Rosberg Withdraws from DTM After 17-Season Run With Audi

Team Rosberg has announced that it will not continue in the DTM this year after a 17-season continuous run with Audi machinery.

The German squad has fielded Audis in the German series since 2006 and continued through the transition from Class One regulations to the current GT3 era in 2021.

It ran Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs for Nico Mueller and Dev Gore last season, finishing fifth in the teams’ standings and contributing to Audi’s manufacturers’ title.

However, Rosberg on Tuesday confirmed that it will not enter the series this year, stating that it had “no chance of being able to compete… in a competitively and economically reasonable way.”

The full DTM entry list is expected to be released this week.

“We do not just want to participate, we want to win races and titles,” commented Rosberg team principal Kimmo Liimatainen.

“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.”

Rosberg was founded in 1994 and joined the original iteration of the DTM under its International Touring Car moniker the following year, competing with Opel machinery.

It remained on board when the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was formed in 2000, first partnering with Mercedes before having a hiatus in 2005 and returning the next season with Audi. It won the drivers’ title with Rene Rast in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

Rosberg has not ruled out returning to the DTM in the future, while it is understood that the team is keeping hold of its GT3-spec Audis for the moment.

“We are exploring possible new fields of activity in GT sports for this season; a return to the DTM is also not ruled out,” said Liimatainen.

“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.”