Juncadella, Habsburg complete R-Motorsport DTM line-up
The R-Motorsport Aston Martin squad has completed its line-up for the 2019 DTM season by signing Dani Juncadella and Ferdinand Habsburg.
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The pair join the previously-announced Paul di Resta and Jake Dennis in representing the four-car, HWA-run R-Motorsport outfit it its first season on the DTM grid.
Juncadella was part of the Mercedes line-up last year in the Stuttgart marque's final season in the series, scoring a race victory at Brands Hatch and finishing 15th in the points.
By signing for R-Motorsport, the Spanish driver maintains his links with HWA, where he is also a test and reserve driver in Formula E.
"Last year it seemed like there was going to be a change in my sporting life, since it was the last year of Mercedes [in the DTM] and the idea was to continue being linked to them," he told Motorsport.com.
"It was a good year for me in the DTM in many aspects, although the final result in the championship did not show it. I wanted to continue here, especially with the change in regulations."
Habsburg meanwhile will be making his DTM debut in 2019, having spent the last two years in European Formula 3 with Carlin. The Austrian also took part in the Jerez young driver test last year with HWA.
“I’m really looking forward to my DTM debut,” said Habsburg. “Competing in this highly professional premium championship is a big challenge.
"It won’t be easy for me as a newcomer, lining up alongside some the world’s top touring car drivers. Consequently, my objective will be to learn as much as I can in the shortest time possible and in that way step up my performance from race to race.”
Juncadella was one of a number of drivers to take part in a Nissan Super GT shootout in Fuji last year, and is understood to have rejected an offer to join the Japanese marque in 2019.
"The truth is that it was a difficult decision, because it did not depend on myself 100 percent," the Spaniard added. "[R-Motorsport] was my first choice because I know the engineers, mechanics and the people who work in HWA.
"It is true that I had other options, but I had to decide without knowing the [definitive] answer of Aston Martin. It has been a difficult winter in that sense, because I had to set aside other things that perhaps were also attractive."
2019 DTM line-up so far:
Team | Drivers |
---|---|
Audi |
Robin Frijns Nico Muller Jamie Green Rene Rast Mike Rockenfeller Loic Duval |
WRT (Audi) | TBA |
BMW |
Marco Wittmann Timo Glock Bruno Spengler Joel Eriksson Philipp Eng Sheldon van der Linde |
R-Motorsport (Aston Martin) |
Paul di Resta Jake Dennis Dani Juncadella Ferdinand Habsburg |
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