Team Rosberg

Team Rosberg
Rosberg X Racing

Founded	1994
Team principal(s)	Keke Rosberg Arno Zensen Nico Rosberg
Current series	DTM Extreme E
Former series	Super Tourenwagen Cup F3 Euroseries German Formula 3 A1 Grand Prix Formula BMW ADAC FIA GT3 European Championship ADAC GT Masters
Current drivers	Nico Müller Dev Gore Johan Kristoffersson Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky
Teams' Championships	2002 German F3 2017 DTM 2021 Extreme E
Drivers' Championships	2002 German F3 (Gary Paffett) 2002 Formula BMW ADAC (Nico Rosberg) 2017, 2019, 2020 DTM (René Rast)

Team Rosberg GmbH (currently competing as Rosberg X Racing) is a motor racing organisation that competes in single-seater and touring car disciplines in Europe. It was founded in 1994 by former Formula One world champion Keke Rosberg, of Finland. It is headquartered at Neustadt an der Weinstraße in Germany, and competes under a German racing licence.

Touring cars (1995–present)

After his retirement from Formula One in 1986, Keke Rosberg stayed involved in racing, competing with Peugeot's World Sports Car Championship operation in the early 1990s. He entered Germany's top-level touring car championship – the DTM – in 1992, driving first for Mercedes-AMG,^[1] and then for Opel Team Joest.

The DTM and ITC

It was in 1994 that he decided to begin the transition into team ownership, and the newly formed Team Rosberg became part of Opel's DTM program in 1995. In this first year, Keke Rosberg continued driving alongside reigning champion Klaus Ludwig in a pair of Calibra V6 coupes.^[2] The Calibra was not as competitive as the Mercedes C-Klasse; Ludwig achieved Opel's only race win of the season on his way to 3rd in the drivers' championship, and Team Rosberg was ranked in 6th place in the teams' standings.

In 1996, Rosberg retired from driving to concentrate on team management. As the DTM evolved into the short-lived International Touring car Championship, Ludwig moved to another Opel squad Zakspeed. JJ Lehto, managed by Rosberg at the time joined the team along with Hans-Joachim Stuck. Stuck won in Helsinki and finished in 6th place in the standings.^[3] Lehto achieved several podiums but failed to win a race.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft and International Touring car Championship results
Year	Series	Car	Drivers	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
1995	DTM	Opel Calibra V6	Klaus Ludwig[4]	2	0		80	3rd	4th
			Keke Rosberg[5]	0	0		17	18th
	ITC	Opel Calibra V6	Klaus Ludwig[4]	0	0		21	14th	8th
			Keke Rosberg[5]	0	0		3	20th
1996	ITC	Opel Calibra V6	Jyrki Järvilehto[6]	0	0		148	5th	4th
			Hans-Joachim Stuck[7]	2	1		112	9th

Super Touring

After the collapse of the ITC, Team Rosberg transferred to the Super Tourenwagen Cup, Germany's Supertouring series. Rosberg managed Nissan's factory program in 1997 and 1998, with a pair of Nissan Primeras for Roland Asch and Sascha Maassen.^[2] Asch was the highest ranked Nissan driver, finishing eighth in the 1997 championship. 1998 was no different; Asch again finished eighth overall, and Maassen's replacement, Michael Krumm, finished ninth.^[8]

When Nissan's factory participation in the STC came to an end, Rosberg took a sabbatical from touring cars in 1999 and became involved in formula racing for the first time.

The reborn DTM

A Team Rosberg-run Audi A4 being driven by Timo Scheider during the 2006 DTM season.

Team Rosberg promptly took the opportunity to participate in the DTM again when it was recreated at the turn of the millennium. While it might have been expected to renew its association with Opel, it instead partnered with Mercedes-AMG. It was one of four^[9] teams running CLK DTMs, with Darren Turner and Pedro Lamy on driving duty. It was a respectable season, in which Rosberg was classified 7th in the teams' standings, while Lamy and Turner were classified 13th and 14th overall.^[10]

In 2001, with only the factory AMG team running 2001-spec CLKs, good results were harder to find. The lack of success prompted Lamy to leave to team, with David Saelens taking his place. Turner was the highest placed of the three drivers, in 15th position overall, and Rosberg was left in 8th place in the teams' standings.^[11]

The next two years saw a continuation of Rosberg's position as a Mercedes team running year-old cars, with two cars for Stefan Mücke and Christijan Albers in 2002, and two cars for Mücke (later replaced by Patrick Huisman) and Gary Paffett in 2003. Albers and Paffett both graduated to the factory AMG line-up in 2003 and 2004 respectively, and Paffett became the DTM champion in 2005.^[12]

When the relationship between Rosberg and Mercedes ended after the 2004 season, it spent 2005 away from touring cars, while considering alternative programs. One such option, which did not come to fruition, was the possibility of running the Prodrive-built Aston Martin DBR9 GT1 car in the FIA GT Championship.^[13]

The hiatus was ended with the opportunity to return to the DTM, not as a Mercedes customer, but as an Audi customer in 2006. Rosberg ran a brace of 2005-spec A4 saloons for Frank Stippler and Timo Scheider, which resulted in 4th position in the teams' standings and 10th in the drivers' championship for Scheider.^[14]

In 2007, Team Rosberg ran Mike Rockenfeller and Lucas Luhr to 12th and 17th in the Drivers' Championship. Luhr's lack of results (he scored only one point) resulted in him returning to the American Le Mans Series, where he was considerably more successful, becoming 2008 LMP1 champion with the Audi R10.

Team Rosberg has continued to race Audi cars in DTM, with 2019 as its most successful recent season. René Rast won 7 races throughout the nine race weekends, Jamie Green won 1 race, helping the team to first in that year's championship.

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters results[15]
Year	Car	Drivers	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2000	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	Pedro Lamy	0	0	0	39	13th	6th
		Darren Turner	0	0	0	19	14th
2001	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	Pedro Lamy	0	0	0	12	16th	8th
		Darren Turner	0	0	0	15	15th
2002	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	Christijan Albers	0	0	0	5	12th	6th
		Stefan Mücke	0	0	0	0	NC
2003	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	Gary Paffett	0	0	0	4	11th	5th
		Stefan Mücke	0	0	0	0	NC
		Patrick Huisman	0	0	0	0	NC
2004	AMG-Mercedes CLK-DTM	Jarek Janis	0	0	0	0	NC	NC
		Bernd Mayländer	0	0	0	0	NC
2006	Audi A4 DTM 2005	Timo Scheider	0	0	0	12	10th	4th
		Frank Stippler	0	0	0	3	14th
2007	Audi A4 DTM 2005	Mike Rockenfeller	0	0	0	11	12th	6th
		Lucas Luhr	0	0	0	1	17th
2008	Audi A4 DTM 2007	Mike Rockenfeller	0	0	0	6	11th	7th
		Markus Winkelhock	0	0	0	6	12th
2009	Audi A4 DTM 2008	Mike Rockenfeller	0	0	0	4	14th	7th
		Markus Winkelhock	0	0	0	11	10th
2010	Audi A4 DTM 2008	Markus Winkelhock	0	0	0	7	12th	8th
		Katherine Legge	0	0	0	0	NC
2011	Audi A4 DTM 2008	Filipe Albuquerque	0	0	0	9	12th	6th
		Edoardo Mortara	1	0	0	21	9th
2012	Audi A5 DTM	Edoardo Mortara	2	1	0	82	5th	4th
		Filipe Albuquerque	0	0	0	26	11th
2013	Audi RS5 DTM	Edoardo Mortara	0	0	0	3	21st	11th
		Filipe Albuquerque	0	0	0	16	18th
2014	Audi RS5 DTM	Jamie Green	0	0	0	43	10th	7th
		Nico Müller	0	0	1	10	19th
2015	Audi RS5 DTM	Nico Müller	0	0	0	26	21st	5th
		Jamie Green	4	2	3	150	2nd
2016	Audi RS5 DTM	Adrien Tambay	0	0	0	40	18th	4th
		Jamie Green	1	2	3	145	3rd
		René Rast	0	0	0	8	23rd
2017	Audi RS5 DTM	René Rast	2	3	4	179	1st	1st
		Jamie Green	3	2	5	173	3rd
2018	Audi RS5 DTM	René Rast	7	2	1	251	2nd	3rd
		Jamie Green	0	0	1	27	18th
2019	Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2019	Pietro Fittipaldi	0	0	2	22	15th	1st
		René Rast	7	8	2	322	1st
		Jamie Green	1	2	0	115	8th
2020	Audi RS5 Turbo DTM 2020	René Rast	7	7	7	353	1st	2nd
		Jamie Green	0	0	1	98	8th
2021	Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo	Nico Müller	0	0	2	56	10th	8th
		Dev Gore	0	0	0	0	22nd
		Christopher Haase	0	0	0	1	21st
2022	Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II	Dev Gore	0	0	0	30	17th	5th
		Nico Müller	1	1	0	105	7th

Formula racing (1999–2005)

When Team Rosberg left the Super Tourenwagen Cup, it made the jump to formula racing. In 1999, it began a dual program at national level in Germany, with entry into Formula Three and the first iteration of Formula BMW. In the German F3 Championship, it ran future DTM and prototype driver Pierre Kaffer to 8th place in the standings, while its three-car Formula BMW line-up resulted in 2nd and 3rd in the championship for Giorgio Mecataff and Hannu Wiinikainen.^[2]

During its touring car return in 2000, Rosberg maintained its presence in formula racing. Hannu Wiinikainen graduated to the two-car F3 team, and the FBMW team was expanded to four cars. It again took the runner-up position in the drivers' championship, this time with Kimmo Liimatainen. It also ran future Formula One driver Christian Klien. Klien led the FBMW line-up in 2001, and finished 3rd in the championship.^[16]

Nico Rosberg, 2002 FBMW ADAC champion

That year also saw the debut in the German F3 Championship of future DTM champion Gary Paffett. He stayed with Rosberg in 2002 and won the drivers' championship. Rosberg also secured the teams' title in what became its most successful season.^[17] In Formula BMW ADAC, Nico Rosberg won the championship in his rookie season, driving for his father's team under the banner of VIVA Racing. When Rosberg's Formula 3 team moved to the new Euroseries in its inaugural year, Nico graduated with it, and stayed for two years before moving on to GP2 in 2005.

Team Rosberg took on Austria's A1 Grand Prix franchise in 2005, but Austria ended its involvement after one season, due to a lack of results. Rosberg's entry finished 19th in the standings.^[18] At the same time, Rosberg ended its participation in Formula BMW ADAC and the F3 Euroseries at the end of 2005, concentrating instead on its DTM association with Audi.

A1 Grand Prix results[19]
Year	Car	Team	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	T.C.
2005-06	Lola-Zytek	A1 Team Austria	0	0	0	14	19th

Formula Three Euroseries results[20]
Year	Car	Drivers	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
2003	Dallara F303-Spiess Opel	Nico Rosberg	1	1	2	45	8th	6th
		Andreas Zuber	0	0	0	2	24th
2004	Dallara F303-Spiess Opel	Nico Rosberg	3	2	2	70	4th	6th
		Andreas Zuber	0	0	0	0	NC
2005	Dallara F303-Spiess Opel	Giedo van der Garde	0	1	1	34	9th	7th
		Kohei Hirate	0	0	0	18	12th

Formula Three Special races results
Year	Car	Race	Driver	Pole	Fast lap	Pos.
2003	Dallara F303-Spiess Opel	Masters of Formula 3	Andreas Zuber[21]	no	no	26th
2004	Dallara F303-Spiess Opel	Masters of Formula 3	Nico Rosberg[22]	no	no	6th
			Andreas Zuber[21]	no	no	25th
		F3 Macau Grand Prix	Nico Rosberg[22]			NC
		Bahrain F3 Superprix	Nico Rosberg[22]			2nd
2005	Dallara F303-Spiess Opel	Masters of Formula 3	Kohei Hirate[23]	no	no	5th
			Giedo van der Garde[24]	no	no	6th
		F3 Macau Grand Prix	Kohei Hirate[23]			NC

German Formula Three Championship results[25]
Year	Car	Drivers	Wins	Poles	Fast laps	Points	D.C.	T.C.
1999	Dallara F399-Sodemo Renault	Pierre Kaffer	0	2	1	71.5	8th	7th
		Kari Mäenpää	0	0	0	2	21st
		Wouter van Eeuwijk	0	0	0	0	NC
2000	Dallara F399-Sodemo Renault	Kari Mäenpää	0	0	0	15	21st	15th
		Hannu Viinikainen	0	0	0	1	28th
2001	Dallara F301-Sodemo Renault	Gary Paffett	1	1	2	123	6th	6th
		Laurent Delahaye	0	0	0	4	26th
2002	Dallara F302-Spiess Opel	Gary Paffett	7	6	6	83	1st	1st
		Kimmo Liimatainen	1	1	0	22	10th

• D.C. = Drivers' Championship position, T.C. = Teams' Championship position.

Timeline

	1990s					2000s										2010s
	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Sports car	DTM		STW			DTM
															ADAC GT Masters
															FIA GT3
Formulas					German F3				F3 Euro Series
					Formula BMW ADAC
											A1 GP

References

1. History of AMG Worldcarfans.com. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
2. Team History Archived 2007-03-15 at the Wayback Machine Rosberg.de. Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
3. Hans Stuck - Official website Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
4. Ludwig career results driverdb.com
5. K.Rosberg career results driverdb.com
6. Järvilehto career results driverdb.com
7. Stuck career results driverdb.com
8. Driver Database Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
9. AMG ran its four cars under two different banners, according to title sponsorship.
10. 2000 DTM season Speedsportmag.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2007.
11. 2001 DTM season Speedsportmag.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2007.
12. 2005 DTM standings Speedsportmag.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2007.
13. Rosberg in frame for Aston Martin Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
14. 2006 DTM standings Speedsportmag.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2007.
15. DTM complete results Archived 2008-01-02 at the Wayback Machine speedsportmag.com
16. Driver Database Retrieved on January 28, 2007.
17. 2002 German F3 season Speedsportmag.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2007.
18. 2005 A1 GP season Speedsportmag.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2007.
19. A1GP complete results Archived 2007-12-26 at the Wayback Machine results.a1gp.com
20. Formula 3 Euroseries complete results Archived 2007-11-18 at the Wayback Machine speedsportmag.com
21. Zuber career results driverdb.com
22. N.Rosberg career results driverdb.com
23. Hirate career results driverdb.com
24. van der Garde career results driverdb.com
25. German Formula 3 complete results Archived 2007-11-18 at the Wayback Machine speedsportmag.com

External links

• Official website