A strong DTM duo for WINWARD Racing
Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD goes into the 2024 DTM season highly motivated. Veteran Maro Engel becomes Austrian Lucas Auer’s new team-mate.
With two proven top drivers, a well-drilled team and maximum ambition, Mercedes-AMG Team WINWARD starts the 2024 DTM season. In the cockpits of the German-Texan team’s two roughly 550 hp Mercedes-AMG GT3 sit Lucas Auer (29, Kufstein) and Maro Engel (38, Monaco), two of the most experienced and fastest GT drivers of all.
With nine race wins and the runner-up title in 2022, Lucas Auer, who is about to start his fourth year with WINWARD Racing, is one of the most successful DTM drivers at present. No wonder the Tyrolean wants to put the mixed last season, in which “Luggi” managed only one podium, behind him: “I’m very happy to go into our fourth DTM season together with WINWARD Racing. The winter was intense, and we worked hard to keep improving in different areas and create the conditions for a successful year. I can’t wait to bring what we have learned to the track.”
New to the WWR team based in Altendiez near Limburg is Maro Engel. The Munich-born Monaco resident made his DTM debut back in 2008 and has been a fixture in the driver line-up of the three-pointed star ever since. The veteran crowned his also mixed 2023 season with a strong win at Zandvoort in the Netherlands. But that is not enough for Maro: “I have very good memories of working with WINWARD Racing before, for example our win together at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2021. The team has shown impressive performances in every series so far. In the DTM I still had room for improvement last season. That’s why we used the winter to put ourselves in the best possible position for the fight for the championship.”
Christian Hohenadel, co-owner and team principal of WINWARD Racing, also sets high goals for himself and his team: “We go into the new season very well prepared and highly motivated. We spent the winter break carefully analysing last year and literally turned over every stone. Our weakness was clearly qualifying, and anyone who knows the brutal competitiveness in the DTM knows how important grid position is in this high-class field. We will prepare meticulously for the coming season, and not only on this point, because one thing is clear: it’s not the Olympic spirit that drives us all. It’s an absolute will to win!”
The 2024 DTM again comprises eight events, each with a one-hour race on Saturday and Sunday. The season starts on 27/28 April at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.
2024 DTM calendar
27/28 April Oschersleben
25/26 May Lausitzring
8/9 June Zandvoort/NL
6/7 July Norisring
17/18 August Nürburgring
7/8 September Sachsenring
28/29 September Red Bull Ring/A
19/20 October Hockenheim