World Rally Championship legend Sebastien Ogier has expressed his desire to make his first DTM start since making a guest appearance in 2018.
Ogier revealed his intention to compete within the German GT3 Championship after participating within the fifth round of the season on the Nürburgring last month.
“One day I will definitely be part of this show because it is always great fun,” said the Frenchman. “Everyone is very close to each other, there are good tracks, so it is a good championship.”
Ogier already has experience racing GT3 machines, having competed within the ADAC GT Masters round on the Lausitzring in 2014 on the wheel of an Audi R8 LMS GT3 with Markus Winkelhock.
He recently took part in a partial LMP2 race within the 2022 World Endurance Championship, and has also tested Toyota’s Le Mans hypercar twice.
However, as a substitute of endurance racing, Ogier is more concerned with the DTM sprint format.
There are also other personal the reason why Ogier is leaning towards the ADAC series. Since 2014, he has been married to German presenter Andrea Kaiser, who works as a reporter for DTM television station ProSieben.
“There are always close races here, it’s always very intense,” he said of the DTM, where all races last just over an hour.
Sébastien Ogier, Mercedes-AMG HWA Team, Mercedes-AMG C63 DTM.
Photo: James Gasperotti
“The fact that my wife works here obviously helps me follow the races a lot.”
Ogier put in a powerful performance in his only DTM appearance six years ago on the Red Bull Ring in a Mercedes C63 Class One. Despite ending last in qualifying, he fought his way through the sector, ending twelfth and sixteenth in each races.
In 2016 he also had the chance to check drive an Audi RS 5 Class One as a part of a automotive swap with former DTM star Mattias Ekstrom.
It’s not unusual for WRC drivers to try their hand at GT3 machines within the DTM. In 2022, Ogier’s former rally opponent Sebastien Loeb was given the possibility to race a Ferrari 488 GTE for Red Bull AF Corse at Portimao, replacing regular driver Nick Cassidy. He finished sixteenth and 18th in each races in a 29-car field.
For now, Ogier, who’s under contract to Toyota, is specializing in a partial season within the WRC, by which he’s second within the championship despite only participating in six of the nine rounds to this point.
Although he has a great likelihood of winning a ninth WRC title, which might put him level with Loeb, the 40-year-old is playing down his probabilities of difficult for the highest prize in rallying, with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville 27 points clear with 4 rallies remaining.
Ogier will, nevertheless, compete in the subsequent round of the WRC, the Acropolis Rally, this weekend.
