Successful test week: Mercedes-AMG DTM Team enters six drivers for Young Driver Test at Jerez de la Frontera
· 1st – 3rd December: DTM tests at Jerez de la Frontera
· Maro Engel, Jazeman Jaafar, Mikkel Jensen, Marvin Kirchhöfer, Kevin Magnussen and Raffaele Marciello test-drive the Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM
· Ulrich Fritz: “They all performed magnificently and worked very well with our engineers.
Jerez de la Frontera: After the most successful year in the motor racing history of Mercedes-Benz, the Mercedes-AMG DTM Team this week gave six drivers the chance to test the Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM on the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in southern Spain.
Whereas Jazeman Jaafar, Mikkel Jensen, Marvin Kirchhöfer and Kevin Magnussen were getting behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz DTM car for the first time this week, the other two members of the group already had varying degrees of experience at this level: Maro Engel who contested 42 DTM races for Mercedes-Benz between 2008 and 2011, and Raffaele Marciello who took a DTM test with Mercedes-Benz after winning the 2013 FIA ??Formula 3 European Championship.
On Monday, it had been the turn of Sebastian Asch and Luca Ludwig to put the DTM car through its paces on the Jerez de la Frontera track. The test was a reward for their achievements in the AMG Customer Sports Programme. The joint ADAC GT Masters Champions of 2015 had to share their session in the 2015 DTM championship-winning car with their fathers, former DTM stars Roland Asch and Klaus Ludwig.
Jazeman Jaafar: “It was a very special day for me to be allowed to drive a DTM car bearing the Mercedes-Benz badge. It was most enjoyable. The downforce and also the way the team work are very special. I completed my programme and learned a lot in the process. Hopefully, I can have similar experiences more often.”
Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG DTM: “The week of testing in Jerez de la Frontera was a wonderful opportunity to give six incredibly committed and above all superfast racing drivers a chance to test our Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM. They all performed magnificently and worked very well with our engineers. Before the younger generation got their chance on Monday, two experienced old-timers had their turn, and it was a special treat to sense the sheer delight of Roland Asch and Klaus Ludwig at being allowed to drive a DTM car again after so many years and also their reluctance to vacate the cockpit. The old adage holds true: once a racer, always a racer.”
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