Festival At Hockenheim To Herald The New Season

The waiting is over: with the ‘DTM-Festival’ at the Hockenheimring, the most popular international touring-car series kicks off its new season. From 30th April to 03rd May, the motor-racing enthusiasts that made the trip to the tradition-rich motor-sport venue located in Baden-Württemberg will be provided a truly outstanding four-day motor-racing event. In addition to the new two-race DTM format, the visitors also may look forward to a lot of additional action and activities on and aloof from the track.

DTM has been subjected to a major revamp: in the run-up to the season kick-off of the hard-fought series, the doubled number of races and new regulations promise to make for clearly more excitement, this year. A 40-minute race on Saturday will be added to the one-hour race on Sunday and while a pit stop for a set of tyres is obligatory on Sunday, the drivers may complete the Saturday round on one set of tyres. In addition, the DRS regulations also were revised to allow for more overtaking manoeuvres: with immediate effect, the drivers may tilt their rear wings down for achieving a higher top speed three times per lap.

Only those who succeed in coping well with all the innovations will have the chance of winning the 2015 title. One of the favourites definitely is defending champion Marco Wittmann who underlined his title ambitions with competitive performances in the pre-season tests. In 2014, the German proved to be the benchmark on the DTM grid. After all, he did not only secure the drivers’ championship but also prevailed – together with his BMW Team RMG – in the battle for the team title.

Nonetheless, the Audi and Mercedes-Benz camps also are in great shape – and they are determined to strike back, this year. Audi ace Mattias Ekström wonders what will happen in the season kick-off at Hockenheim: “It will be crunch-time both on Saturday and Sunday,” said the 2014 vice-champion. “And the fans will witness even more tough battles than in the past.” Pascal Wehrlein (Mercedes-Benz) is determined to also become a factor in the fight for the podium positions. The 20-year old German who secured his maiden DTM win at the Lausitzring, last year, is one of the DTM high flyers.

The first race weekend of the season features a support programme packed with highlights: the stadium will be the venue of a World Rallycross Championship round, held on a circuit specially built for this event. Furthermore, the fans may look forward to the enthralling races of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and the all new Audi Sport TT Cup. Aloof from the track, popular artists, such as Mark Forster, are going to entertain the crowds. The musician from Berlin who recently attracted international attention with his song ‘Au Revoir’ is the star of the ‘ARD Chartshow’. And, in the evenings, during the ‘ElchParties’ in the paddock, organised by radio station SWR3, the DJ-Duo Moonbootica and Mousse T. will make the fans dance the night away.

ARD, DTM’s German TV partner, will cover the first two DTM rounds of the season on Saturday, 02nd May, from 14:30hrs CEST (13:30hrs BST) and on Sunday, 03rd May, from 13:20hrs CEST. While the qualifying session will be streamed live by sportschau.de and DTM.com. Furthermore, live ticker, live timing and live onboard cameras in the cars will provide the fans with additional interesting information on the race action at the Hockenheimring.

The ‘DTM-Festival’ at Hockenheim will begin on Thursday, 30th April. Please find the schedule and everything worth knowing about the four-day event by clicking the following link: www.dtm.com/en/event/2015-season-opener-hockenheim. Tickets also can be purchased at www.DTM.com/Tickets - to then be comfortably printed out at home – or at the Hockenheimring box offices.