Berger wants Alonso in DTM . plays

This weekend sees the first round of the new season of the DTM touring car series in Portugal, and today the 47-year-old Sebastien Loeb, nine-time World Rally Champion, and 20-year-old David Schumacher made their debuts in the.

Gerhard Berger, former Formula 1 driver and now one of the leaders of the DTM, is delighted to see both the renowned masters of motorsport and the younger generation on the grid.

Gerhard Berger: “This year we have 29 cars on the grid. At least 15 riders have a chance to win the title, if not twenty. I think we can expect interesting races and sharp battles on the track.

The brands that the public wants to see competing in our championship are Porsche, Mercedes, Lamborghini, Audi, BMW and Ferrari. But I would also like to see American and Japanese manufacturers.

Today we had the debut of such a famous rider as Sebastien Loeb. Although I have to admit that this happened at the initiative of Red Bull. Of course I am grateful to them for this offer, because he holds the record for the number of world rally titles, in addition, he won the “Race of Champions” this year, beating stars like Sebastian Vettel, and in general he is quite comfortable behind the wheel of a four-wheel technology.

He’s one of the best drivers of all time and it’s great to have him in our first race. But basically it’s important to us that young talents come to the DTM. I would like to see promising guys on the tracks compete with recognized tour masters.

Things turned out well last year, with debutants Liam Lawson of the Red Bull Youth Program and Alexander Albon of Formula 1 racing to win the championship before the final round of the season at the wheel of a Ferrari, and pitting against seasoned DTM professionals such as Kelvin van der Linde, Maximilian Goetz. I love it.

By the way, a week ago I was at the Formula 1 race in Imola and watched the same Albon perform – in my opinion he is doing very well at Williams now. Although of the riders participating in the World Cup, I would prefer Fernando Alonso. But he told me he had other plans for now.

Also on my list of main candidates is Nico Hulkenberg, who was able to replace Sebastian Vettel at the wheel of an Aston Martin car in two races this year without any preparation. And speaking of Sebastian, I prefer to see him as a business partner. He’s a smart guy who has to do something else in the future, after his racing career is over…

I really like him, and although we’re from different generations, I think he thinks like me. He knows the history of motorsport very well and has an out-of-the-box way of thinking.”

It should be added that Sebastien Loeb, who drove for AlphaTauri AF Corse, took 16th place on the day of his DTM debut, and David Schumacher, who drove the Winward team’s Mercedes, finished 20th.

The race was won by Lukas Auer, partner of Berger’s cousin David.