DTM Hockenheimring 1

The season opening and the finals of the DTM are traditionally staged at Hockenheim. Both races this year will be held on the new 4.574 kilometre-long Grand Prix track, where the DTM last year hosted the thrilling climax to the season. In the years before, the season opener was staged on the small track and the finals on the large track. Although the former Grand Prix track was shortened by more than two kilometres during reconstruction it has maintained the characteristics of the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg as a high-speed circuit. The Mercedes Arena has been built on the new part of the course right by the series of challenging turns between the hairpin turn and the entry to the Motodrom. The Mercedes Arena is an architecturally fascinating grandstand with 6,521 seats on two tiers as well as a storey of boxes and a superb view out onto the fast Parabolika, the hairpin turn and the series of turns that leads back into the Motodrom. Built in 1932, the race circuit is famous above all for its Motodrom, whose style creates a quite unique atmosphere. Similar to a football stadium, the circuit is almost entirely framed by the grandstands on which thousands of spectators cheer on their stars like the gladiators in Roman times. A frisson is assured.