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Team Rosberg

Overview

Team Logo's

Team Rosberg logo
1995  -  2021
2022  -  present

Team Info

Company Name:

Team Rosberg GmbH

Year of Formation:

1994

Headquarters:

Neustadt, Germany

Team Owner:

Keke Rosberg

Official Website:

www.rosberg.de

Team Personnel

Team Principal:

Kimmo Liimatainen

Sporting Director:

Ramon Hämmerle

Technical Director:

Nicola Palarchi

Race Engineers:

Florian Rinkes

Erich Baumgärther

Statistics

Total Series Contested:

DTM

ITCS / ITCC

Super Tourenwagen Cup

German F3

F3 Euro Series

Formula BMW ADAC

A1 GP

ADAC GT Masters

FIA GT3 European Championship

Drivers Championships:

3x DTM - (2017, 2019, 2020)

1x German F3 - (2002)

1x Formula BMW - (2002)

Team Championships:

2x DTM - (2017, 2019)

1x German F3 - (2002)

1x Formula BMW - (2002)

Team History

Established in 1994, Team Rosberg was primarily created by Keke Rosberg as a squad to compete in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft. After partnering with Klaus Ludwig for the 1995 season in Opel Calibra’s, Keke would retire from professional racing to focus on driver management and the running of Team Rosberg. 

The next few years would be full of change in the world of touring car racing. Firstly the DTM would combine with the ITCS forming the ITCC for the 1996 season, with Team Rosberg continuing to run as an Opel squad. The next 2 years saw Team Rosberg step up to a factory entry as the works Nissan team in the Super Tourenwagen Cup before eventually taking a (first) sabbatical from touring cars after the 1998 season.

For 1999 Team Rosberg began what would be six straight season participation in both ADAC Formula BMW and Formula 3 championships. These would include running future Austrian F1 driver Christian Klien in ADAC Formula BMW (2001) as well as taking wins and the championship with Gary Paffett in German F3 (2002). During this period Team Rosberg would also run Nico Rosberg as he climbed up the single-seater ladder. First taking the ADAC Formula BMW title in 2002 and then in the F3 Euro Series (2003 and 2004) producing 3 wins and a 4th place in the table.

Whilst running duel single seater entries, Team Rosberg also re-entered the relaunched DTM for the championship’s debut in 2000. Rather than renewing a partnership with Opel, Team Rosberg chose to use Mercedes-AMG CLK entries. This would be a promising partnership for the 2000 season but following four seasons having to use year-old cars, top results became much harder to find. By the end of 2004 Team Rosberg shocked the DTM paddock by announcing they would be leaving the championship for 2005 and taking another sabbatical from touring car racing. 

Image Source:

Adam Pigott from Coningsby, UK, Rosberg Audi R8 LMS GarageCC BY 2.0

For the 2005 season they continued to race in both ADAC Formula BMW and F3 but dovetailed this with a year as the franchise holder for Austria’s A1GP team. This move into open-wheeled-only racing would last for only one season with Team Rosberg ending all single-seater competition at the end of the year. Both a lack of results in A1GP and the move for Nico Rosberg away from the family team into GP2 were both contributing factors in the decision to again rejoin the DTM for 2006.

 

This new beginning for the team would see them join Audi as a full works entry in the DTM, allowing them to compete more freely and attract better drivers. The partnership with Audi also granted further racing diversification, with entries into both FIA and ADAC GT3 racing for the 2009 and 2010 seasons using the Audi R8 LMS. 

 

The following decade would mark unprecedented success for the team in DTM with regular podiums in 2011 and then the first wins with Edoardo Mortara in 2012. The pairing of Jamie Green and René Rast would take this success to new heights in 2017 with the capture of a championship double with the Team and Drivers Championship titles for Team Rosberg and René Rast. A close championship fight for Rast in 2018 would result in a runners-up slot before he and the team achieved a second title double in 2019. That success would continue for 2020 with Rast coming back from a huge points deficit, winning five of the last six races to win a third drivers title with Team Rosberg. The team would however be beaten by Abt in the team championship.

 

Currently Team Rosberg has its headquarters in Neustadt an der Weinstraße (Germany), close to the Hockenheim race circuit. As well as the success of defending the DTM drivers title, 2020 marked the end of an era as Arno Zensen retired as team principal after spending 25 years with Team Rosberg. His replacement was Kimmo Liimatainen has also had a very long relationship with the team, starting his career as a Formula BMW driver in 2000 for the team before moving away from driving and into senior operations. 

 

The future of the racing team had initially been guaranteed as it confirmed it would remain with DTM in its new GT3 format for the 2021 season. However at the beginning of 2023 the team announced it would not be competing in the 2023 championship and has yet to confirm if it will return.

 

Since 1997 Team Rosberg has also begun a diversification process with the creation of TR-Engineering. This is an in-house engineering company specialising in design, model making and simulator work for outside automotive companies as well as the team itself. Looking to the future of motorsport is also at the heart of this diversification project with the development of an off-shoot racing team, Rosberg Xtreme Racing. This will be in the form of an Extreme E team, a format based around electric off-road racing, gender diversity and environmental sustainability and will be headed by Nico Rosberg.

Timeline

1994

  • Team established by Keke Rosberg

1995

  • 6th in DTM Teams Championship with Opel Calibra V6

1996

  • 4th in ITCC Teams Championship

2001

DTM_Helsinki_1995_Team_Rosberg.jpg
  • 8th in DTM Teams Championship

  • 6th in German F3 Championship

  • 3rd in German Formula BMW with Christian Klien

2002

  • 8th in DTM Teams Championship

  • 1st in German F3 Championship with Gary Paffett

  • 1st in German Formula BMW with Nico Rosberg

2004

  • 4th in F3 Euro Series with Nico Rosberg

Image Source:

Thomas Kraft (ThKraft), Nico Rosberg Formel BMW(ThKraft)CC BY-SA 2.5

2005 / 2006

  • Took on Austria's A1 GP entry for 1 year

2006

  • Returned to DTM with Audi

2009

  • 3rd with Audi R8 in the FIA GT3 European Championship

2011

Frank_Stippler_2006_DTM.jpg

Image Source:

Tony Harrison from Farnborough, UK, Frank Stippler 2006 DTMCC BY 2.0

  • 6th in DTM with 2 podiums for Mortara and 1 podium for Albuquerque

2012

  • 4th in DTM (best Audi team) with 2 wins and a 2nd place for Mortara

2017

  • 1st in DTM Team Championship

  • 1st in Drivers Championship with René Rast

2018

  • 3rd in DTM Team Championship

  • 2nd in Drivers Championship with René Rast

2019

  • 1st in DTM Team Championship

  • 1st in Drivers Championship with René Rast

2020

  • 2nd in DTM Team Championship

  • 1st in Drivers Championship with René Rast

  • Team principal Arno Zensen retires after 25 years with Team Rosberg

  • Rosberg Xtreme Racing formed by Nico Rosberg as an evolution of Team Rosberg

2021

  • Rosberg X Racing wins the inaugural Extreme E drivers & teams title

2023

  • Rosberg X Racing wins a second Extreme E drivers & teams title

  • Team Rosberg announces in February that it will stop competing in the DTM with immediate effect

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