After promising tests in Valencia Robert Kubica was a favorite for a Mercedes C-Class Coupé cockpit. Reports now say that the former Renault Formula One driver refused a seat with Mercedes. Rumors are afloat that the Pole is entering the FIA European Rallye Championship instead.
Instead RaceDepartment member
Daniel Juncadella has been added to the six driver line up of Mercedes AMG after winning the F3 Euroseries and the prestigious Macau Grand Prix last year besides numerous online racing victories here at
RaceDepartment.com during his sim racing career.
Mercedes-Benz today announced its line-up of drivers for the 2013 DTM season. The three-pointed star will enter six DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupés this year in the world’s most popular touring car series. The aim of this move is to focus resources on a leaner, meaner DTM task force with the two experienced teams at HWA and Mücke Motorsport.
2012 DTM runner-up and 2005 champion Gary Paffett (31, England) will play a major role for Mercedes-Benz in the title hunt. His 19 DTM victories make him the most successful of the current crop of DTM drivers.
Ex-Formula 1 star Ralf Schumacher is about to embark on his sixth successive season in the DTM. With six F1 race wins, he ranks as the third-most successful German driver of all time at the highest level of the sport, entering the record books behind his brother Michael Schumacher and three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. Ralf has been competing in the DTM since 2008.
Furthermore, Mercedes-Benz has added an extra driver to its DTM junior team. In addition to the current crop – Roberto Merhi (21, Spain), Christian Vietoris (23, Germany) and Robert Wickens (23, Canada) – Daniel Juncadella (21, Spain) will join the DTM junior team that was first established in 2012. This quartet of ‘young guns’ completes the driver line-up for Mercedes-Benz in the 2013 DTM season.
Junior team drivers will receive support from MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg, who will mentor the youngsters. The successful Mercedes-Benz Junior Team of the 1990s that included Michael Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger might well serve as his inspiration. Schumacher competed in four DTM races as a junior, gaining experience in the world’s most popular international touring car series. In the course of their careers, these drivers all successfully made the transition to Formula 1. Frentzen and Wendlinger subsequently raced in the DTM.
Juncadella joins the DTM as the current Formula 3 Euro Series champion. The Spaniard used Mercedes-Benz Formula 3 engines from 2010 through to 2012, winning the prestigious 2011 Formula 3 Grand Prix in Macau. Last year was his best to date when he rounded off the season with a number of successes – the Formula 3 Euro Series title, plus victories in the Formula 3 Masters at Zandvoort and in the inaugural FIA Formula 3 Championship.
This year marks the start of their second DTM season for both Merhi and Wickens. Merhi has been a Mercedes-Benz protégé since 2008, and, like fellow Spanish driver Juncadella, won the Formula 3 Euro Series championship in a Dallara-Mercedes before graduating to the DTM.
This will be the third season in the DTM for Vietoris. His best DTM result was fourth place in the 2012 season-opener at Hockenheim.
Developing motor racing talent has a long history at Mercedes-Benz. Since the Formula 3 Euro Series was first introduced in 2003, eight drivers have won the championship title running Mercedes-Benz Formula 3 engines. Teams powered by Mercedes have secured the team championship nine times, winning 170 of 209 races in total. During the same period, 13 drivers who had previously competed in Formula 3 powered by Mercedes-Benz moved up into Formula 1, including current MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, who won the 2005 Formula 3 Euro Series championship in a Dallara-Mercedes, having achieved 15 victories in 20 races.
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2013 DTM season.
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