Audi Sport has unveiled its new DTM challenger for the 2017 season during the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday morning.
The Ingolstadt based outfit pulled the covers off its new Audi RS 5, which has been developed alongside the production model.
"This is a special day for me and everyone involved in the DTM project," commented head of Audi Motorsport Dieter Gass. "For the first time, we developed a new DTM car in parallel with the production model. This underlines once again how closely motorsport and production work together at Audi."
Visually, the third-generation Audi RS 5 DTM clearly stands out from its predecessors. The car features a new front-end with the distinctive single-frame radiator grill of the new RS 5 consisting of a very thin film. The restrictive DTM regulations allow the engineers the greatest latitude around the rear wheel arches. Accordingly, they have been trimmed for maximum downforce combined with utmost efficiency.
"It appears even more progressive and is even more extreme in terms of aerodynamics," explained project leader Stefan Gugger. "In many areas of aerodynamics, we explored further detailed options.
“In addition, we’ve improved the components in terms of accuracy of fit once again,” added Gugger. "As far as gap dimensions are concerned, Audi has always stood out from the competition. Still, we’ve made another step that enhances aerodynamic performance."
New as well is the rear-wing, which now consists of two flaps. To increase the effectiveness of the Drag Reduction System (DRS), the entire wing is no longer lowered but, like in Formula 1, the top flap is flattened – which is intended to produce even more overtaking maneuvers in future DTM events.
The car will be piloted by Mattias Ekstrom, Nico Muller, Mike Rockenfeller, Jamie Green and newcomers Loïc Duval and René Rast.
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