Crew Rosberg carried Audi driver Rene Rast to every of his DTM championship victories between 2017 and 2020 and was a race-winner in final yr’s championship with Nico Muller in Portimao.
However like all DTM groups, it confronted uncertainty final autumn when it turned clear that collection promoter ITR was in talks with the ADAC that in the end resulted in a sale of the branding rights. It was solely in December, two months after the tip of the season, when the ADAC confirmed that it will proceed to run the championship in 2023, which means groups have been behind of their planning for the brand new marketing campaign.
Rosberg staff boss Kimmo Limatainen informed Autosport in December that the scenario was “not superb now”, however stated he was inspired by the delayed begin to the season at Oschersleben on 26-28 Might “as a result of that can give us a while to kind issues out that ought to have been sorted already now”.
Nonetheless, in an announcement issued at the moment the staff revealed it had been unable to draw the specified stage of assist to proceed within the DTM “in a competitively and economically affordable means”.
“We don’t simply need to take part, we need to win races and titles. That’s and stays our ambition,” Liimatainen stated.
“However for that, you want assist that sadly we weren’t in a position to generate by the registration deadline initially of February. Subsequently, getting into didn’t make sense to us.
“I actually do remorse that, since I consider we might have had a very good likelihood for prime positions. Our growth in recent times and our work over the winter had definitely made me very optimistic.”
Kimmo Liimatainen, Crew principal Audi Sport Crew Rosberg
Picture by: Alexander Trienitz
Liimatainen informed Autosport that he deliberate to proceed with Audi this yr, having represented the marque repeatedly since 2006. It beforehand raced Opels in 1995-96 and Mercedes from 2000 to 2004.
Rosberg was already dealing with the prospect of competing with out Muller, who has departed the Audi fold to hitch Peugeot’s World Endurance Championship programme. Fellow DTM race-winner Kelvin van der Linde has develop into the most recent driver to depart Audi when its roster of manufacturing unit drivers was revealed earlier at the moment.
Liimatainen stated the staff is presently “exploring potential new fields of exercise in GT sports activities for this season”, including that “a return to the DTM can also be not dominated out”.
The staff will proceed within the off-road Excessive E championship with an unchanged lineup of Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky.
