Shoot-out at Red Bull Ring: top 5 from DTM Esports Championship battle for real-world 2023 DTM Trophy drive

The real-world racing cockpit is a unique opportunity in virtual racing that attracted many strong drivers from renowned teams into the DTM Esports Championship for the 2022 season. 29 drivers from ten nations participated in the six rounds, each including a 15-minute sprint race and an endurance race covering 60 minutes. “DTM Esports has developed to one of the strongest championships on the RaceRoom platform,” Moritz Löhner points out. The 23-year-old sim racing professional from Munich participated as the defending champion and again showed a strong performance by becoming runner-up. “I think that the DTM Esports season was a step forward compared to other series, especially because of the 60-minute race that provides more variety in the strategy. That is characteristic for this series,” freshly-crowned title winner Siggy from Team Redline is convinced.“That was a particularly strong season in the DTM Esports Championship with outstanding racing,” Martin Tomczyk underlines as well. As the DTM Trophy series’ manager, the former DTM champion is looking ahead at the driving part of the shoot-out: “That will be really thrilling. After all, we know from Tim Heinemann, who, as a sim racer, won the DTM Trophy title in 2020 and from Moritz Löhner, who, as the 2021 DTM Esports champion, had a strong season in DTM Trophy, how strong sim racers are in a real race car as well. For everyone, Red Bull Ring will be a demanding test.” One who is particularly keen on the opportunity to graduate into real-world motorsport is Kevin Siggy. The 23-year-old Slovenian, living in The Netherlands, was overjoyed after his seventh win of the season during the finale at the virtual Portimão Grand Prix circuit. “I invested a lot of time to be successful in the DTM Esports Championship,” Siggy says, referring to the intense set-up work that was allowed in DTM Esports for the first time and eventually was the key to victory for him. “Therefore, I am even happier to now be able to drive a race car at the Red Bull Ring. I will be doing my utmost to use this great opportunity,” Kevin Siggy says. While doing so, he can rely on support by Moritz Löhner. “Of course, for me it is also about the chance to win the drive for the 2023 season, but nevertheless, I will be giving my colleagues advice so that we will all have a great day and a lot of fun at this great race track,” Löhner points out. The 23-year-old is already bringing in experience from a DTM Trophy season in which he even stood on the podium twice. Löhner readily acknowledges that Kevin Siggy is the deserving winner of the DTM Esports title. “Kevin has been among the best in sim racing for years. He was on the podium in all twelve races, that is a mega achievement, no doubt about it!” Meanwhile, Moritz Löhner is also happy that, next to Italian Gianmarco Fiduci (Team Fordzilla), his two teammates Florian Hasse and Leonard Krippner from the Dörr Esports team are also in the top 5. In the process, Krippner benefited from a post-race exclusion for Alessandro Ottaviani (R8G eSports). The Italian had incurred too many penalty points with his aggressive driving style during the finale. “The fact that three of the five Dörr Esports drivers have made it into the shoot-out is super. Together, we have shown that good teamwork in qualifying and the race is the be-all and end-all,” says team leader Löhner, who concluded the season with 370 points behind Siggy (466) and ahead of Fiduci (293), Hasse (256) and Krippner (248). At the Red Bull Ring on Saturday and at DEKRA Lausitzring one week later, it is all about a real-world cockpit for these five drivers from the DTM Esports Championship powered by MediaMarkt and therefore about a dream coming true that every virtual racing driver has.