A word from Dieter Gass

What are Audi’s expectations on starting the 2014 DTM season? “Audi starts each season with the aim of clinching victories and being in contention for the championship. This is particularly the case when you’ve got a title to defend. I think the fans can look forward to a thrilling three-way battle. BMW was already extremely strong in 2012 and 2013 and Mercedes, with Paul di Resta’s return among other things, obviously has ambitious goals.”

Mike Rockenfeller's 2014-spec Audi RS 5 DTM

Photo by: Audi Communications Motorsport

We’re confident that we’ll be putting a powerful race car, eight fast drivers plus first-class teams on the grid again. Obviously, we’re only going to see where we stand compared to the competition on the first race weekend at Hockenheim.”

You’ve come up with a new mix of drivers for the teams. What were the reasons for this? “We’ve got our dream squad on track and in the pit lane. But for the 2014 season we wanted to provide a few new impulses and, in doing so, of course took the wishes of the race drivers and the teams into account. By making these reassignments we tried to optimize the composition of the squad in a way so that everybody would be able to draw on their full performance potential – we’re expecting a performance boost here and there, with the drivers and the teams.”

The sporting regulations have not been published yet. What can the fans look forward to? “To a tough and fair battle for the title, that’s for sure. That the officials keep looking for ideas to make the race weekends even more thrilling is one of the hallmarks of the DTM. They’ve created perfect prerequisites for this in the technical regulations and the sporting rules, as well, are going to contribute their share to even greater attractiveness and balance.”

Audi