MARTIN TOMCZYK WINS SAT.1 GAME SHOW

• DTM champion wins TV game show with fiancée • Rahel Frey attending the Audi Q3 Experience in Berlin • Timo Scheider turning talented kart racers into formula racers

Champion 2011 Martin Tomczyk, Audi Sport Team Phoenix, Audi A4 DTM

Photo by: xpb.cc

As if the DTM title, three race wins, and being crowned ADAC Motorsportsman of the Year wasn’t enough, Martin Tomczyk (29) has scored yet another success - this time on the TV.

A strong performance:

Martin Tomczyk and his partner Christina Surer are not just at the top of the motorsport game - the couple also swept the board in a special celebrity edition of the Sat.1 game show "Mein Mann kann" on Friday evening. Pitted against actors, TV presenters and the national soccer player Thomas Helmer, Tomczyk was the best at performing the tasks set by the women. The prize was 50,000 euros to be donated to charitable causes. The Audi factory driver donated his share of the prize money to the Wings for Life foundation, while Christina Surer’s half went to the Swiss Red Cross.

Vehicle delivery:

The Spaniard and Audi factory driver in the DTM, Miguel Molina, was given a warm welcome as a guest when the FC Barcelona players were presented with their new vehicles on Thursday. Audi has been in partnership with this top international soccer club since 2006.

Golden Steering Wheel in Berlin:

On Wednesday, Audi factory driver Mattias Ekström attended the Golden Steering Wheel award ceremony. Sponsored by the newspaper "Bild am Sonntag", this annual award is considered to be one of the most important and most significant automobile awards there is. The two-time DTM champion and runner-up in 2011 has been a member of the jury of experts for a number of years now and presents one of the awards.

Rahel Frey, Audi Sport Team Phoenix

Photo by: xpb.cc

Big in Berlin:

Audi factory driver Rahel Frey will be at the Audi Q3 Experience at the Sony Center in Berlin on November 12 and 13, where the public will be able to experience the new premium SUV in a compact car format.

Skiing invitation:

Rahel Frey has accepted an invitation from DJ BoBo to try her luck on the largest ski jump in Switzerland. The Audi factory driver is entering the celebrity parallel slalom on the Gross-Titlis-Schanze ski jump in Engelberg, Switzerland, on December 10, 2011.

At the finishing line:

The Audi Q3 Trans China Tour 2011 has arrived at its final destination. The 20 vehicles arrived in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, on Wednesday, after covering a total distance of 5,700 kilometers. The approximately 160 participants familiarized themselves with the Audi Q3 and found it to be reliable in any situation as they completed the tour’s 16 stages. A section of the tour was also driven by the Le Mans winners Dindo Capello, André Lotterer, and Emanuele Pirro.

Timo Scheider, Audi Sport Team Abt Audi A4 DTM

Photo by: xpb.cc

Assisting the next generation:

Timo Scheider, two-time DTM champion with Audi, is paving the way for talented young kart racers to move up to formula racing with the assistance of Volkswagen. For two years now, he has been sponsoring Nintendo Team Scheider, giving the best racers the opportunity to tackle the ADAC Formel Masters in the future. The Mücke Motorsport team relies on the 145 hp strong Formel ADAC powered by Volkswagen for Scheider’s future formula racing stars.

Media fixture in Düsseldorf:

The Race of Champions will present itself at the Hyatt Regency Düsseldorf from 11:00 A.M. on Monday, November 7. Audi factory drivers Tom Kristensen, Mattias Ekström, and Martin Tomczyk are already confirmed as competitors in the race due to take place in Düsseldorf on December 3/4. The race organizers are set to announce the line-up of "Team Germany 2" on Monday.

A sporting affair:

The Audi partner ABT Sportsline hosted its traditional golf tournament at the Sonnenalp hotel in Ofterschwang, Germany, on Sunday. A number of familiar DTM faces teed off together in the tournament, including the two two-time champion Mattias Ekström.

A BRIEF INTERVIEW WITH ... ARNO ZENSEN

Audi Sport Team Rosberg enjoyed an excellent DTM season in 2011. How would you sum it up?

"It was indeed our best DTM season since it was relaunched in 2000 and that’s fantastic, of course. With Edoardo Mortara and Filipe Albuquerque, we had two rough diamonds in the team, but they only needed a little honing to make them shine. Working with them was great. And our successes show what we can achieve together. Every member of the team had a little added motivation thanks to our two rookies."

There were signs of great potential early on. When did it become apparent that good results and points were in the offing?

"Edoardo Mortara was already picking up points in his second DTM race, when he came sixth in Zandvoort, earning himself three points. Then he achieved the best time in Q3 in Spielberg. And if it hadn’t have been raining during Q4, he would have done even better than securing position four on the grid. Then he was sent spinning at the fast corner as a result of an attack from Maro Engel. Filipe scored his first points at the Lausitzring.

After that, he tended to be fast when it didn’t really matter so much - during training sessions. But his breakthrough came in Valencia when he came second during qualifying and in the race itself. So points were a possibility right from the start. In the end, we picked up points in seven of the ten races. And that’s a very satisfying result."

But you did more than just score points ...

"We were also keen to win some trophies and we ended up with quite a nice collection this year. Not only did we win trophies in Brands Hatch and Oschersleben for Edoardo coming third and another one in Valencia for Filipe’s second place - we picked up our first trophies of the year at exactly the halfway mark. Edoardo won on the Saturday in Munich and came second in the final on the Sunday.

We happily let him keep his winner’s trophy, while the second-place trophy is now at our team headquarters in Neustadt an der Weinstraße. And then we picked up one more trophy in the season finale when Edoardo was crowned the season’s best rookie, having picked up far more points than any of the other newcomers. And Filipe was ranked second among the newcomers this year."

Coming up next week

November 7, Düsseldorf, Race of Champions press conference
November 10, Timo Scheider, 33rd birthday
November 13, Zhuhai (CN), ILMC, round 7
November 13, Nova Santa Rita (BR), GT Brasil, round 9