Mercedes-Benz will have eight DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupés in the line-up for the 2015 DTM season, as was announced by the brand with the three-pointed star during celebrations to mark the end of the sporting year at Stars & Cars in Stuttgart.
Mercedes-Benz will rely on the services of three teams in the DTM next season. French team ART Grand Prix will make its debut in 2015 in the internationally popular touring car series alongside the established teams fielded by DTM development partner HWA AG and Mücke Motorsport.
Mercedes-Benz and ART Grand Prix have enjoyed a long-standing partnership in Formula 3. Working together in the Formula 3 Euro Series, ART Grand Prix (known as AMS Formule 3 to begin with) and Mercedes-Benz achieved 78 victories, 55 pole positions and 70 fastest laps during 2003-2010. The outfit won the team championship seven times (2003-2009) and took the drivers’ title six times (2004 Jamie Green, 2005, Lewis Hamilton, 2006, Paul Di Resta, 2007 Romain Grosjean, 2008 Nico Hülkenberg, 2009 Jules Bianchi).
ART Grand Prix was founded in 1996 by Frédéric Vasseur, going by the name ASM F3 Team. After initially enjoying a number of successful years in Formula 3, the team joined the newly formed GP2 Series within the context of Formula 1 in 2005, where ART Grand Prix produced the first two GP2 champions in history in 2005 and 2006, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, who are currently both MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula 1 drivers. During their careers in Formula 3, drivers including Formula 1’s Sebastian Vettel, Romain Grosjean, Nico Hülkenberg and Valtteri Bottas, and Mercedes-Benz DTM driver Paul Di Resta all lined up for ART Grand Prix.
Frédéric Vasseur, ART Grand Prix team principal: “We’ve known Mercedes-Benz for many years from working together in the Formula 3 Euro Series, during which time we’ve come to really appreciate them as partners. To be picked by the most successful brand in the annals of the DTM to become their latest team fills us with enormous pride. We have a steep learning curve ahead of us. Nevertheless, we can’t wait for the season opener at Hockenheim to get under way when we will line up in a DTM Mercedes AMG C Coupé on the DTM starting grid for the first time in team history.”
Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “We are delighted to now have on board a strong third team for the 2015 DTM season, long-standing partner ART Grand Prix. We have in the past achieved many successes in Formula 3 with ART Grand Prix. We would love to repeat that success in the future in the DTM. We have always said that we would only ever increase the number of vehicles in the DTM when we could be certain that all the cars deployed would be equally well looked after. We will have three strong teams next year, HWA AG, Mücke Motorsport and ART Grand Prix, who are well placed to contest a successful season in 2015 with the DTM Mercedes AMG C-Coupé.”