Harrison Newey has been brought in to Team WRT’s DTM line-up for the 2020 season, replacing ex-Indycar driver Ed Jones.
Jones was previously absent from the team at the pre-season test at the Nürburgring due to travel issues. Newey made a surprise appearance at the test, but was reportedly not in line for a race seat at the time.
Newey, 21, is the son of Formula One designer Adrian Newey and has previously raced in Formula 3 and Super Formula as well as sportscars, making his debut in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018.
In January, he was part of the Dragonspeed LMP2 crew that took a class win at the Rolex 24 at Daytona alongside Colin Braun, Henrik Hedman and Ben Hanley.
The rest of Team WRT’s line-up remains unchanged, with the team’s other two Audi RS5 DTMs piloted by rookie Fabio Scherer and Ferdinand Habsburg, who set the quickest time in pre-season testing ahead of his sophomore DTM campaign.
“We are eager and thrilled about going back to the tracks and race again,” said team principal Vincent Vosse. It is not going to be ‘business as usual’, or like we used to know it until now, but it is great news.
“The pandemic isn’t over yet, we will have to cope with it for a while, and remain very vigilant. Racing will be different, there will be new rules and new factors to be taken into account, and we all will have to act responsibly and not do mistakes.”
“Team WRT has gone through the lock-down safely and smoothly. We ceased all racing activity mid-March: a part of our workforce went into the temporary unemployment schemes, and other team members went working for the Weerts group of which we are part. On 25 May, we partially resumed activities, reaching again the usual set-up on 3rd June.”
“In the DTM, for the last season to be run under the format we have known so far, we aim at materializing the promises we have shown in our debut season last year, and up-grading our efforts to three cars, without departing from our philosophy to promote young talent.”
New colour schemes for second season
In addition to the confirmed driver change, the Belgian outfit also unveiled the two remaining liveries with which it will race in its second season in DTM. Scherer’s livery had previously been revealed, but the team has now also shown the colour scheme for Newey and Habsburg.
