The 2008 DTM season opener in Hockenheim this coming weekend will be the 90th race of the series since 2000. After another nine races in six countries, the season finale on 26th October 2008, which will also take place in Hockenheim, will be the championship’s 100th race since its re-launch in 2000.

New in the Mercedes-Benz driver team for the 2008 DTM are Ralf Schumacher (32) with the 2007 Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class and Maro Engel (22) with the 2007 JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class.

Drivers for the HWA works team are: Bernd Schneider, 43 (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class), five-time DTM Champion and winner of 42 DTM/ITC races; Bruno Spengler, 24 (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class), DTM runner-up in 2006 and 2007; Jamie Green, 25 (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class), winner of the last two races of the 2007 season; Paul di Resta, 21 (AMG Mercedes C-Class), 2006 Formula 3 Euro Series Champion, achieved four podium finishes and fifth place overall in his rookie Season in the 2007 DTM with a 2005 C-Class. Di Resta is a newcomer in the HWA team and, like his three team mates, he will race the 2008 AMG Mercedes C-Class.

Gary Paffett, 27 (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class), 2005 DTM champion and Formula 1 test driver for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, Mathias Lauda, 27 (Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Susie Stoddart, 25 (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class) will race last year’s models.

One week prior to the event, more than 39,000 tickets have been sold, as many as a year ago at the same time. In addition, the spectators bought almost 20,000 paddock tickets.

Mercedes-Benz drivers won 141 (about 47 per cent) out of the 300 races so far against the competition of Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Ford and Opel, participating in the last 20 years. Bernd Schneider won 42 races; he is the DTM record holder, clinching five DTM championship titles, which he all achieved with Mercedes-Benz. 22 drivers won DTM or ITC races for Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes-Benz won on 29 out of the 32 race circuits used by DTM and ITC since 1988. Most of these victories Mercedes-Benz drivers took on the traditional circuits Nürburgring (28) and Hockenheim (26).

New event schedule: In this season, there will be no more a warm-up on Sunday mornings. It will be replaced by a ten-minute session short before the race, when the drivers will have the chance for a final check of their cars. In addition, there will be another ten minutes for so-called information laps; however, then the drivers have to use the pit lane slowly instead of the front straight.

The 2008 season opener will be the 61st DTM/ITC race in Hockenheim since 1984. Mercedes-Benz drivers won 26 of these races; Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes) took the most recent victory for Mercedes-Benz winning the 2007 season finale in October one year ago. Mercedes-Benz drivers won ten out of the last 11 races in Hockenheim.

Ralf Schumacher, start number 11 (2007 Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class): “Following my many test kilometres during the winter I am really keen on my first DTM race. I got acquainted with the DTM Mercedes C-Class intensively and I am well prepared for the new season. Now I want to see where I am compared to the competition.”