2004 at its third race in the DTM.
7. For eight years, Audi in the most popular international touring car series was relying on its top seller, the A4, that took a total of five DTM titles (in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011).
8. The Audi A4 DTM clinched 34 of the 61 race wins achieved by Audi in the DTM.
9. There have been a total of seven different versions of the Audi A4 DTM: R11 (2004), R12 (2005), R12 plus (2006), R13 (2007), R13 plus (2008), R14 (2009) and R14 plus (2010).
10. From 2006 to 2011, Audi and Mercedes were battling for the DTM title between themselves. The final score: 4–2 for Audi.
11. From 2000 to 2003, the Audi brand was represented in the DTM by the customer team Abt Sportsline that privately fielded coupes based on the Audi TT, and in 2002 won the title with Laurent Aiello.

  A5 DTM

1. After the V8, the TT and the A4, the A5 is the fourth model to be fielded by Audi in the DTM. So far, Audi has clinched at least one title with each model range for Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm.
2. Length, width, height, wheelbase and overhangs are identical for all DTM vehicles to assure maximum equality of opportunity. Models that do not fit the mold are scaled accordingly. The A5 DTM required almost no scaling versus the production model.
3. An Audi A5 DTM consists of around 4,000 parts – about 50 of them are specification parts prescribed by the DTM regulations for all manufacturers.
4. The Audi A5 DTM bears the internal project name “R17” at Audi Sport.
5. The “R17 project was launched on May 4, 2010.
6. The prototype of the Audi A5 DTM did its first kilometres on the Audi test track in Neustadt on July 29, 2011.
7. The Audi A5 DTM celebrated its world debut on September 12, 2011 as part of the Volkswagen Group Night held before the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt.
8. Since March 1, 2012 the technology of the DTM vehicles for the 2012 season has been largely frozen.
9. Around 30,000 test kilometres were reeled off by Audi Sport with the A5 DTM prior to its first racing run.
10. The Audi A5 DTM is 5.01 meters long, 1.95 meters high and 1.15 meters low. All DTM vehicles have an identical wheelbase of 2,750 millimetres.



11. A DTM wheel weighs over 22 kilograms – the teams’ mechanics train at the gym to handle this weight.
12. The current-generation DTM vehicles are regarded as the race touring cars boasting the highest safety standards in motorsport history.
13. The carbon fibre monocoque of the Audi A5 DTM weighs merely 126 kilograms, the roll cage 32.5 kilograms.
14. In the mandatory crash test the side wall of the monocoque has to resist a force of 360 kN, which equates to 36 metric tons or 36 small cars.
15. The requirements specified for the – now 65-centimeter-long – crash absorbers at the front and rear ends of the vehicles have been raised. In addition, a total of four side-impact crash absorbers are installed in the cars for the first time.
16. The A5 DTM is currently using the same engine as its predecessor model, the A4: a V8 with 4.0-litres of displacement, around 340 kW (460 hp) and thus comparable performance ratings as the 4.2-liter V8 unit used in the top-of-the-line RS 5.
17. The transmission that is now operated by means of paddle shifters on the steering wheel can achieve a mileage of up to 24,000 kilometres.
18. The steering wheel of the Audi A5 DTM has a diameter of merely 28 centimetres.
19. Unlike the A4 DTM, which still had a steel roof, the Audi A5 DTM has a body made of CFRP.
20. Just like the production model, the Audi A5 DTM has headlights with LED daytime running light. Audi is a trendsetter in the field of LED technology. At the Le Mans 24 Hours, Audi has been the first automobile manufacturer to compete with full LED headlights since last year.

Audi Sport

1. Around 200 employees work for Audi Sport at the two locations Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm.
2. Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich has been at the helm of Audi Sport since November 1993. In 2004, he led Audi back into the DTM and has clinched the title six times since then.
3. For over 30 years, Audi Sport has been part of the Technical Development division of AUDI AG. This is one of the reasons why the technology transfer between motorsport and production is very intensive at Audi. Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich reports directly to Michael Dick, Member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG for Technical Development.
4. Dieter Gass has been serving in the role of “Head of Racing Commitments” at Audi Sport since January 1, 2012, reporting directly to Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich.
5. In parallel to the DTM, Audi in 2012 is involved in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the two 24-hour races at the Nürburgring and at Spa. In total, the Audi Sport squad of around 200 members with support by the partner teams is handling no less than 21 factory racing commitments in the 2012 season.
6. For 2012, Audi Sport concurrently developed three new race cars: the A5 DTM, the R18 ultra and the R18 e-tron quattro – the first diesel hybrid vehicle for the Le Mans 24 Hours that marks the return of quattro drive to motorsport. Audi Sport customer racing – with the R8 LMS ultra and the R8 GRAND-AM – contributed two other new customer sport race cars.

Teams

1. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline is fielding four vehicles in the DTM, supported by 53 employees. Audi Sport Teams Phoenix and Rosberg are each entering two Audi A5 DTM cars, with 26 employees being assigned to the DTM commitment by each team.
2. All three Audi Sport teams have been involved in the most popular international touring car racing series ever since the DTM was re-launched in 2000. ABT Sportsline relied on Audi vehicles from the outset. Phoenix Racing and Team Rosberg have been partners of Audi Sport since the 2006 season.
3. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline is based in Kempten in the Allgäu region of Bavaria, Audi Sport Team Phoenix in the industrial park Meuspath near the Nürburgring and Audi Sport Team Rosberg in Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
4. With five DTM driver titles to its credit, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline is the so far most successful Audi DTM team.

Drivers

1. With an average age of barely 27 years, Audi is competing with the youngest driver line-up of the three manufacturers in the 2012 DTM.
2. Aged 21, the Frenchman Adrien Tambay is the “junior” in Audi’s line-up, Mattias Ekström (33) the “senior.”
3. The Audi drivers in the 2012 DTM season hail from seven different nations (France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain). Edoardo Mortara has dual citizenship (Italy/France). Timo Scheider is German but races with an Austrian license.



4. Switzerland is clearly the preferred residence of the Audi drivers. Four of the eight DTM racers live there.
5. With 17 wins under his belt, Mattias Ekström is the brand’s most successful DTM racer in front of Hans-Joachim Stuck (11).
6. Mattias Ekström, Timo Scheider and Mike Rockenfeller have achieved all of their previous 24 victories in the DTM at the wheel of Audi vehicles.
7. Six of the eight 2012 Audi DTM drivers have been on the DTM podium at least once.
8. Audi most recently provided the best DTM rookie – Miguel Molina (2010) and Edoardo Mortara (2011) – twice in succession.
9. Mattias Ekström was pleased about the allocation of number “3” to his car. It was the number of the car in which the Swede won his second DTM title in 2007.
10. Filipe Albuquerque and Miguel Molina took German lessons at the Audi Academy in Ingolstadt during the winter.
11. Tipping the scales at 50 kilograms, Rahel Frey – as could be expected – is the flyweight in the 2012 Audi driver line-up, Mattias Ekström – with 77 kilograms – the heaviest Audi racer.
12. Audi’s 2012 Le Mans driver line-up includes four former DTM racers – Dindo Capello, Oliver Jarvis, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish – and one from the current season, Mike Rockenfeller.

Partners

1. Audi Sport was able to secure the support of a total of 21 partners for its involvement in the 2012 DTM.
2. “Audi Sport performance cars” stands for all high-performance cars from AUDI AG, such as the Audi R8 or the RS models from quattro GmbH.

  Rules

1. For the first time since 2005, the DTM includes a manufacturers classification again, which Audi 2004 decided in its favor once before. The six best vehicles of a manufacturer, respectively, are classified.
2. In the 2012 DTM, points are awarded for the first time according to the system used in Formula 1: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 for positions one to ten.



3. Refuelling during DTM races is no longer permitted. The Audi A5 DTM has a 120-liter fuel tank.
4. Each race has two mandatory pit stops for tire changes. A quick pit stop in the DTM takes less than three seconds, the same time it takes the Audi A5 DTM to accelerate from rest to 100 km/h.
5. 14 mechanics perform a DTM pit stop – three per wheel, plus one man with the wand that supplies compressed air to the air jack system in the car and the famous “lollipop man” who directs the A5 to the right position in the pit lane with a sign that looks like an oversized lollipop.
6. The minimum weight of a DTM vehicle was specified at 1,100 kilograms for the 2012 season – including 85 kilograms for the driver. Drivers who weigh less than that have to take appropriate ballast on board.
7. Per race weekend, a driver may use a maximum of 28 unused slicks (14 front and 14 rear tires). 40 tires are permitted for the first weekend.
8. For all DTM events – from the beginning of the first DTM event to the end of the last classification race – a maximum of three engines are permitted per two registered drivers. No mechanical component inside the sealed engines may be worked on, removed or exchanged.
9. Two drivers combined may use a maximum of six sets of brake discs.
10. The length of the free practice sessions was increased to 100 minutes (per each of two sessions) in the 2012 season.
11. In addition to the national flag and the driver’s last name, the so-called “three letter code” that clearly identifies each driver must be displayed on the rear side windows this year. The codes at Audi are: ALB (Albuquerque), EKS (Ekström), FRE (Frey), MOL (Molina), MOR (Mortara), ROC (Rockenfeller), TAM (Tambay), TSC (Scheider).
12. Since the past season, Hankook has been the DTM’s exclusive tire supplier. Compared with last year, the wheels have larger dimensions (12 x 18 instead of 10 x 18 inches at the front and 13 x 18 instead of 11 x 18 inches at the rear axle).

  Tracks/events

1. For the third consecutive time, the official season presentation is held in Wiesbaden, the capital of the state of Hesse.
2. The DTM season opener is taking place at the Hockenheimring for the 16th time. Since 1995, the circuit in Baden-Württemberg has been the traditional venue of the first DTM race of the year.
3. At a total of ten classification races, points are awarded in the 2012 season. In addition, like last year, there is a show event at the Munich Olympic Stadium at which two drivers per run compete against each other in a knock-out format.
4. Seven DTM events are held in Germany in 2012; in addition, there are visits to Great Britain, Austria, the Netherlands and Spain.



5. All DTM qualifying sessions and races are broadcast by ARD live on “Das Erste”.
6. According to calculations by Audi Sport the top speed (around 260 km/h) in the 2012 DTM season is reached at the end of the Parabolika at the Hockenheimring. The slowest corner – at around 50 km/h – is turn 1 at the Norisring in Nuremberg.
7. 62,000 spectators on average attended the DTM events last year. On its debut, the show event at the Munich Olympic Stadium immediately attracted 54,000 spectators.
8. On a total of five of the nine DTM tracks, Audi is holding the qualifying record (Hockenheim, Spielberg, Zandvoort, Oschersleben and Valencia).
9. On the Spanish circuit at Valencia, Audi has remained unbeaten in the DTM so far – the same applies to Audi factory driver Mattias Ekström.
10. Audi was most successful in recent years at Zandvoort and Oschersleben with five victories since its return to the DTM with a factory commitment in the 2004 season.

  DTM history

1. “DTM” was originally an abbreviation for “Deutsche Tourenwagen-Meisterschaft.” The three letters subsequently stood for “Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters.” “DTM” has meanwhile become an independent trade mark.
2. 2012 marks the 26th season for the DTM – including its international offspring, the “ITC”, in 1996. 269 DTM events with 379 classified races have been held so far in total.
3. The narrowest finishing gap at a DTM race was 0.089 seconds (Norisring 1996), the largest lead 51.96 seconds (Mainz-Finthen 1985).
4. The most commanding victory in the DTM since its re-launch in 2000 was achieved by Mattias Ekström in the Audi A4 DTM 2011 at Oschersleben. After a memorable wet race the Swede crossed the finish line with a 42.167-second advantage.
5. Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz last competed against each other at a DTM race on June 18, 1992 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Gallery

2012 will also be the final year of production for the E90/E92/E93 Model M3, before the V8-powerplant is replaced with a new turbocharged six cylinder unit in the new 3 Series, so this might also become a collectible last edition for the current M3 range.

Just 100 Frozen Silver Edition M3′s will be sold in the UK, wearing a special plaque to highlight the limited edition nature of the car.

But UK customers won’t be the only ones lucky enough to pick one up, the BMW M Award presented at the end of each MotoGP season for the rider with the most success in qualifying will this year be a Frozen Silver Metallic M3 Coupe Competition Edition.

Apart from the unique matt silver paint finish, it’s all business as usual for an M3, with its 414bhp V8 engine, standard seven-speed M DCT transmission with variable M differential, 10mm lowered suspension with three-stage Electronic Damper Control, 19-inch light alloy wheels and a revised DSC+ system.

Matt black alloy wheels complement the bodywork, with a dark chrome exhaust, side gills and kidney surrounds, and jet black bonnet intakes. High-gloss shadowline exterior trim completes the exterior look.

Inside, the standard specification includes black novillo leather with contrast stitching and palladium leather armrests and inserts. The steering wheel is covered in alcantara and comes complete with an M3 chequered flag motif, while the door sills feature a similar logo.

Carbon fibre is liberally applied to the interior trim, whilst the handbrake has M Power lettering stitched onto it.

With all these features being fitted as standard, the M3 Frozen Silver Edition represents more of a ‘special’ package of options than a model in itself. All these options would add around £9,000 to a standard M3, but for an additional cost of just £4,000.

The M3 Frozen Silver Edition goes on sale in the UK at £58,720 on 1 June, 2012 and is available as a coupé (E92) only.

The former Italian motorcycle racer, nicknamed “Capirex”, will draw upon his extensive experience of MotoGP racing. Over a 22-year career, the likeable Italian competed in 328 races and won 3 world championship titles.

BMW – Official Cars of MotoGP

BMW doesn’t just provide safety cars to the MotoGP series. BMW and BMW M cars are also provided for use by Dorna Sport’s management team, including a BMW X5 M for the Safety Officer, a BMW ActiveHybrid X6 for the stewards and a BMW 535i Touring as the Medical Car.

Furthermore, a BMW S 1000 RR and a BMW HP2 Sport are used as safety bikes, whilst BMW X5s are used for the service road tours, starting in the VIP Village.

The BMW Z8 was the first ever BMW used as a MotoGP safety car, appearing in 2001, before the role of “Official Car of MotoGP” shifted to BMW M GmbH from 2006.

“To ensure maximum reliability, it is essential for the safety car to function perfectly even under the most difficult racing conditions. The high-performance cars from BMW M meet exactly all the demands that are placed on safety cars on the racetrack, “said Loris Capirossi.

The successful partnership between BMW and Dorna Sports, the promoters of the MotoGP World Championship, stretches back to 1999, whilst BMW M has provided the official safety car since 2006.

The car maker also presents the BMW M Award at the end of each season for the rider with the most success in qualifying. Last year, Casey Stoner won a 1 Series M Coupe, whilst for 2012 a Frozen Silver Metallic M3 Coupe Competition Edition will be awarded at a special M Night in Valencia, Spain.

The new M5, which was introduced at last year’s US Grand Prix at Indianapolis, currently shares the safety car role with the 1 Series M Coupe. Both have been ‘optimised’ for use on the race track and to maintain sufficient pace to lead a 230mph MotoGP racing field (obviously at a reduced pace).

A whole host of measures were implemented to prepare the car for its special outing as a Safety Car. A significantly larger, Gurney-style rear spoiler and a front lip spoiler produce the downforce, whilst the BMW M5 Safety Car features a special racing chassis with adjustable traction control, while a racing exhaust and bucket seat round off the Safety Car version.

The 1 Series M Coupe will be replaced from the middle of this year with the new BMW M6 Coupé, which will serve interchangeably with the M5.

We kept track of the automotive ones and of these, only 4 out of 9 embraced the medium of video – with one of those (Google’s driverless NASCAR race car) not even shareable.

So what is it about April Fools that deters brands from getting involved?

It’s like Karaoke, without the music..

I came across a phrase whilst compiling our article, Ad Watch: The most amusing Automotive April Fools’ pranks of 2011/2012, which sums up the problem:

“April Fools is like a huge open mic night in which millions of people go out of their way to demonstrate how unfunny they are..”

Most brands lack a sense of humour and when they attempt humour, it goes against their very nature to be self-deprecating – in fact the humour is usually a less than subtle way of sugar-coating a dry and self-promotional press release.

2012′s winners and losers

Take Automotive vehicle information expert, HPI, (the people you contact to find out if your car is stolen, owes finance or has been clocked). Their April Fools’ prank ‘HPI helps singles survive the dating scene and avoid a relationship write-off‘, whilst interesting in theory, spent 2/3rds of the release talking about the £35,000 guarantee available as part of their HPI Check service (yawn..).

Past masters BMW are renowned for their April 1st pranks which have included; BMW Political Roundel Attachment Tag (PRAT) that let owners show their partisanship during the 2010 general elections, the BMW M3 Royal Edition, built to celebrate Kate and William’s royal nuptials and of course 2008′s Canine Repellent Alloy Protection (CRAP) which was the brainchild of Dr Hans Zoff..

However this year, their April Fools’ prank – BMW introduces the driverless Running Coach – was little more than an advert for BMW’s involvement in the London 2012 Games.

Of the social videos produced, Subaru’s ‘Beat the hosepipe ban with a self-cleaning Subaru‘ earned just 6,000 views and less than a handful of shares.

TomTom’s ‘Darth Vader holds the key to making your children happier‘ reached the giddy heights of 280,543 views (which perhaps reflects the huge popularity of TomTom’s viral videos) and Peugeot’s ‘RCZ Mood Paint Demonstration‘ reached an audience of 51,864 viewers.

What can we learn?

The first rule of April Fools is: You do not promote a real product. The second rule of April Fools is: You do not quote real facts in your press release. But the third rule of April Fools is: Unless you’re really funny, don’t try to be.

Compared to last year when we had Land Rover’s ‘Self-levelling Tax Disc Holder‘, Autoglass’ ‘Self-reparing Glass for iPhones‘ and BMW’s ‘M3 Pickup‘, this year’s pranks were in-the-main press releases for products and services, which on every other day of the year would feature in ordinary adverts displayed online or in magazines and newspapers.

Google’s driverless NASCAR racer, which was clearly a promotion for Google’s ‘real’ self-driving guidance technology was hardly better and creating a video that could only be viewed in North America, and even then primarily on NASCAR.com’s website seems the very antithesis of virality.

Perhaps the best example this year of the perfect April Fools’ campaign came from Richard Branson and Virgin Group. As with the latest Usain Bolt Virgin Media ads, Branson got personally involved engaging his 1.9 million Twitter followers in the hoaxes; Virgin Volcanic which will provided journeys to the centre of the Earth, Virgin Holidays’ new Branson currency which is all set to replace the Pound and my personal favourite, Virgin Active’s ‘Bare and Burn’ regime which launches the UK’s first entirely naked workout session.

Interacting on Twitter with the likes of Tom Hanks, Will.i.am and Seth Green added further credence to the Virgin hoaxes, showing yet again that for an April Fools’ prank to succeed it must be believable, surprising and never portray a brand taking about itself or taking itself seriously.

Neither of Branson’s pranks relied on video, but that just goes to show that you need to get the story right before dipping into the creative box of tricks.

April Fool’s humour is an art-form in itself – too outlandish and it will lack the subtlety required to lure the audience in, take the whole thing too seriously and you’ll end up looking awkward and contrived. It’s like a huge open mic night in which people go out of their way to demonstrate how unfunny they are.

Leader in the automotive field is BMW, they’ve made it a key part of their marketing strategy since the year 2000, and even created a section in their BMW Education website to host all their most popular spoofs.

2012 is set to be another bumper year, with several car makers already out of the blocks and one (non automotive prank) I can’t resist sharing from Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.

You can catch up with all the latest pranks as they happen in our dedicated ‘April Fools’ section, and we’ll also update this article to show 2012′s efforts alongside our favourites from last year.

2012

BMW to be exempt from Australia’s Luxury Car Tax

BMW argues that it doesn’t make cars, it makes Ultimate Driving Machines, therefore they should be exempt from the proposed Luxury Car Tax, unlike ordinary station wagons, four-wheel drive vehicles and all limousines….

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Build your own MINI Countryman.. from 29,762 individual parts

Here’s an old-media prank from MINI Australia that had their antipodean readers hopping around and getting all excited. Imagine building your own MINI Countryman from 29,762 individual parts….

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Honda introduces the Anti-Theft Negotiator

More than a car alarm, TERII uses biometric recognition and FBI hostage negotiating tactics to protect against vehicle theft. Scheduled for inclusion on all 2013 Honda vehicles…

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Peugeot launches the first car to change colour with your emotions

Peugeot UK has unveiled an RCZ that uses an innovative reactive paint to change its body colour to reflect your emotions – be it happy, sad or anything in between….

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HPI helps singles survive the dating scene and avoid a relationship write-off

The dating game can be hit and miss, sometimes with heartbreaking consequences. Vehicle information expert, HPI, is today trialling a new service to help singletons tell a dream date from a relationship write-off…

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Lotus F1 Team resolves Kimi Raikkonen’s steering issues

After weeks of changing steering racks, power steering systems, steering wheel heights and a host of other settings, the Lotus F1 Team design office engineers have found the solution to Kimi’s steering issues….

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Google announces autonomous race car partnership with NASCAR

Ever since mankind could go fast, we have longed to go faster. And ever since we’ve done work, we have longed to have someone else, or something else, do that work for us. Now Google bring their driverless technology to NASCAR…

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Cut price petrol for one day only

An enterprising petrol station in Musewll Hill, London is taking advantage of last week’s panic buying at UK fuel pumps, by slashing the price of regular unleaded petrol to 39.9 pence per litre. The Shell station, just off Colney…

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MINI launches the new Clubvan Concept

Soon the world will also be the oyster of MINI drivers and their entourages. 12 days on from the “official” start of spring, MINI can announce its arrival among the ranks of camping outfitters with the new Clubvan…

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TomTom discovers Darth Vader holds the key to making your children happier

Following months of meticulous research, the experts at TomTom’s Navigation Laboratory (NavLab) have discovered a solution to stop babies crying in the backseat. Project GAGA evaluated the full range of TomTom navigation voices….

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Beat the hosepipe ban with a self-cleaning Subaru

Subaru is about to take the automotive world by storm with the launch of the world’s first self-cleaning car, with a radical new technology developed by Subaru engineers using their patented AF Technology…

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BMW introduces the driverless Running Coach

As an official sponsor of London 2012, BMW has been inspired to develop the new driverless Running Coach feature, which uses a combination of ConnectedDrive technologies and surround view cameras…

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Richard Branson launches journeys to the centre of the Earth with Virgin Volcanic

Academy Award winning actor Tom Hanks will join the first expedition, which will target the five most active volcanoes in the world, Etna – Sicily, Italy, Stromboli – Aeolian Islands, Yasur – Republic of Vanuatu,…

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2011

Underground-GPS from BMW Australia

The advanced-engineered Underground-GPS system available exclusively in the all new compact and versatile BMW X1, is the only one of its kind capable of showing the streets beneath the streets of Australia’s major cities…

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Mitsubishi reveals its Evo replacement – the 345bhp i-MiEVO all-electric car

Mitsubishi teased a new concept for the Evo – called the AF-J on its Lancer Evolution Facebook page. Posing the question, “The next Evo?”, they promised to reveal the full car on Facebook at 15:00 GMT on April 1st…

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Autoglass pioneers ‘self-repairing’ glass… for phones

Autoglass® has today announced a scientific breakthrough by developing glass that repairs itself. Scientists at the company’s headquarters in Bedford have been testing the technology on mobile and smartphones over the…

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Goodwood follows red brick road at the 2011 Festival of Speed

To celebrate 100 years of the famous Indianapolis 500 race, Goodwood can confirm that it is commencing construction work on the challenging Festival track to cover the entire 1.16-mile hillclimb with one million bricks…

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BMW M GmbH develops the world’s fastest pickup

The world’s first high-performance pickup has been created at the BMW M GmbH development centre, with a load capacity of 450 kilos in its generously sized and intelligent lightweight load area…

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BMW reveals New M3 Royal Edition to commemorate Will & Kate’s Big Day

As a tribute to HRH Prince William of Wales and Miss Catherine Middleton, a very special Royal Edition of the M3 will be available at BMW Dealerships throughout the country from today – the NEW BMW M3 ROYAL EDITION…

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Land Rover introduces the self-levelling tax disc holder

Land Rover has released a novel piece of technology in response to the recent change in tax disc legislation. The self-levelling tax disc holder is an industry first and takes full advantage of our ground-breaking Hill-Descent Control….

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Kia Motors says NO to pigeon sh!t

Kia Motors dealers around the UK have launched innovative plans to keep the cars on their forecourts spotless and free from attack by the enemy of all car-owners, bird-droppings!

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SEAT reveals its Media Audio Recognition Technology (SMART) nav system

Spanish car maker SEAT’s new SMART system features Automatic Regional Speech Equivalence software that identifies the area through which the SEAT is being driven, and tailors the accent of its navigation instructions accordingly.

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Mini takes automotive personalisation to new levels

MINI, a leader in the manufacturing of customised vehicles has introduced a revolutionary paint system that will allow owners to change the exterior colour of their vehicle as often as they change their mood…

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Goodwood uses renewable energy source for its Moving Motor Show

To reduce the number of generators used on site, this year’s event will be powered by natural methane gas, taken directly from Goodwood’s extensive herd of Dairy Shorthorn cattle, rare breed of cows usually supplies…

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