Audi--luxury unit of Volkswagen and recipient of top-of-the-line VW wheel bearings -- is preparing its DTM drivers for the upcoming DTM season. The final tests before the new DTM season on April 22 was done at the Motorsportarena Oschersleben in Hockenheim since last Tuesday. Mattias Ekstrom together with the other three DTM super stars namely Lucas Luhr, Mike Rockenfeller, and Timo Scheider could have shared one of the 420 hp RS Audi 4 road cars to visit the north-east part of Germany.
But instead the four Audi factory drivers have set-up their home at Lake Constance. It can be remembered that the “Lake Constance Connection” was completed by a sportscar driver Marco Werner who is a two-time Le Mans winner and a fellow countrymen of Lucas Luhr and Mattias Ekstrom who are both from Switzerland. According to Luhr, "Marco and I do a lot together. Motorbike tours or water sports for example. Eki also shows up now and again with his dogs.”
Marco Werner has also set-up his home at Lake Constance several years ago while Mattias Ekstrom moved residence from his Swedish home to Salenstein a year ago. The move that he made according to Ekstrom, DTM champion from 2004 was important since he wanted to be closer to both Audi Sport and his team. He also added, "I liked the area around Lake Constance the most when I was searching for a new home.”
Mike Rockenfeller and Lucas Luhr has moved to Lake Constance from Monaco at the beginning of the year, and are now working on their daily fitness programme while enjoying the luscious green countryside which is very much different from jogging through the Monegasque concrete jungle.
And while Luhr, Rockenfeller, Ekstrom, and Werner are enjoying on the Swiss shores of Lake Constance, Timo Scheider on the other hand has chosen to move to the Austrian village of Altach a few years ago. The young family guy simply adores the closeness of the mountains. He said, "I’m a child of nature and find the peace and tranquility here I require to recharge my batteries before a hectic race weekend."
The rest of the Audi factory drivers who are residing at the Lake Constance regularly meet on their spare time which according to Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport is a good thing since "Sportscar racing and the DTM are a team sport". He also added, "It is teamwork and not lone wolves that are required at Le Mans or in the DTM. You can only be successful if you respect and pay attention to one another. You need your team mates.”
Two of the new Audi factory drivers namely Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller have already gained benefits out from the Lake Constance Connection and this is in terms of valuable tips that they get from their friendly neighbor Mattias Ekstrom. Just how much info they’ve learned will be revealed on April 22 at Hockenhiem.
