Ralf Schumacher will continue to race for Mercedes-Benz in the 2012 DTM season. Schumacher has been competing in the world’s most popular touring car championship since 2008, and next year will be his fifth in the series. This season saw him score his first two podium finishes – in the opening race at Hockenheim and DTM’s return race at the Austrian circuit of Spielberg.
Jamie Green (AMG Mercedes C-Class) won the 2011 DTM season finale at Hockenheim by 7.6 seconds from Martin Tomczyk (Audi) after starting from second place on the grid. It was Green’s seventh DTM victory and his second at Hockenheim. This was the 17th podium for the British driver, his sixth in a DTM race at Hockenheim and podium number 480 for a DTM driver at this track.
For the first time in four years, former Formula One and DTM driver Mika Häkkinen will climb into the cockpit of a racing car for the season finale of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup on 13th November in Zhuhai (China). Häkkinen will be driving a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 for the six-hour race along with 2010 Mercedes-Benz DTM driver CongFu Cheng and Lance David Arnold of Germany. The Finn is making an appearance in his capacity as a Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador and this will be the first time the gullwing SLS has raced in China. The car has been entered by an independent team, Customer AMG Sports Team China.
Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) finished in the penultimate race of the season contested in Valencia in seventh position. The race was won by Mattias Ekström (Audi). Spengler has 51 points in the drivers’ standings and goes into the grand finale in Hockenheim on 23rd October in second position. Martin Tomczyk (Audi) clinched the drivers’ championship in Valencia with one race still left on the calendar.
Renger van der Zande (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) will begin the ninth race of the 2011 DTM season in Valencia on Sunday as the best-placed Mercedes-Benz driver in third position on the grid. The DTM rookie posted a 1:31.173 minutes in the shoot-out at the end of qualifying. Mattias Ekström (Audi / 1:30.608 minutes) will be on pole.