A World Rally Champion on the DTM grid. Is this a first in the history of the sport? Straight answer: oh no! Okay, it was way back but the older DTM enthusiasts will still remember. And for the younger ones: In 1990 and 1991, a certain Walter Röhrl contested 10 DTM races for Audi. The 1980 and 1982 World Rally Champion won one of these races and secured four podiums. So, Ogier has to follow in big footsteps, this weekend at Spielberg. “Walter was an incredibly good racing driver,” says Ogier. “But the times were different and switching to a completely different car was easier, then.”
In the past five years, the Frenchman won the FIA World Rally Championship title five times in succession – and at Spielberg he will make his DTM debut in a seventh Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM. Nonetheless, he is shy of comparing himself with rally legend Röhrl. “Making it to the podium will be extremely difficult. And that certainly isn’t my goal. Today, the competition on the DTM grid is extremely tough. I will have to learn quite a lot of things. For me, it will be about being as close to the other drivers as possible and have two trouble-free races,” says the husband of Andrea Kaiser, presenter of DTM’s German TV partner SAT.1.
In August, the 34-year old tested the DTM car for two days at Vallelunga, Italy. The differences compared to his rally car are significant. “My rally car has got four-wheel drive, it’s more rigid and its aero package is limited. Its handling differs a lot from the one of a DTM car. The DTM tyres alter a lot during a race and that’s something I’m not accustomed to. On the racetrack you can take your car further to the limit. My pace wasn’t bad but now I have to try to also deliver with the other 18 drivers on the track,” says Ogier who is – behind Sébastien Loeb with nine titles – the second-most-successful driver in the history of the World Rally Championship.
Ogier will race at Spielberg with the #17 on his car – an unfamiliar view. After all, he has been racing in WRC for many years with the #1 for the World Champion. “The #17 hasn’t got a special meaning. When I was a child, one of my uncles contested autocross races with this number. He was the only active motor racer in my family. Furthermore, I was born on 17th December,” reveals Ogier who invited Audi’s Mike Rockenfeller and BMW driver Timo Glock this Tuesday to join him on the passenger seat of his rally car. However, both DTM old hands politely declined the offer. While they admitted that they wouldn’t mind to drive the rally car themselves.
“After all, he wants to win. That would result in a catastrophe. Furthermore, reading in a car makes me feel sick. But I always said that I would love to get behind the wheel of a rally car. That certainly would be a fantastic experience,” says ‘Rocky’ – and Timo Glock adds: “Being a front-seat passenger is really displeasing for me. Just like for Mike. Back in 1999 I had the opportunity to drive Toyota’s WRC Corolla. A great experience. I think today’s WRC cars even are a touch more extreme and more aggressive.”
Source: DTM