Audi brings Timo Scheider back to DTM
- DTM comeback in Audi A4 DTM
- At 27 years of age already experienced campaigner
- Five years DTM experience
Audi brings Timo Scheider back to DTM: The young German, who missed winning the FIA GT Championship title by a single point last year, drives an Audi A4 DTM in the 2006 season.
Although the new Audi works driver is only 27-years old he is one of the most experienced DTM drivers: Timo Scheider was one of the major DTM players between 2000 and 2004, before making a brief excursion in a sportscar cockpit last year. Furthermore, Timo Scheider competed for the German national team in the new A1 Grand Prix racing series.
Timo Scheider started his career in karting in 1989, was runner-up in the German Formula 3 Championship in 1997 and swapped to the DTM in 2000. He narrowly missed winning his first DTM race in 2003 at Zandvoort, when, after starting from pole position and holding a comfortable lead, he lost a wheel. In the same year Scheider won the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring (Germany) and in 2005 the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) at the wheel of a GT1 sportscar.
Despite his successful foray in the FIA GT Championship he kept in contact with the DTM scene. “It was always my goal to return to the DTM, which is the world’s best racing series alongside Formula 1,” says Scheider. “I’m extremely pleased to have succeeded in doing so with Audi. I’ve always admired Audi. In 2005 I got behind the wheel of the Audi race taxi at the Norisring – it was the best DTM car that I ever drove. Since then it was perfectly clear to me that I wanted to join Audi.”
Head of Audi Motorsport Dr Wolfgang Ullrich is convinced that Scheider is a good choice: “Timo has shown that he is one of the fastest in a DTM car. He brings five years of DTM experience with him to Audi. He is also an intelligent and stylish guy who fits perfectly to the Audi brand.”
Timo Scheider was born on 10 November 1978 in Lahnstein and lives with his fiancé Jasmin and son Loris in Altach, Austria.