Aston Martin is racing in the DTM!

Well, this is unexpected. Team R-Motorsport has announced it is going to represent Aston Martin on the DTM grid. Yep, Aston Martin. In the Deutsche touring car series.

We’re told that if development of Aston’s new racing Vantage “progress as scheduled”, the new Vantage will be going toe-to-toe with both Audi and BMW (but no AMG, sadly) as early as next year.

“This decision of a luxury sports-car manufacturer such as Aston Martin is a historic event for our series and a milestone for the international orientation of DTM,” explains Gerhard Berger. That’s the former Ferrari F1 driver who is now chairman of DTM’s umbrella company, ITR e.V.

So, Team R-Motorsport will run the Vantage, based in Switzerland that apparently has close ties to Aston. They’ve got experience running Vantages in GT races, and indeed have also partnered up with HWA AG (who used to run CLK GTRs and are working with Apollo on the Intensa Emozione).

We haven’t got pictures yet but be in no doubt that the DTM-honed Vantage will look the business. We do have quotes from Audi and BMW. “We are looking forward to having AF Racing in cooperation with the tradition-rich brand Aston Martin aboard,” explains Audi motorsport boss Dieter Gass.

“After the surprising announcement of Mercedes to retire from DTM we early committed to the series and promised the fans to fight for its future,” explains BMW motorsport boss Jens Marquardt. “Aston Martin are well respected and appreciated competitors in GT racing. We are delighted with having the opportunity to now also race against them in DTM.”

On a scale of one to ‘oh hell yeah’, just how ‘oh hell yeah’ are you?