Audi is favourite at Dutch DTM round

On July 16th the Audi brand will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Only three days later, there may be another reason to celebrate: The 50th Audi victory in the most popular international touring car racing series is possible when the DTM visits the Netherlands.

Audi has impressively demonstrated "Vorsprung durch Technik" on the demanding dune circuit along the Dutch North Sea Coast in recent years. To date, Audi has competed at Zandvoort with the A4 DTM five times, celebrating victory on four of these occasions. Most recently, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline triumphed three times in a row, and even 1-2-3-4 exploits were achieved in the past two years.

Audi’s string of victories at Zandvoort is no coincidence. Its highly efficient aerodynamics is one of the Audi A4 DTM’s great fortes and particularly useful in medium-fast and fast corners – and these types of turns abound on the dune circuit.

As early as three years ago the engineers at Audi Sport spearheaded a new trend which the competition has since followed too: Using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) calculations, the air currents flowing around and through the vehicle were separated. With each model year this innovative concept was optimized, enabling two consecutive DTM title wins which have put Audi in a unique position: As the first automobile manufacturer in DTM history, the brand with the four rings has the chance of winning the title for the third time in a row.

Zandvoort is an important stage in this endeavour. For Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich’s squad, it is crucial to fully use this technical advantage and to score as many points as possible. The fact that all nine Audi drivers particularly enjoy driving at Zandvoort comes in handy too. Some of them even call the dune circuit their favourite track.

The "King of Zandvoort" is Mattias Ekström: The Swede is the only driver to have won at Zandvoort more than once. In 2002, 2004 and 2008 he crossed the finish line as the winner. In 2006 Tom Kristensen triumphed, in 2007 it was Martin Tomczyk. Title defender Timo Scheider goes to Zandvoort as the leader of the standings.

As usual, ARD will air live broadcasts of qualifying and the race from Zandvoort on "Das Erste." ARD’s live coverage of the thrilling DTM race at the Norisring was recently watched by 1.62 million viewers, accounting for an impressive market share of 13.5 percent.