Lords of the rings: Audi DTM manufacturers’ champion for the eleventh time 21.10.2022: They have every reason to celebrate after winning the eleventh manufacturers' title in DTM: Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team ABT Sportsline), Kimmo Liimatainen (Team Rosberg), Rolf Michl (Head of Audi Motorsport), Chris Reinke (Head of Audi Sport Customer Racing), A

They have every reason to celebrate after winning the eleventh manufacturers' title in DTM: Hans-Jürgen Abt (Team ABT Sportsline), Kimmo Liimatainen (Team Rosberg), Rolf Michl (Head of Audi Motorsport), Chris Reinke (Head of Audi Sport Customer Racing), Arkin Aka (Attempto Racing) (l-r) © Audi




•    Chris Reinke, head of Audi Sport Customer Racing: “Being the best of six manufacturers is an honourable achievement”


•    Head-to-head duel with Mercedes-AMG: decision only in Hockenheim finale


•    Three Audi teams with six drivers collected the decisive manufacturers’ points




It was a thrilling head-to-head affair until the end. Only in the 16th and race of the season, Audi sealed the prestigious manufacturers’ title in the 2022 DTM.


“Being the best of six manufacturers and finishing in the top three of 34 drivers and 17 teams is an honourable achievement,” Chris Reinke, head of Audi Sport customer racing, underlines the significance of the success for the car manufacturer from Ingolstadt.

The 36th season in DTM saw six different car manufacturers on the grid, a number last seen in the 1980s. For Audi, it is already the eleventh win of the manufacturers’ title in the series’ long history. As a result, the brand with the four rings moved ahead of BMW. The Munich brand won the manufacturers’ competition ten times while Mercedes-AMG tops the all-time ranks with 14 titles.



Audi became manufacturers’ champion for the first time in 2004 as Mattias Ekström scored his first of two DTM drivers’ titles. The most recent time Audi won the title was in 2020, the year in which René Rast decided the battle for the drivers’ crown in his favour for the third time. Mercedes leads the all-time standings with 14 manufacturers' titles, followed by Audi with eleven and BMW with ten.

DTM Hockenheimring powered by AUDI – perhaps the title sponsorship from Audi was a good omen. Prior to the finale at Hockenheim, only one point separated Audi and defending champion Mercedes-AMG, but with advantage for the Swabians.

In the Saturday race, the Stuttgart brand even extended its lead to eight points, but in the Sunday race, Audi scored 44 points and ended up winning in commanding fashion by 441 to 413 points. Next up behind Mercedes-AMG were BMW, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Ferrari.



“Kudos to our three teams and personally to those in charge, Thomas Biermaier, Kimmo Liimatainen and Arkin Aka. With all their drivers together, they have won the brands’ title for us,” says Chris Reinke, who co-ordinates the participations of the Audi R8.




Between them, three teams in DTM ran six of the over 550 hp strong sports cars: Team ABT Sportsline with Thomas Biermaier as its team principal, split up between Team ABT with three-time champion René Rast (GER) and ABT Sportsline with Kelvin van der Linde (RSA) and Ricard Feller (SUI), Team Rosberg led by team principal Kimmo Liimatainen with Nico Müller (SUI) and Dev Gore (USA) and newcomer Attempto Racing with team principal Arkan Aka and the just 19-year-old Marius Zug (GER).

Ten times, Audi drivers celebrated from the winners’ podium during the 2022 DTM season, four times as race winners. On top of that, there were seven positions. In the drivers’ standings, René Rast was the most successful Audi driver in third while ABT Sportsline also became the best-placed Audi team in third place of the teams’ standings.





Aline Proll- photos DTM