[DTM2]Audi Sport TT Cup: World Premiere at Hockenheim

During the DTM season kick-off (30th April to 03rd May) at Hockenheim, a new young-driver series is making its world premiere: at the Southern German GP circuit, the Audi Sport TT Cup is going to contest not only the first two races of its 2015 season but also the first two in its history. Six times during the course of the 2015 season, the makes cup contested with the racy coupes from Ingolstadt will be part of the DTM support programme.

The environment couldn’t be much better: racing in the support programme of DTM, the young drivers can witness race weekend by race weekend where their way up the motor-racing ladder could take them. But making it to the pinnacle of touring-car racing is anything but easy. In extensive selection courses, the 18 young drivers were found who now will battle it out for the title and to attract so much attention that they can make it to the higher ranks of motor racing.

“We had 165 contenders from 30 countries,” reveals project manager Rolf Michl. “We intensely dealt with every single application and in a multi-step selection process, we selected the 18 drivers who now will have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in the Audi Sport TT Cup. Our goal was to create a starting grid as interesting and international as possible – and we succeeded in doing so.”

The 2015 Audi Sport TT Cup starting grid features drivers from 13 countries and three continents, with the German fraction (three drivers) being the biggest. They will have to compete with drivers from another 10 European countries as well as the USA and Hong Kong. The youngest driver on the grid is Finland’s just 16-year Joonas Lappalainen. In the meantime, the 18 permanent Audi Sport TT Cup drivers already have executed their first tests. At the Circuit de Catalunya, the international talents had two days for familiarising themselves with the Audi TT cup and covered a total mileage of 7,700 kilometres.

The racing version of the new Audi TT produces 310bhp at a weight of just 1,125 kilograms. By dint of a so-called push-to-pass function, the drivers temporarily can increase the horsepower output of the two-litre TFSI engine by 30bhp. So, thrilling door-to-door battles are guaranteed.

And who knows? Possibly, the fans at Hockenheim witness the birth of a new touring-car racing ace that has got what it takes to follow the footsteps of drivers such as Matias Ekström, Gary Paffett, Marco Wittmann & Co.