Like other factory teams, Audi is preparing to rejoin the postponed 2020 DTM season in July. However, this will be its final year in the series which has been an integral part of the carmaker’s story since it first participated in the series in 1990.
The DTM – which are the initials for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters or German Touring Car Masters – ran from 1984 to 1996 before resuming under a new format in 2000. To date, Audi has won 23 DTM Championship titles, including 11 Driver titles.
As the series has travelled not just through Germany but across Europe and as far as Moscow and Shanghai, Audi has taken 114 victories, 345 podiums, 106 pole positions and 112 fastest laps to date. The 2019 season was Audi’s most successful ever and, hopefully, when the 2020 series gets underway, there will be more victories to celebrate.
It has been strongly supported by the German manufacturers who have spent huge sums of money developing racing cars for the series. Compared to the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), the cars are much more powerful and spectacular to watch. They are constructed from carbonfibre and are closer to Formula 1 cars than the road-derived touring cars in the British series.
According to Jamie Green, a British Audi Sport DTM driver, it’s extremely competitive, and one of the hardest championships in the world. “Compared to a BTCC car, the performance of a DTM car is stratospheric. Our cars have 600 ps, and the speed and sound are awesome,” he said. “The series is incredibly technical, too. If the ride height at the front of my car is adjusted by just 0.6 mm, I can feel the difference.”
“Audi has shaped the DTM and the DTM has shaped Audi. This demonstrates what power lies in motorsport – technologically and emotionally,” said Chairman of the Board of Management, Markus Duesmann. “With this energy, we’re going to drive our transformation into a provider of sporty, sustainable electric mobility forward. That’s why we’re also focusing our efforts on the race track and systematically competing for tomorrow’s ‘Vorsprung.’ Formula E offers a very attractive platform for this. To complement it, we’re investigating other progressive motorsport formats for the future.”
Audi V8 quattro DTM (1990-1992):In 1990, Audi entered the DTM with the 4.8-metre long luxury V8 sedan which was longer than the BMW M3 and Mercedes-Benz 190 E. Within 18 months of its debut, the V8 quattro captured two DTM titles. In its ultimate guise, the naturally aspirated 3.6-litre V8 engine delivered 470 ps/380 Nm. The car’s weight fluctuated between 1,220 kgs and 1,300 kgs as competitors demanded it carry extra ballast in an attempt to slow it down.Audi 80 quattro DTM prototype (1993): Audi began planning its return to the DTM in 1993 by developing a car to comply with the new FIA Class 1 Touring Car regulations. These were designed to level the playing field among the manufacturers, with every team forced to use a 2.5-litre naturally aspirated engine. Audi chose to base its DTM car on an 80 sedan – but it was unlike 80 model ever seen before. The combination of a massive front air splitter, bulging wheel arches cloaking substantial 19-inch wheels with ultra-low-profile tyres, ground-hugging side sills, a triple-deck boot-mounted spoiler and an aggressively styled rear bumper package produced a fearsome-looking track weapon. A new V6 engine, tuned for racing, produced a lusty 388 ps and revved to 10,500 rpm, all the power going to four wheels.Abt-Audi TT-R DTM (2000 – 2003):In 1996, three years after Audi left the DTM – then known as the German Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft or German Touring Car Championship – the series ended. It returned in 2000, with DTM now standing for Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters or German Touring Car Masters. Audi rejoined although not initially as a factory team. Instead, the privately run Team Abt Sportsline developed and fielded the Abt-Audi TT-R. All-wheel drive was prohibited in the new DTM, as it was for most touring car series. The TT-R was powered by a 463 ps 8-cylinder engine, with drive to the rear wheels.Audi A4 DTM (2004 – 2011):Between 2004 and 2011, Audi Sport fielded seven different versions of the A4 DTM. After only three races of the 2004 season, the car had claimed its first victory, and gave Audi the Manufacturers’ crown and a Drivers’ title during its debut year. In compliance with the DTM regulations, the A4 DTM featured a steel space-frame chassis with a carbonfibre monocoque and was powered by a front, longitudinally-mounted 460 ps naturally aspirated 4-valve V8 engine. It had rear wheel drive via a triple-plate carbonfibre composite clutch and a 6-speed sequential manual-shift gearbox.
Audi A5/RS 5 DTM (2012 – 2020): For 2012, Audi shifted the shape of its DTM racer from the A4 Saloon to the A5 Coupe. The car retained the V8 engine used to such good effect in the A4 DTM. However, the drivers were now able to change gear using paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Unlike the A4, which had a steel roof, the A5’s entire body was made from carbonfibre. In 2019, when the DTM abandoned its V8 engine formula and downsized to 2.0-litre, 4-cylinder turbocharged engines and new Class 1 regulations, Audi responded with the RS 5 Turbo DTM. Th engine develops around 580 ps and over 650 Nm with an additional 60 ps available via a push-to-pass system (which drivers can use 24 times per race).
