The official website of Team Rosberg confirmed yesterday it will not compete in the DTM for the 2023 season. The team has been running Audi machinery in the DTM since 2006 and this will be the first break it has taken from the series since 2005. During this time Team Rosberg has won the DTM drivers title three times with René Rast, won the team's championship twice and scored an impressive 36 race victories.
Although this is clearly a painful decision for everyone who works at Team Rosberg it is a sensible choice considering the position it has found itself in. The timing of the DTM's takeover by the ADAC (from previous series promoter ITR), in December had delayed the team with its preparations for the new season. Another important issue that needed to be resolved prior to this announcement was finding a strong replacement for Nico Müller, with the driver having recently left the Audi family to join Peugeot's World Endurance programme.
Team boss Kimmo Liimatainen was quoted by Autosport that the outfit "planned to continue with Audi this year".
In its statement the team also maintained its commitment to the successful Extreme E programme for 2023 and that it will continue to grow the Team Rosberg Engineering (TRE GmbH) section of the business.
Official Team Statements
Kimmo Liimatainen, Managing Director Team Rosberg:
“We do not just want to participate, we want to win races and titles. That is and remains our ambition. But for that, you need support that unfortunately we were not able to generate by the registration deadline at the beginning of February. Therefore, entering did not make sense to us. I really do regret that, since I believe we would have had a good chance for top positions. Our development in recent years and our work over the winter had certainly made me very optimistic.”
“We are exploring possible new fields of activity in GT sports for this season; a return to the DTM is also not ruled out. Furthermore, we are continuing our involvement in Extreme E and want to reclaim the title there. And TRE GmbH, one of the leading companies in the field of chassis development for production cars, will continue to be an important business area for us.”
More Details
For the full official announcement please visit: www.rosberg.de
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