R8 dtm

REUTERS: Audi will withdraw from the German Touring Car series (DTM) at the end of the year and focus its motorsport activities on all-electric Formula E and customer racing, the carmaker announced on Monday. The Volkswagen-owned premium brand said in a statement the realignment was also due to the economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Audi has been in Formula E since 2014, and active in DTM for 20 years. Chairman Markus Duesmann said Formula E offered "a very attractive platform" for a marque aiming to generate about 40per cent of its sales with electric cars and plug-in-hybrids by 2025. The move leaves the DTM, whose series is on hold due to the pandemic, with BMW as its sole manufacturer on the grid next year and facing an uncertain future. Mercedes, also now competing in Formula E, departed at the end of 2018 while Aston Martin left after last season. DTM boss Gerhard Berger said the future now depended on how partners and sponsors reacted. "While we … [Read more...] about Audi to leave DTM at end of season, focus on Formula E

The DTM's move to GT3 regulations has not only opened the championship to a wide variety of manufacturers, but also enticed a number of racing teams that couldn't previously take part in it due to the barriers to entry that existed in the Class One era. Rowe Racing is the latest team to take advantage of the DTM's new ruleset, joining Walkenhorst Motorsport, AF Corse (under the Red Bull banner), GruppeM and Jenson Rocket RJN among the list of new entrants for 2021. The German outfit will enter an unspecified number of M6 GT3 cars in the series, with the driver line-up also to be revealed at a later date. Its move to the DTM follows its best season to date in endurance racing in 2020, with victories at Spa 24 Hours (with the Porsche 911 GT3) and Nurburgring 24 Hours (with the BMW M6) being the highlight of its campaign. Rowe Racing team principal Hans-Peter Naundorf said it will continue to compete in endurance races on top of its newly-announced programme in the DTM, … [Read more...] about Rowe Racing enters DTM with BMW M6 GT3

Marketing meets art. Art cars are not new. Artists use the automobile as a blank canvas for both beautiful and exciting works of art. No two are alike, and that’s the beauty of the art car. BMW is probably most famous for such creations , with a plethora of glammed-up examples. But other automakers have dipper their creative toes in the water, such as Rolls-Royce and Alfa Romeo in the recent past. Audi has, in the past, done an art car as well, but the Audi R8 here is not an official project of the automaker. Instead, aftermarket tuning company ABT Sportsline, known for taking performance Audi vehicles and turning them straight to insanity, commissioned the car. Read also: BMW's New Art Car Is Only Visible In Virtual Reality BAC Mono Art Car To Debut At Goodwood FoS Radical Corvette Art Car Revealed For Le Mans In preparation of two different automotive events that overlap in May – the Tuning World Bodensee show in Germany and the legendary … [Read more...] about Cartoonist Turns Audi R8 Into A Wicked Art Car

LONDON: The all-female W Series has the resources to get through this year even if no races can be held because of the COVID-19 pandemic, founder and chief executive Catherine Bond Muir said on Monday. W Series, which launched last year in support of the German Touring Car (DTM) championship, has yet to draw up a revised calendar for 2020 after the new coronavirus outbreak changed everything. It had planned also to join Formula One for the first time at grands prix in Mexico and the United States, both of which remain up in the air. "It is absolutely robust enough," Bond Muir told reporters on a conference call when asked about her series' business model. "There's a very clear message here. We will be racing next year irrespective of what happens this year." W Series, which aims to help women move up the male-dominated motorsport ladder, is sanctioned by the governing FIA and offers points towards an F1 super-licence for the first time this year. Britain's Jamie … [Read more...] about W Series has the resources to race on next year, says CEO

REUTERS: Two times German Touring Car (DTM) champion Rene Rast will replace Daniel Abt at Audi's Formula E team for the remainder of the season, the manufacturer said on Friday. Abt lost his seat last month for letting a gamer take his place, without others knowing, in an official Formula E esports race. The all-electric series has scheduled six races in nine days in August at Berlin's former Tempelhof airport to finish a season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The three double-headers will be held without spectators. Rast, 33, has some previous Formula E experience, racing in the 2016 Berlin ePrix for what was then the Aguri team and is now Techeetah. "I've been following Formula E very closely for a long time and am now looking forward to this new challenge," said the German driver. Audi are quitting the DTM at the end of this year, opening up the possibility of Rast continuing with them in Formula E next season. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Alexander … [Read more...] about Rast replaces sacked Abt at Audi Formula E team

LONDON: Motor racing's all-female W Series cancelled its 2020 season on Thursday due to the COVID-19 pandemic but promised to return next year with at least two support races on the Formula One calendar. The series, which started last year, had been due to award points towards a Formula One superlicence for the first time. The cancellation will be a particular setback for Britain's inaugural champion Jamie Chadwick, who had hoped to defend her title and move a step closer to Formula One. Chadwick already has 10 points from finishing fourth in the Asian Formula Three series before the coronavirus lockdown. "Our decision not to stage on-track races until 2021 is not one that has been taken lightly," said W Series chief executive Catherine Bond Muir in a statement. "Now that we have taken the very difficult but ultimately unavoidable decision... we will focus our energies clearly on 2021 when we will resume our on-track racing programme bigger and better than ever before." … [Read more...] about Motor racing: W Series cancels 2020 season due to pandemic

LONDON: Jamie Chadwick raced McLaren's Lando Norris in the virtual world at the weekend but COVID-19 could put the brakes on hopes of her joining the Formula One driver on track at a real grand prix this season. Back in February the 21-year-old had spoken of defending her W Series title and then pushing for a Friday first practice slot with the Williams F1 team, where she is a development driver. The plan was to move up the motorsport ladder in 2021, with whoever wins the all-female series barred from returning after this year. Now the Briton, who lost 2-1 to Norris in the head-to-head event organised by Veloce Esports, can only guess at when she might be back on track with the pandemic putting racing worldwide on hold. A return to W Series next year is also looking more of a possibility. "I think realistically no-one knows what’s going to happen this year," Chadwick told Reuters in a telephone interview from home. "So next year is in the back of my mind and planning … [Read more...] about Motor Racing: Chadwick stays hopeful with W Series on hold