• Ex-Formula 1 driver to become a dad for the third time
  • 14 days until the start of the 2006 DTM
DTM 2006
Mattias Ekström and the Audi RS 4

On Thursday Audi factory driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was in a particularly big hurry to fly home to his wife Tanja from the DTM tests at Brands Hatch: the Frentzen family are expecting their third child. So it is a welcome coincidence that Audi has just launched the right car for large families on the market. “We are looking for something with seven seats,” says the former Formula 1 driver. “So the new Audi Q7 is ideal for us.“

This means that “HHF” will be stepping out of line a bit because all Audi drivers are furnished the new Audi RS 4 as their “company car” this year. “It’s a real fun car,” raves Timo Scheider, the second Audi newcomer, about the 420-hp RS4. The eyes of his colleagues from the drivers’ squad, as well, start beaming when they talk about the RS4. “Apart form the Audi A4 DTM this is my absolutely favourite Audi,” says Mattias Ekström, the 2004 DTM Champion.

Tom Kristensen, who – as a perfect complement to his new diesel sports prototype commitment with the Audi R10 TDI – privately drives an Audi A6 with a TDI engine, is happy about his new company car as well, but has set his sights on yet another quattro GmbH product: “I’d like to have the very first Audi R8 built in Neckarsulm.” After all, the Dane celebrated five of his Le Mans victories with the racing version of the R8.