After the DTM revealed the 13 teams that will participate in the championship in its maiden season underneath the ADAC umbrella, Mercedes turned the primary producer to unveil its full programme for the yr on Thursday.
A complete of six drivers will symbolize the German marque in 2023 throughout three groups, however Gotz is a really notable omission. He emerged victorious within the DTM’s first season underneath GT3 rules in 2021 and was once more a preferred presence on the grid final yr, at the same time as he left the Haupt Racing Crew to hitch Winward Racing.
Nevertheless, Gotz is not going to return to the DTM for what would have been his fifth season in complete, together with two campaigns within the sequence’ earlier period from 2015-16, with Winward downscaling to 2 automobiles from three.
The Anglo-German squad, nonetheless, has retained each Lucas Auer and David Schumacher, after Auer completed runner-up to BMW’s Sheldon van der Linde within the drivers’ standings final yr.
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HRT can even proceed with Luca Stolz and Arjun Maini in 2023, whereas Maro Engel strikes throughout from GruppeM – which has stop DTM – to hitch Jusuf Owega at sequence newcomer Landgraf.
The crew powered Raffaele Marciello to the 2022 GT Masters title and will probably be hoping to copy that success within the DTM, which turns into the flagship sequence underneath the ADAC this yr.
Lucas Auer, Mercedes-AMG Crew WINWARD Mercedes-AMG GT3
Photograph by: Alexander Trienitz
Mercedes is known to have lowered its monetary help within the DTM this yr, as seen by the discount in variety of entries from eight to 6.
Nevertheless, it nonetheless stays one of many largest spenders, having been impressed by the sort of returns it has supplied since its swap to the extra inexpensive GT3 automobiles.
“For the 2023 DTM season, we’re placing a mixture of expertise and younger abilities on the grid,” mentioned Mercedes’ DTM director Thomas Jager.
“Each AMG Junior Driver has an skilled full skilled inside his crew from whom he can study lots by watching. From this strategy, we anticipate an intense communication and steep studying curves.”