AUDI DTM arrives in Russia for next race.

• Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller leads DTM standings
• Moscow Raceway is new territory for drivers and teams
• DMSB has scheduled appeal court session in Ekström case

Audi drivers visited Moscow on several occasions in the past few months to promote the DTM visit, which gave them the opportunity to intensively experience the enthusiasm of the fans on location. Now the race is just around the corner: From August 2 to August 4, the Audi RS 5 DTM and leader of the standings Mike Rockenfeller are making their race debut in Russia.

The DTM’s premiere in Russia is a calculation with many unknown quantities. None of the drivers has ever competed in a race at Moscow Raceway and the track layout with a length of only 2.555 kilometres has never been used by any racing series at all. Consequently, there is no experience available with respect to set-up or strategy on the third-shortest circuit featured on the 2013 DTM calendar. How fast the Audi Sport Teams Abt Sportsline, Phoenix and Rosberg and their drivers will be able to adjust to the new challenge will be a key success factor.

An Audi driver – Mike Rockenfeller – is travelling to Russia as the leader of the standings. The German has scored points in each race so far, claimed victory at one round and, at the beginning of the second half of the season, has a two-point advantage over the reigning Champion Bruno Spengler. The DTM has not experienced a season as thrilling and hard to predict as 2013 in a long time, with five different winners in the first five races – a tally like this at the season’s midpoint was last seen six years ago.

Before heading for Moscow, the Audi squad has another date on its agenda. The German Motorsport Federation (DMSB) has scheduled the court session to hear the appeal of Mattias Ekström’s exclusion from the fifth round of the season at the Norisring for July 30. The Swede had initially won the city street race in Nuremberg but was subsequently excluded due to an alleged breach of parc fermé rules. Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline immediately appealed this decision.

Tickets for all DTM races of the 2013 season are available at www.audi-motorsport.com/dtm. Fans in many countries of the world can watch qualifying and the race live on the DTM’s new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/dtmint live. A total of 39 TV channels air live DTM coverage in 141 countries.

In Germany, as usual, ARD will broadcast live on “Das Erste:” Qualifying on Saturday (August 3) starting at 14:30, the race on Sunday (August 4) starting at 13:15.