Tosa, Rivazza, Tamburello... names that make the hearts of motorsport fans beat faster. For the third race weekend of the 2022 season, the DTM will make its first guest appearance in its long history at the long-established Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. And, fittingly for the premiere, the DTM will have a record field of starters: 30 cars, six different brands, drivers from 15 nations. On the Grand Prix circuit in Emilia-Romagna, two legendary sports car brands, Ferrari and Lamborghini, have their home game in the DTM. The "Motor Valley", where Ferrari has its headquarters in Maranello and Lamborghini in Sant'Agata Bolognese, is only a good hour away from Imola.
Ferrari, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary as a sports car manufacturer this year, is once again represented in the DTM by the Red Bull AlphaTauri AF Corse team. Brazilian Felipe Fraga and New Zealander Nick Cassidy will be on the grid as drivers. Lamborghini is involved in the DTM with a total of six cars: the Austrian Grasser Racing Team is fielding the Huracán in its debut year in the series for the two Italians Mirko Bortolotti and Alessio Deledda, the Swiss Rolf Ineichen and the Austrian Clemens Schmid, while Team T3 Motorsport is joined by the British Esmee Hawkey and the Dane Nicki Thiim, son of DTM Champion Kurt Thiim.
GRT team boss Gottfried Grasser: "Next to the Red Bull Ring, Imola as Lamborghini's home race is the place where our hearts beat the highest. We are delighted to be competing in the DTM at this legendary circuit. We will welcome many friends and partners of Automobili Lamborghini there. The headquarters in Sant'Agata Bolognese is just an hour's drive away. Our goal, of course, is to be at the front of the pack in the races. We'll have to wait and see to what extent we succeed. We didn't have the opportunity to test in Imola beforehand. We can draw on past experience, but for a successful weekend we have to make the most of the practice sessions to find the right basis. It will be very exciting and we are fired up for the Italian week in the DTM."
Bortolotti in particular, already on the podium in a DTM guest appearance last year, is putting in a good performance in his first full season in the series. At the season opener in Portimão, he ensured the first DTM pole position for the Lamborghini brand and secured two podium finishes. At the Lausitzring, he finished sixth in both races and comes to Imola for the home race in second place in the standings behind Lausitzring double winner Sheldon van der Linde (RSA, Schubert Motorsport, BMW).
Felipe Fraga also had a strong debut in the DTM in the Red Bull Ferrari with second place and the additional point for the Autohero Fastest Lap in Sunday's race at Portimão. In Lausitz, however, the Brazilian experienced a weekend to forget: On Saturday, he retired early, and on Sunday he was unable to start the race after his car caught fire in qualifying. But he has already proved that he can drive at the front of the field. Of course, the AF Corse team has a lot planned for the home race.
But nothing is given for free in the DTM, and so one can also be curious about the other teams with Audi, BMW, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche. Many have already tested in Imola and naturally want to do particularly well in Ferrari and Lamborghini territory. The first two race weekends already showed that it is close between the different brands. In Portimão, where Lucas Auer (AUT, Team WINWARD, Mercedes-AMG) and Nico Müller (SUI, Team Rosberg, Audi) took the victories, and at the Lausitzring, where Sheldon van der Linde dominated with two wins in the Schubert-BMW, drivers from five of the six brands in the DTM have already clinched podium finishes. This will be continued in Imola.
Timo Glock, who had actually retired from the DTM at the end of last season but is now making a guest appearance in the Ceccato team's BMW M4, will also be there. His team boss is none other than Roberto Ravaglia, 1989 DTM champion with BMW. So there are plenty of reasons to look forward to the third race weekend of the 2022 DTM. Either live on site in Italy (tickets at tickets.dtm.com and 01806 991166), on ProSieben (broadcasting starts on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.) or in the stream at grid.dtm.com. It pays to be there!
