DTM News

Local hero Jeroen Bleekemolen will graduate to an Opel Vectra GTS V8 for the first time at his home DTM round, which takes place this weekend at Zandvoort on the Dutch coast.

After setting the quickest time in practice and qualifying for round six of the DTM, Mattias Ekstr?m had to settle for second place after super pole saw him beaten to top spot by the Mercedes-Benz of Gary Paffett.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen will stay in the DTM in 2005, after extending his contract with Opel. The announcement was made today by Opel's motorsport director, Volker Strycek, at the Shanghai invitational race in China.

A Chinese delegation - headed by the president of the national motorsport federation Tian Shu Shi, and Maggie Ip, managing director of promoter BCG - visited the DTM race at the Norisring, three weeks ahead of the series' invitation race in Shanghai on 18 July.

Last Sunday, Audi works driver Rinaldo Capello won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second time, driving an Audi R8 fielded by Team Goh. The success has now led to the Italian being offered the chance to make his DTM debut with the German marque.

It was a season opener of superlatives, as 118,000 spectators came to witness the start at the 2004 DTM campaign at Hockenheim - twice as many people as in the previous year.

Former F1 star, Jean Alesi won the Super-pole today [Saturday] at Hockenheim, for the opening round of the 2004 DTM. It was a perfect start to the new season for the Frenchman, who enters his third year in the 'tin-top' series.

Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline and Audi Sport Infineon Team have completed a hard week in preparation for the forthcoming 2004 DTM season - and only half of it involved being on track...

The two Opel works teams - OPC Team Holzer and OPC Team Phoenix - reported a problem-free official test at Brno over the weekend, with the marque's drivers setting the pace on two of the four days.

The honour of topping the times during the second of the DTM's official pre-season tests was shared between representatives of all three marques at Brno.

Over the past four days, Audi works drivers Frank Biela and Tom Kristensen recorded more than 1300 kilometres while testing the new Audi A4 DTM on the grand prix circuit at Jerez.

Opel's motorsport manager, Volker Strycek, shook down the new Opel Vectra GTS V8 at the French test track in yesterday [Monday], completing the first laps with the car that will take the fight to Mercedes and Audi in this year's DTM.

Commentator Karl-Heinz Hufstadt, known as the 'Voice of the DTM' has died of a heart attack at the age of 63.

Opel's DTM squad has concluded its 2003 programme with a test session at Vallelunga in Italy, with new signings Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Marcel Fassler getting their first taste of the Astra V8 Coupe which has contested the series in recent seasons.

As has been rumoured since he announced his split with the Abt Audi team, Laurent Aiello has been confirmed as another weapon in an increasingly potent Opel armoury.

Former F1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen will take to the wheel of an Opel Vectra GTS V8 in the DTM in the coming season. The triple Grand Prix winner today signed his contract at Adam Opel AG headquarters in R?sselsheim, Germany.

The 2004 DTM will be sporting a brand-new appearance as, instead of banking on coup?s, Audi, Mercedes and Opel will have to switch to four or five-door saloons.

Bosch has extended its sponsorship of the DTM [Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters] for another three years, up to and including 2006. At the same time, Bosch subsidiary, Blaupunkt, has confirmed its endorsement in this important Europe wide motor sports series for the next year.

Austria's A1-Ring has a reputation for supplying drama when the DTM visits and this year it was no different. But, unfortunately for Opel, bad luck and a simple case of 'wrong place, wrong time' resulted in a race jam-packed with the wrong sort of dramas.

Laurent Aiello [Hasser?der Abt-Audi]:

Full superpole times and starting line-up for tomorrow's DTM race at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, round four of the 2003 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Superpole times - Saturday - EuroSpeedway Lausitz:

Team Abt Sportsline proved that its DTM championship-winning car is also fit for endurance races as, of the 210 teams that started this year's N?rburgring 24 Hours - and after more than 3500km on the N?rburgring-Nordschleife - Kris Nissen, Karl Wendlinger and Marco Werner finished second overall.

In tropical conditions, the test day that precedes this weekend's second round of the DTM once again showed just how closely matched the three manufacturers in the series can be.

The first guest appearance of the new-look DTM series in Italy is being considered a highlight on the 2003 calendar of Europe's premier touring car series, and the Abt Sportsline team, spearheaded by champion Laurent Aiello, has clearly defined goals for this weekend's race at the Adria Internati