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South Africa's Jonathan Aberdein takes a huge step in his racing career when he steps up to the 2019 DTM German Touring Car Championship at Hockenheim over the 4-5 May weekend. A single-seater exponent out of German Formula 4 and Euro F3, Capetonian Aberdein is racing for the new WRT team in an Audi RS5 in Europe's premier tin-top championship.

“I am very much looking forward to my DTM debut at Hockenheim,” Jonathan admitted. “This is a box that I've wanted to tick for a while now and while everything is a bit of an unknown at the moment in terms of how competitive we will be, be sure I'll be giving it my all!

“DTM has always been my dream, — I've followed it since I was a lad and now here I am — this is a massive dream come true. “Coming from single seaters with similar lap times and similar downforce is an advantage over say a driver who comes from a GT background, so I am really looking forward to the challenge.

 “I am also proud to follow in my dad’s footsteps to be an Audi driver and I am really excited for the year ahead in the world’s leading tin-top series.” Jonathan’s dad Chris was a factory driver for Audi South Africa in the heady days of the WesBank quattros.”  

Jonathan will race with teammate Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of double F1 world champion Emerson in a pair of WRT Audis and is one of the first two South Africans ever to race in the DTM alongside Sheldon van der Linde in a BMW. For 2019, the DTM will run new 2-litre turbo Class 1 cars for the first time, with cars expected to lap 2-3 seconds quicker than the outgoing V8s.