1.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
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The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters is a touring car series using a silhouette racing car based in Germany, but also with rounds elsewhere in Europe. From 2000 onwards, this new DTM continued the former Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, since 1997 many ideas have been discussed in order to find a compromise for rules of a new DTM. As too many races were planned outside Germany, no Championship status was granted by the DMSB, Alfa Romeo, who at the time were mounting successful campaigns in the European Touring Car Championship, did not return to the series. BMW was also involved in the ETCC and was not satisfied with a championship only for Germany, Audi did not enter as they insisted on using their signature quattro 4WD. Unlike the previous incarnation which primarily used sedan models like the Mercedes-Benz W201, Opel used the upcoming Coupé version of the Astra as in the concept car, and Mercedes the CLK model which already was used as a pattern for the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR. Attempts of Zakspeed to enter with a car looking like a Volvo C70 were not approved, the 1999 STW-Supertouring-champion Christian Abt could not defend his STW title as this series was also discontinued, with Opel moving into DTM. Abt used the Audi TT as a basis, as Audi had no suitable 2-door coupé, in May 2000, the new DTM started with the traditional Hockenheimring short track version. Some cars still had no or few sponsorship decals, while Opel could match the speed of most Mercedes in the 2000 season, the hastily developed Abt-Audis were mainly outclassed. As the TT shape had rather poor aerodynamic properties, Abt was allowed to use a form later. Further benefits like a rear wing helped the Abt-Audi TT-R win the DTM championship in 2002 with Laurent Aïello. In 2000, Manuel Reuter came second in the championship, after that year, no Opel driver was among the top three, with few podium finishes and no victory for the disappointing lightnings. The Opels did not win in most of their entries in the VLN endurance races as they were testing, but the speed was impressive. They won however the 2003 Nürburgring 24 Hours against factory efforts by Audi, after their successes with the Audi R8 and the official support of the Abt-TTRs at the Nürburgring, Audi finally joined the DTM as a factory entry in 2004. The three constructors involved decided to switch to saloon bodies, the road models used as patterns since 2004 are the Audi A4, Opel Vectra GTS and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. All dimensions, like wheelbase, are identical in order to equal opportunities without the actual design of the road cars having any influence. Initially the gap looked set to be filled by MG Rover, however their plans to enter the series were cancelled after the company collapsed in April 2005. Audi and Mercedes fielded 10 cars each in 2006, but the important television deal with the television station ARD required three marques in 2007. Rumours surfaced that Alfa Romeo would return to the DTM in 2007 and these rumors were helped by Alfa Romeo Sport boss Claudio Berro being seen in the Barcelona paddock
2.
2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
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The 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season was the tenth Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season since the series resumption in 2000. The series began on 17 May at Hockenheim and finished on 25 October at the same venue, timo Scheider successfully defended his championship title, taking his Audi A4 to a five-point series win over Mercedes-Benz driver Gary Paffett. Of the nineteen drivers that competed in the 2008 season, only Bernd Schneider, rookies in 2009 are the Kolles Futurecom trio of Christian Bakkerud, Johannes Seidlitz and Tomáš Kostka. The series adopts new rule changes, as announced on 21 April 2009, qualifying consists of four sessions, rather than two in 2008. The minimum weights of the cars have also altered, with 2009 cars topping the scales at 1050 kg,2008 cars at 1030 kg and 2007 machinery at 1010 kg. Katherine Legge moved from the Futurecom-TME team to a team created for her at Audi Sport Team Abt Lady Power, gaining a later model Audi with the change. Christijan Albers left DTM to pursue sports car racing with Kolles Le Mans Series team, to avoid a clash of coverage times with the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix, the season opener traditionally held at Hockenheim took place on 17 May, three weeks later than originally planned. Consequently, the EuroSpeedway round that had scheduled for this date was moved to 31 May. The Brands Hatch round was moved back a week due to the 2009 Belgian Grand Prix. French circuit Dijon-Prenois made its appearance on the DTM calendar holding the penultimate round of the season on 11 October. Italian circuit Mugello was dropped from the calendar, timo Scheider won his second DTM series crown for Audi team Abt Sportsline. Schieder finished first or second in all bar one event for the remainder of the season after Zandvoort including victories at Oschersleben and Catalunya in an irresistible charge to the title. By the time Paffett returned to the podium with wins in the last two races of the year Scheider had built a points buffer large enough to secure the title, † — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 90% of the winners race distance. The official website of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
3.
Paul di Resta
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Paul di Resta is a British racing driver who drove in Formula One from 2010 to 2013 and became a reserve driver for the Williams F1 team in 2016. A former DTM and Formula 3 Euroseries champion, di Resta did not secure a Formula One drive for 2014, di Resta was born in Uphall, Livingston, Scotland, and grew up in Bathgate, West Lothian, and went to Bathgate Academy. He now lives in Monaco, and is a cousin of racing drivers Dario and his step-father was Scottish footballer Dougie McCracken. His younger brother, Stefan, has raced at an amateur level, di Resta and Laura Jordan became engaged in December 2013 and married on 28 August 2014. He started his career in karting, racing in various series of karts from 1994 until 2002. In 2001 he won the British JICA Championship and he stepped up to single-seaters at the end of 2002, when he competed in the British Formula Renault Winter Series. He raced in British Formula Renault full-time in 2003 with the Eurotek Motorsport team and he switched to Manor Motorsport for 2004, finishing third in the championship standings with four wins. He also entered some races of Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with the Manor team and he also won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of The Year Award in 2004. The award had been won by his cousin Dario Franchitti in 1992, di Resta switched to the Formula Three Euroseries with Manor Motorsport in 2005, finishing tenth in the standings. For 2006 he moved to the ASM Formule 3 team, winning the championship with five wins, beating team mate and future Formula One World Drivers Champion, di Resta also won the 2006 BP Ultimate Masters at Circuit Park Zandvoort. In 2007, di Resta switched from single-seaters to race in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters touring car racing series, in the championship, he finished 5th overall behind drivers Mattias Ekstrom, Bruno Spengler, Martin Tomczyk and Jamie Green. Di Resta was the highest driver in the standings to drive a non-2007 car and his performances earned him a 2008 Mercedes C Klasse for the 2008 season, in which he won two races and finishing second in the points, four points behind eventual champion Timo Scheider of Audi. In 2009, he finished third overall, behind Scheider and compatriot Gary Paffett, in 2010, he won three races in a row on the way to winning the championship. Di Resta tested for the McLaren Formula One team, and was in the frame for a drive with the Force India team for the 2009 season due to the teams shared engine supplier, Mercedes-Benz. However, Force India chose to retain Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil, with Vitantonio Liuzzi as reserve driver. In December 2009, with Fisichella having moved to Ferrari and Liuzzi being promoted to the race team, at the Autosport International show in January 2010, he was said to be close to a deal as the teams test and reserve driver for the 2010 season. The deal was announced on 2 February. Di Resta made his Formula One race meeting début at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix and he drove in the first practice sessions of all the following races until Monaco Grand Prix, where he did not take part
4.
Formula One
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Formula One is the highest class of single-seat auto racing that is sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been the form of racing since the inaugural season in 1950. The formula, designated in the name, refers to a set of rules, the F1 season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, held worldwide on purpose-built F1 circuits and public roads. The results of each race are evaluated using a system to determine two annual World Championships, one for drivers, one for constructors. The racing drivers are required to be holders of valid Super Licences, the races are required to be held on tracks graded 1, the highest grade a track can receive by the FIA. Most events are held in locations on purpose-built tracks, but there are several events in city centres throughout the world. Formula One cars are the fastest road racing cars in the world. Formula One cars race at speeds of up to approximately 375 km/h with engines currently limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 RPM, the cars are capable of lateral acceleration in excess of five g in corners. The performance of the cars is very dependent on electronics – although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008 – and on aerodynamics, suspension, the formula has radically evolved and changed through the history of the sport. F1 had a global television audience of 425 million people during the course of the 2014 season. Grand Prix racing began in 1906 and became the most popular internationally in the second half of the twentieth century. The Formula One Group is the holder of the commercial rights. Its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, since 2000 the sports spiraling expenditures and the distribution of prize money favoring established top teams have forced complaints from smaller teams and led several teams to bankruptcy. On 23 January 2017 it was confirmed that Liberty Media had completed its $8 billion acquisition of Delta Topco, the Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1920s and 1930s. The formula is a set of rules that all cars must meet. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958, national championships existed in South Africa and the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for years, but due to the increasing cost of competition
5.
2011 FIA Formula One World Championship
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The 2011 Formula One season was the 65th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Pirelli returned to the sport as tyre supplier for all teams, Red Bull Racing was the reigning Constructors Champion. Red Bull Racings Sebastian Vettel was the defending Drivers Champion, one of five World Champions appearing on the grid, Vettel won his second World Championship at the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the youngest driver, at 24 years and 98 days, to do so. Red Bull Racing won the Constructors Championship, the new agreement provides for a continuation of the terms of the 1998 agreement, and runs until 31 December 2012. The FIA published an entry list on 30 November 2010. The team was subsequently renamed Sahara Force India Hispania announced several partnerships in November 2010. In July 2011, Thesan Capital, a Madrid-based investment company purchased a stake in the team from owner José Ramón Carabante. Thesan Capital announced the operations would continue as they had before the purchase. The use of the Team Lotus name led to a dispute with Lotus Cars. The team announced that they had terminated their contract with engine supplier Cosworth. In March 2011, it was announced that Infiniti, the brand of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan of whom Renault own a 44% stake. However, contradictory to early reports, the arrangement with Infiniti had not extended to an engine re-branding, BMW Sauber announced in July 2010 that it will revert to the name Sauber in 2011. The team was forced to retain the BMW naming for 2010 due to issues involving television rights money that would not have paid had the team changed their name. AirAsia officially left Williams F1 to concentrate on Team Lotus, further reports confirmed that Marussia had purchased a controlling stake in the team, securing their future until 2014. The team split with Wirth Research mid-season after a review by former Renault F1 Team engineering director Pat Symonds found that Virgins CFD-only approach had failed. DAMS GP2 driver Jérôme dAmbrosio replaced Lucas di Grassi at Virgin Racing, having driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010. Di Grassi did not have his contract with Virgin Racing renewed, DTM champion Paul di Resta replaced Vitantonio Liuzzi at Force India, having previously driven for the team during Friday practice sessions at selected events in 2010. Nico Hülkenberg was dropped by Williams on the eve of the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, after turning down offers from several teams, including HRT and Virgin, Hülkenberg joined Force India as test and reserve driver
6.
Gary Paffett
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Gary Paffett is a British racing driver in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. He is also a test driver for the Williams Formula One team, Paffett progressed through the ranks of karting and junior formulae in the United Kingdom, winning the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1999. He now lives in Ousden, Suffolk, England, in 1993, Paffett joined the British Cadet Championships and earned himself a respectable third place. A year later he moved to British Junior TKM Championship and finished second overall, in 1995, he won the British Junior TKM Championship and also second place in the Junior ICA European Championship. Successes continued into 1996, winning the McLaren Mercedes Karting Champion of the Future award, the next year he moved into single-seaters, winning the Formula Vauxhall Junior Winter Series, picking up the best newcomers award in that series in the process. In 1998, he was Formula Vauxhall Junior Class B Champion with thirteen fastest laps, thirteen poles and thirteen wins and he also set a track record which had never before been set by any B class car. He got promoted to the Formula Vauxhall Junior and won the championship with two records, four wins, five fastest laps, three pole positions. At the seasons end he was awarded the prestigious McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award, moving up to Formula Three, he competed in the Scholarship class of the British F3 championship, becoming champion with thirteen wins, thirteen fastest laps and thirteen pole positions. In 2001, moved overseas to the German F3 Championship racing with Keke Rosbergs race team, remaining in the series for 2002, he dominated the field winning the championship without ever losing the lead. For 2003, Gary signed to drive for the new Brand Motorsport team in F3000, Mercedes contacted him and signed him to drive in the DTM with Rosbergs Mercedes AMG team in a year-old car, eventually finishing 11th overall. A year later, he was runner up with an up-to-date AMG-Mercedes C-Class and he was then champion the following year with five wins and four pole positions. In 2007, Gary returned to the DTM in a 2006 specification race car for the Persson Motorsport team alongside his McLaren F1 testing duties, at the second round at Oschersleben, Paffett became the first driver in the history of the series to win in a year old car. After a further year in older machinery, he was promoted back to the current Mercedes model for 2009, and finished runner-up in the championship, behind Timo Scheider. After the departure of Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari, it was speculated that he may have been in contention for a 2007 race seat in the team alongside World Champion Fernando Alonso. However, due to the arrival of GP2 Champion, Lewis Hamilton, further to this, Paffett was released from his McLaren contract in October 2006, to search for better opportunities. It was widely speculated that he was likely to sign as a test driver at Honda, a few weeks later however, Paffett was re-signed by McLaren as the teams second test driver, alongside de la Rosa. He publicly stated that he was looking for a Formula One race seat for 2008, however, Prodrive failed to make it to the grid so Paffett stayed with McLaren as a test driver. Paffett was signed as Force Indias reserve driver for the 2012 Australian Grand Prix as regular reserve driver Jules Bianchi was unavailable due to Formula Renault 3.5 Series testing commitments
7.
Hockenheimring
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The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it hosts the German Grand Prix. The circuit has very little change in elevation, the circuit has FIA Grade 1 license. The Hockenheimring was originally built in 1932 using roads in the forest as an alternative to the Wildpark-Circuit in Karlsruhe, the Hockenheimring was used for motorcycle racing and was expanded to be used as test track for Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union in 1936. In 1938 it was renamed the Kurpfalzring and that name was used until 1947, after World War II, former DKW and NSU factory rider and world record setter Wilhelm Herz promoted the track successfully. Grand Prix motorcycle racing events were held, with the German motorcycle Grand Prix alternating between Hockenheim and other tracks, the original circuit was almost eight kilometres long and consisted of two long straights with a long Eastern corner in the forest and a U-turn inside Hockenheim joining them together. In 1965, when the new Autobahn A6 separated the village from the part of the track. After Jim Clark was killed on 7 April 1968 in a Formula 2 racing accident, a small memorial was placed near the first chicane, at the site of his accident. In 1982, another chicane was added at the Ostkurve, after Patrick Depailler was killed there in 1980, and the first chicane was made slower as well. The long track length also meant that a typical Formula One race had only 45 laps, prost ran out at the end of the 1986 race, pushing his McLaren towards the line before giving up. He was placed 3rd when he ran dry and was eventually classified 6th, many problems came to light during the 2000 German Grand Prix, where Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello won from having started 18th on the grid, in changeable weather conditions. All the overtaking moves that took place during the race were in the chicanes of the forest sector, a former Mercedes employee, who had been dismissed, breached the tracks security barriers on the first main straight, showing vulnerable security facilities in the forest. The state government of Baden-Württemberg secured the financing for the redesign by Hermann Tilke for the 2002 German Grand Prix, the stadium section remained mostly intact, despite a new surface and a tighter Turn 1. However, the circuit was shortened, with the long. In an extremely controversial move, the old forest section was torn up and replanted with trees, several drivers and team principals, including Ron Dennis, Jarno Trulli and Juan Pablo Montoya, criticised the changes and stated their preference for the old circuit. The new track has a capacity of 120,000. The complex also features a track for drag racing. The Hockenheim Circuit hosted the German Grand Prix for the first time in 1970 when the F1 drivers decided at the French Grand Prix to boycott the Nürburgring unless major changes were made
8.
2008 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
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The 2008 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season was the ninth season of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series resumption in 2000. The series began on 13 April at the Hockenheimring and finished on 26 October at the same venue, timo Scheider won the title, having never previously won a race before the start of the season. Points are awarded to the top eight finishers, † — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 90% of the winners race distance. Notes, In the ninth round of the championship in Catalunya Ekström originally crossed the line 5th, however, due to an overly harsh duel between the two on the last lap the stewards penalized both men. Ekström was disqualified and Green was given a 30 seconds’ time penalty, as Ekström already had caught the attention of the stewards in a negative way during the race, his penalty was bigger. The official website of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
9.
HWA Team
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HWA Team is the motor racing team of HWA AG, a German company, based in Affalterbach, that also develops and builds vehicles and components for Mercedes-AMG. HWA is responsible for managing the AMG Mercedes team in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, HWA AG was founded in 1999, and takes its name from Hans-Werner Aufrecht, who established AMG in 1967. Towards the end of 1998 Aufrecht sold a majority interest in AMG to DaimlerChrysler AG, as part of the process, the motor racing department and parts of the customised vehicles construction business were spun off and transferred to HWA AG. HWA AG develops and builds the DTM racing cars and engines used by the HWA Team and they also develop and build engines for Formula Three racing cars, based on Mercedes-Benz production engines
10.
Bruno Spengler
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Bruno Spengler is an Alsatian-born Canadian BMW factory racing driver, nicknamed The Secret Canadian. He won the 2012 DTM Drivers Championship, Spengler was born near Strasbourg, France but moved with his parents to Saint-Hippolyte, Quebec, Canada, when he was 3. He went to school in Canada but continued to go back to France where he started competing in kart racing in 1995, Spengler continued karting in both France and Canada and then moved on to competing in the French Formula Renault. Eventually this led to him being signed by Mercedes-Benz motorsport and in 2003 he was racing for ASM in the Formula Three Euroseries, from 2005 until the end of 2011, Spengler drove a Mercedes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in Germany. In 2005 he ran with Persson Motorsport and he convinced AMG directors to have a car in 2006. That year he finished the 2006 season second behind his teammate and he completed the 2007 season campaign once again in second place, this time behind Audi driver Mattias Ekström, despite Audis mass pull-out in Barcelona. In August 2007 he was mentioned in a move to the new Prodrive F1 team for 2008. Spengler was a candidate for an F1 drivers seat based on his performances. With Prodrive gone and Heikki Kovalainen signed for McLaren, this did not happen for 2008, while leading the DTM in points during the 2010 season, Spenglers name was again brought up as a possible candidate to drive in F1. Norbert Haug Mercedes motorsports director commented that if Spengler were to win the DTM championship he would earn a ride in F1, however, he lost the championship in the last few races to Paul di Resta who went on to drive for Force India in the next F1 season. For the 2012 season, Spengler left Mercedes and joined BMW Team Schnitzer for the return to DTM. Spengler had a season, coming into the last race at the Hockenheimring three points behind leader and Mercedes driver Gary Paffett. He overtook Paffett at the start and held on to win the race, with this victory, his fourth of the season, Spengler took the Drivers Championship by four points and helped Team Schnitzer to the Teams Championship and BMW to the Manufacturers Championship. † — Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance, † Driver did not finish, but completed 75% of the race distance. Official website Bruno Spengler career summary at DriverDB. com
11.
Adria International Raceway
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Adria International Raceway is a motorsport race track near Adria in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. It is a permanent road course, and is 2.702 km in length, the venue has hosted the FIA GT Championship, Italian Formula Three, Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and the Formula Three Euroseries. The 2004 video game TOCA Race Driver 2, includes the circuit in the DTM section of the game and it was also used in the 2009 game Superstars V8 Racing
12.
Audi
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Audi is a German automobile manufacturer that designs, engineers, produces, markets and distributes luxury vehicles. Audi is a member of the Volkswagen Group and has its roots at Ingolstadt, Bavaria, audi-branded vehicles are produced in nine production facilities worldwide. The modern era of Audi essentially began in the 1960s when Auto Union was acquired by Volkswagen from Daimler-Benz. After relaunching the Audi brand with the 1965 introduction of the Audi F103 series, Volkswagen merged Auto Union with NSU Motorenwerke in 1969, the company name is based on the Latin translation of the surname of the founder, August Horch. Horch, meaning listen in German, becomes audi in Latin, the four rings of the Audi logo each represent one of four car companies that banded together to create Audis predecessor company, Auto Union. Audis slogan is Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning Advancement through Technology, however, since 2007 Audi USA has used the slogan Truth in Engineering. Audi, along with BMW and Mercedes are among the luxury automobile brands in the world. Originally in 1885, automobile company Wanderer was established, later becoming a branch of Audi AG, another company, NSU, which also later merged into Audi, was founded during this time, and later supplied the chassis for Gottlieb Daimlers four-wheeler. On 14 November 1899, August Horch established the company A. Horch & Cie. in the Ehrenfeld district of Cologne, three years later in 1902 he moved with his company to Reichenbach im Vogtland. On May, 10th,1904 he founded the August Horch & Cie. Motorwagenwerke AG, after troubles with Horch chief financial officer, August Horch left Motorwagenwerke and founded in Zwickau on 16 July 1909, his second company, the August Horch Automobilwerke GmbH. His former partners sued him for trademark infringement, the German Reichsgericht in Leipzig, eventually determined that the Horch brand belonged to his former company. Since August Horch was prohibited from using Horch as a name in his new car business, he called a meeting with close business friends, Paul and Franz Fikentscher from Zwickau. At the apartment of Franz Fikentscher, they discussed how to come up with a new name for the company, during this meeting, Franzs son was quietly studying Latin in a corner of the room. Horch. in German means Hark. or hear, which is Audi in the imperative form of audire – to listen – in Latin. The idea was accepted by everyone attending the meeting. On 25 April 1910 the Audi Automobilwerke GmbH Zwickau was entered in the register of Zwickau registration court. The first Audi automobile, the Audi Type A 10/22 hp Sport-Phaeton, was produced in the same year, followed by the successor Type B 10/28PS in the same year. Audi started with a 2,612 cc inline-four engine model Type A, followed by a 3,564 cc model and these cars were successful even in sporting events
13.
Mike Rockenfeller
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Mike Rockenfeller, nicknamed Rocky, is a German professional racing driver, currently an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for Audi Sport Team Phoenix, Rockenfeller began racing karts in 1995 at age of 11, winning the Bambini North state championship. He competed in local and national karting series in the 1990s. In 2002, he won the Jörg van Ommen Kart Cup Super Series, in 2001, Rockenfeller moved to cars, and finished 4th in the Formula König championship, winning one race. In 2002, he joined the Porsche Junior team and raced in the German Carrera Cup, finishing 10th, in 2003, he finished 2nd in the German Carrera Cup championship, and made his American Le Mans Series debut at Petit Le Mans, finishing 10th in GT2 class. In 2004, Rockenfeller won the German Carrera Cup and also won two races in Porsche Supercup and that year he also raced in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the 1000km of Nürburgring, and Petit Le Mans. He became a full Porsche factory driver and won the GT2 class driver championship title in the FIA GT Championship driving with Marc Lieb for GruppeM Racing and he collected 6 class wins, including the Spa 24 Hours. Rockenfeller also won the GT2 class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving with Lieb,2006 saw him race again in the ALMS and Grand-Am series for Alex Job. He won in the ALMS at Houston and finished second in LMP2 class at Petit Le Mans and he also took two Grand-Am wins. For 2007, Rockenfeller became an Audi factory driver and raced an A4 DTM for Audi Sport Team Rosberg in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters and he also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans driving an Audi R10. In addition to DTM and having already moderate experience with Le Mans Prototype cars, in 2008 he drove for Audi Sport Team Joest in the Le Mans Series, alongside Alexandre Prémat. Despite not winning any races, Rockenfeller and Prémat won the title at the 20081000 km of Silverstone, after an accident on lap 46 for the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gené. He also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, occupying the third Audi entry with Prémat, after qualifying fifth, their entry finished in fourth place overall, seven laps down on winning team-mates Rinaldo Capello, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish. For 2009, Rockenfeller continues in the DTM with Team Rosberg, Rockenfeller started the 2010 racing season winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona overall in the Action Express Racing Porsche Riley with co-drivers João Barbosa, Terry Borcheller, and Ryan Dalziel. In the 201124 Hours of Le Mans, Rockenfeller was involved in an accident while passing a slower GTE vehicle at 5,49 into the race. Shortly after nightfall, he was involved in a violent crash at the kinks on the straight between Mulsanne Corner and Indianapolis after near contact with the number 71 car of Robert Kauffman, Rockenfeller then climbed from his car and jumped to safety over the Armco barrier. He sustained a flesh wound on his right arm and was admitted into a hospital overnight for observation. Rockenfeller took part in the 2014 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona race in the Spirit of Daytona Corvette Daytona Prototype with Richard Westbrook, † Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winners race distance
14.
Miguel Molina
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Miguel Molina González is a professional racing driver from Spain. He is a member of the Circuit de Catalunya Young Drivers Programme, in 2004, Molina began his single-seater career in the Spanish Formula Junior 1600 series, where he finished the season in 6th place. The following year he stepped up to the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship with Pons Racing, scoring three points to finish the season 28th overall. In 2006, he switched to the Spanish Formula Three Championship with the Racing Engineering team, taking one race win and a further five podium finishes to end the season 6th in the standings. Towards the end of 2006, Molina joined the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with GD Racing, competing in the six races of the season. For 2007, Molina moved up to the series full-time with Pons Racing, scoring two wins and two further podium places on his way to 7th in the final standings. In 2008 he once competed in the championship, teaming up with fellow Spanish driver Álvaro Barba at Prema Powerteam. He claimed four podiums during the season, including wins at the Nürburgring and Estoril. After testing for Prema, Epsilon Euskadi and KTR during the off-season, despite the team pulling out of the final two rounds, Molina finished eighth in the championship. In June 2009, Molina made his debut in the Superleague Formula series and he finished the first race in ninth before taking fourth place in the second event. Molina will move from single-seaters to touring cars in 2010, joining the works Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline squad in the DTM series, † Driver did not finish, but completed 75% of the race distance. Official Site Career details from Driver Database
15.
Susie Wolff
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Suzanne Susie Wolff, MBE is a retired British racing driver. Her parents, John and Sally Stoddart, owned a motorcycle dealership in Oban and she progressed through the ranks of motorsport, starting off in karting, then moving up to Formula Renault and Formula Three before moving to the DTM to compete for Mercedes-Benz. In 2012, she was signed by the Williams Formula One team to work as a development driver, on 4 November 2015, Susie Wolff announced her retirement from F1 and from all motorsport after the end of season Race of Champions at the end of November. She lives in Ermatingen, Switzerland, with her husband Toto Wolff, the two were married in October 2011. In October 2016 Wolff announced on Twitter that she was pregnant with their first child, in 2014, Wolff was the first woman to take part in a Formula One race weekend in 22 years, at the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone. In 2016, she joined Channel 4 in the UK to be an analyst for their F1 Coverage, Wolff began karting from an early age, and in 1996 she was named the British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year. In 1997, she competed in a number of different karting categories, in 1998, she moved up to the British Junior Intercontinental A Championship and was placed 10th overall in her first season in the class. She also competed in the Federation Cup European Intercontinental A Championship, for the third year in a row, she was named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year. In 1999, she competed in the British Formula A Championship and was placed 13th overall and she also achieved 34th overall in the Formula A World Championships and again was named British Woman Kart racing driver of the year. She also won an award which named her as the Top Female Kart Driver in the world, in 2001, Wolff made the step up from kart racing to single-seater racing. Her first experience was in the 2001 Formula Renault Winter Series, the following year she made her debut in the full Formula Renault UK Championship for DFR Racing, and again competed for Motaworld in the Formula Renault Winter Series. In 2003, she competed in the Formula Renault UK Championship where she finished 9th overall. She also made a appearance in the Porsche Carrera Cup GB at Brands Hatch in June. In 2006, Wolff made the step up to compete in the DTM and she drove a 2004-spec Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe for the Mücke Motorsport team and was teammates with Stefan Mücke and Daniel la Rosa. In her debut season she achieved a best finish of 9th overall in the round of the season at the Hockenheimring. In 2007, Wolff remained in the DTM series, driving a 2005-spec Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe for the Mücke Motorsport team and was teammates with Mathias Lauda and her best finish was at Mugello in Italy, where she finished in 10th place. In the 2008 season, Wolff moved up to a 2007-spec car, and joined Persson Motorsport, wolffs best performance of the year was at the Norisring in June, where she finished in 10th position. In the 2009 DTM season, Wolff remained with Persson Motorsport in a 2008-spec car, in the first race of the season at the Hockenheimring, Wolff had to retire after 24 laps because of damage caused by a first-lap accident with Gary Paffett
16.
Timo Scheider
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Timo Scheider is a German racing driver who competes in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi. He won the title in 2008 and 2009, like most other drivers, Scheider started his racing career in karting in 1989. In 1992, he went on to win the Kerpen Winter Cup and his seventh place disappointment led to success the next year when he won the cup. In 1995, Scheider joined the German Formula Renault 1800 championship, the next year, he jumped to the 2000 championship and earned fourth place. After only two years in Formula Renault, the German moved to Formula Three in 1997, in the German series and he clinched second place behind Nick Heidfeld in 1997 with three wins but his performance deteriorated the next year when he finished seventh, despite three victories. In 1999 he finished sixth, bringing an end to his rise through the single-seater ranks, Scheider spent the next five years of his racing career in DTM for Opel. In his first year in 2000, he finished twelfth followed by a disappointing 19th the next year and he improved to finish eighth in 2002. The following year he finished eighth again and scored a pole position and he also finished in first place at the 24 Hours Nürburgring. In 2004, Scheider retained his place in DTM and was tenth in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Scheider left the DTM in 2005, which became a year for Scheider. He joined Vitaphone Racing in the FIA GT Championship, where he finished second and he won the Spa 24 Hours and also at Istanbul. He was 13th overall and class winner in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and he was also selected for A1 Team Germany that year. After one year away, Scheider returned to the DTM in 2006 with Audi Sport Team Rosberg, in 2007 he joined the works Audi team, Abt Sportsline, finally taking his first podium finish as he finished seventh overall. 2008 showed great improvement from Scheider winning three races as he won the 2008 DTM Championship, finishing four ahead of Paul di Resta of Mercedes-Benz. In 2009 he repeated his success for Audi, beating closest rival Gary Paffett by five points over the ten rounds. As of October 2016, Scheider announced his retirement from DTM, after making sporadic appearances in the 2015 and 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship for Münnich Motorsport, Scheider signed with MJP Racing Team Austria for a full 2017 campaign. He finished second in the round in Barcelona. 1 - Shanghai was a non-championship round
17.
Jamie Green
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Jamie Green is a British professional racing driver. He is currently employed by Audi Sport Team Abt in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters touring car championship, at the age of 10, Green entered BriSCA Ministox and won the British Championship in his first season. He then progressed to karting, finishing runner-up in the Junior TKM series in 1996, in 1997, he moved up to the Junior ICA Winter Series, in which he won the title, and finished runner-up in the McLaren Mercedes Champions of the Future series. He won the Formula A Winter Series in 2000, then finished runner-up in British Formula A in 2001 and he dovetailed the British campaign with the European Formula A championship during 2000 and 2001, in which he achieved two race wins. Greens first season in single seater formula cars was spent in the British Formula Renault Winter Series in 2001, the 2002 season was spent in the British Formula Renault championship with Fortec Racing, finishing the year as championship runner-up with two race wins. He also made a appearance in the Formula Renault Eurocup with Fortecs European operation. His Formula Renault career culminated with a win in the Asian Formula Renault Challenge at Macau in November 2002, in 2003, Green progressed to the British Formula 3 championship with Carlin Motorsport. He again finished in the position in his first season and won four races. During that year, he made his debut in the Formula Three Euroseries,2004 saw Green enter his first full season in the Euroseries with ASM, having gained backing from Mercedes-Benz. He achieved seven wins, six poles, and 139 points en route to the championship title. For the 2005 season, Mercedes placed Green in the DTM.2006 saw him promoted - along with his teammate from Persson, Bruno Spengler - to the factory Mercedes-AMG line-up, gmbH, alongside multiple champion Bernd Schneider and former Formula One driver Mika Häkkinen. He achieved four pole positions and a best finish of 2nd place on two occasions, but no wins and he was classified 5th overall, with a total of 31 points. In 2007, he continued to be part of the factory line-up, after the 2008 season, despite two victories he was moved into a one-year-old car to make way for former champion Gary Paffett, but was still able to win round four at the Norisring. † Driver did not finish, but was classified as he completed 75% of the race distance, in 2002, Green won the McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year award, beating five other nominated finalists in a series of on-track trials in touring cars and formula single-seaters. Jamies brother Nigel is an exponent in BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Car racing
18.
Norisring
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The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, on the former Nazi party rally grounds site of the NSDAP party conventions. As the citys German name Nürnberg would lead to confusion with the already famous Nürburgring, since 18 May 1947, motorracing events around the remaining 360 metres long grand stand are held on streets that are otherwise used for public traffic. Different configurations were used in the years, including figure-8 layouts. Cars touch the outside wall often there, after a righthand kink, the lefthand U-turn of Dutzendteichkehre leads back to the main straight after a flat-out lefthand kink. Due to its proximity of the lake Dutzendteich and its location inside a large city, the annual mid-July Norisringrennen is considered a highlight of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, as fans get closer to the action and the drivers than on modern venues. Mexican racing driver Pedro Rodríguez died at Norisring in 1971 when the Ferrari 512 he was hired to drive hit the wall before Schöller-S. Afterwards, the track was shortened by moving the Grundigkehre U-turn closer in order to reduce corner speeds, in 2006, a memorial plaque was inaugurated at the site of the crash. Hungarian Formula 3 driver Csaba Kesjár also died at Norisring in June 1988, Norisring Trophy Official website History Slalom Steintribüne meetings Classic Motorcycle events Circuit map and history at RacingCircuits. info How the DTM in Nuremberg feels like {{Navboxes |list1 =
19.
Audi A4 DTM
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The Audi A4 DTM is a 4-door touring car constructed by the German car manufacturer Audi. It was first developed for use in the 2004 DTM season, based on the Audi A4, it was continually improved over the course of six face-lifts between 2004 and 2011. The Audi A4 DTM was succeeded by the Audi A5 DTM in 2012, after the private Team Abt Audi TT-R was raced from 2000 to 2003 with Laurent Aiello, Audi reentered the DTM series with a factory team. Audis comeback resulted in a start and finish with titles for the driver, team. Like all DTM racing cars, the A4 DTM resembles its A4 production equivalent only in cosmetic appearance, the A4 DTM is constructed with a carbon fiber reinforced plastic monocoque chassis and an integrated 15.4 imp gal fuel tank. Powered by a 4,000 cc Audi naturally-aspirated V8 engine, it has an output of approximately 460 hp. The rear-wheel drive A4 DTM also has a sequential 6-speed transmission, a 3-plate carbon fiber clutch supplied by Sandtler and ZF, to celebrate its first DTM championship title win in 2004, Audi released a production variant of the A4 called the DTM from 2005 to 2007. It featured an additional 20 horsepower over the model, sports-styled exterior features
20.
Abt Sportsline
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ABT Sportsline is a motor racing and auto tuning company based in Kempten im Allgäu, Germany. It has been active in DTM for more than a decade, after the death of their father Johann in 2003, the company with 170 employees in their headquarters in Kempten was run by the brothers Hans-Jürgen Abt and Christian Abt. Since 2011, Hans-Jürgen Abt has run the company, starting in 2014, they run a team under the Audi Sport banner in the FIA Formula E Championship for drivers Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt. At the 2014 Beijing ePrix, di Grassi became the first driver to win an open-wheel motorsport race in an all-electric car, ultimately, the team finished third in the first teams championship. Johann Abt, who continued a tradition of his family with motor cars, was a motorcycling and hillclimbing racer for the Abarth factory team until 1970. He is the father of Hans-Jürgen Abt and Christian Abt and he later entered cars with his own team, winning the Trophée de lAvenir and many other series. Johann Abts father founded the first ABT company in 1896, in 1991 the ABT Sportsline GmbH was founded following Auto-Abt. The headquarters moved to Daimlerstrasse in Kempten-Leubas and first offered about 3,500 square metres of space, in October 2002 an extension building was opened offering about 3,000 square metres extra of work space. Since November 2013 there is a third building giving the ABT Motorsports Department a new home, in summer of 2011 ABT celebrated their 115th anniversary since the first formation of the company in 1896. About 170 employees are working in the headquarters in Kempten, Germany. Since 2011 the ABT Lifestyle GmbH, run by Daniel Abt, after participating in a motorcycle race the companys founder Johann Abt started his racing career and the motorsports career of the company in general. Since 2004 ABT Sportsline is one of the factory teams of Audi under the name of Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline. ABT has taken much of their knowledge and adapted it for the street. AS4-R – A highly modified B7 A4 Avant, the ASR-R makes use of the bi-turbo 2. 7L V6 to produce 480 hp at 6800 rpm, modified Luxury & Exotics magazine called the AS4-R, a grocery getter that delivers, and said it, handles like a toy. TT-R – A supercharged second generation V6 Audi TT, r8-R – Not yet released ABTs R8 will feature a supercharger mated to Audis 4. 2L V8 for a total horsepower output of 530 hp. R8 GT R – A highly modified version of the Audi R8 V10 turning it into what Abt Sportsline calls a motorsport champion for the road. The Abt R8 GT R features a version of the 5. 2-liter V10 engine. Many new exterior parts are made from fiber, dropping the cars weight by 220 lb
21.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
22.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
23.
Oliver Jarvis
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Oliver Jarvis is a British professional racing driver from England currently racing in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup for Bentley. Born in Burwell, Cambridgeshire, he was educated at The Kings School, keen to try it for himself, and at just six years old, Jarvis enjoyed his first motorcross competition, albeit then two wheels not four. At the age of eight, Jarvis made the transition to race karts, during his 10 years in karts, he achieved notable success in British and European events, as well as in World Karting as one of Tony Karts Works driver. He was also awarded BRDC Rising Star status, jarviss perfect end to the year was receiving the prestigious McLaren Autosport Young Driver of The Year Award that December, presented to him by Formula One legend Sir Stirling Moss. 2006 saw Jarvis move up to the British F3 International Series, racing for the famous Carlin Motorsport team, Jarvis was an instant success, and won two races, beating Bruno Senna to 2nd in the standings. He went on to dominate the end of season Macau F3 Grand Prix in 2007, leading every lap, Jarvis did get his first chance at the Beijing International Streetcircuit in China, the third race weekend of the season. In the Feature race, Jarvis therefore started 7th, Jarvis next outing was at the Mexico round. This time Jarvis went one better, winning the Feature race for Great Britains first ever A1 Grand Prix victory, during the Pokka 1000km in Suzuka, Jarvis won the race partnering with Juichi Wakisaka and André Lotterer despite not having to drive throughout the race. Jarvis now raced from 2008 until 2011 in the DTM for Audi, although he did not get a cockpit for the 2012 season, he competed in the 201224 Hours of Le Mans for Audi. In 2013, Jarvis raced for Alex Job Racing with an Audi R8 Grand-Am in the 24 Hours of Daytona and he also won the 201312 Hours of Sebring and came third at the 201324 Hours of Le Mans in an Audi R18 e-tron quattro. † — Retired, but was classified as he completed 90 per cent of the race distance. Official website Gallery of Olivers first A1GP Team GBR Official Test, at Silverstone
24.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
25.
Martin Tomczyk
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Martin Tomczyk is a German auto racing driver in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for BMW Motorsport factory team Schnitzer. He was the DTM champion in 2011, third in 2007, fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2004, after a karting career, he raced in Formula BMW and Formula Three, where he finished 12th in 2000. In 2001 he moved up to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, in 2000 his best result was a fourth place on the Nürburgring where he also took the fastest of the race. He took his first pole position in Hockenheim 2002 but he retired from the race, in 2004 he took his first podium in Estoril. During 2004 he also finished second in Zandvoort, Oschersleben and Hockenheim on his way to fifth in the championship. Tomczyk took his first win in Catalunya 2006 where he took pole. In 2007 he took two wins to finish third that season, eleven years after his DTM debut, he won the championship in 2011, driving for Team Phoenix, after nine races with three wins and a third-place finish in Valencia. In 2012, Tomczyk was signed as a BMW Team RBM driver and his father Hermann is president of the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund. After BMWs DTM program was reduced in 2017, Tomczyk retired from the series, notes, † - Season still in progress. ‡ - Does not include non-championship races, † Retired, but was classified as he completed 90% of the winners race distance. 1 - A non-championship one-off race was held in 2004 at the streets of Shanghai, official website Martin Tomczyk career summary at DriverDB. com
26.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
27.
Phoenix Racing (German racing team)
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Phoenix Racing is a motor racing team based at the Nürburgring in Germany. The team competes in such as the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Phoenix Racing competed in the German Supertouring Championship in 1999 with Michael Bartels, the team moved to the revived Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series in 2000, running Opel Astra V8 Coupes, with Manuel Reuter finishing as runner-up and Bartels finishing seventh. The team also won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in a Porsche GT3-R with Bartels, Uwe Alzen, Altfrid Heger, Phoenix repeated this victory in 2003 in an Opel Astra with Reuter, Timo Scheider, Volker Strycek and Marcel Tiemann. Opel began to struggle in the DTM in 2001, with Reuter the best Opel in ninth position, Phoenix and Opel never won another DTM race up until the end of 2005, when the manufacturer withdrew. For 2006, there was a need for cars to be run by the remaining two manufacturers, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. This led to Phoenix running one-year-old Audi A4s from the 2006 season onwards, in 2011 Martin Tomczyk won the DTM drivers title for Phoenix at the penultimate race in Valencia, with 3 victories,7 total podiums, and 1 pole position. In 2013, Mike Rockenfeller took the title in the 2013 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season with one race remaining having 2 wins and 3 second places, driving the Audi A5. Phoenix Racing also began competing in the FIA GT Championship in 2006, with Jean-Denis Deletraz, for 2007 the team joined up with Toine Hezemans Carsport Holland team to form Phoenix Carsport. Deletraz and Mike Hezemans finished in place in the standings racing a Corvette C6. R. In 2008, Hezemans and Fabrizio Gollin finished as runners-up for the team, in 2009, Carsport returned to running their team with Peka Racing, but Phoenix and Carsport will again partner each other in 2010 for the first season of the FIA GT1 World Championship. Phoenix Racing won the 2012 Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour in a Audi R8 GT3 LMS with Christer Jöns, Christopher Mies and Darryl OYoung as drivers
28.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
29.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour, literally means Little Hong Kong)—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
30.
Darryl O'Young
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Darryl OYoung is a Canadian-born Hong Kong racing driver. OYoung began racing in 1988 at the age of eight, trained by his father he honed his driving skills in karting winning numerous championships. The highlight of his career was becoming Canadian National Champion. After Formula Ford 1600 and 2000 Darryl progressed into Fran Am Pro 1600 and 2000 in the United States, OYoung then 25-year old competed in the Porsche Infineon Carrera Cup Asia driving for Jebsen & Co, the Hong Kong Porsche dealer team. Darryl was also invited to join the Hong Kong Le Mans Team set up by Matthew Marsh in 2005, the pair raced a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the Le Mans Endurance Series. Darryl also took part in the 2005 FIA GT Championship - China Round race at the Zhuhai International Circuit, the pair finished fourth in the GT2 class. In 2006 Darryl joined Renauer Motorsport for the Spa 24 Hours race and he has raced for Team Jebsen since 2004 and on 22 October 2006 became series champion of the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia after winning both races at the Zhuhai International Circuit. For 2007, OYoung joined Schnabl Engineering - LKM - Team Jebsen to take part in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup and he was the first Hong Kong driver to take part in the series. In October and November, OYoung was back in Asia for Porsche Carrera Cup Asia, racing in Shanghai, Zhuhai and the Macau Grand Prix. He won the Macau race despite finishing second on the road, as his opponent, for 2008, Darryl is competing in both Porsche Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. OYoung was crowned champion after the final race at Bahrain International Circuit. He has 196 points and 4 wins in the season and he became the first-ever double Class A champion in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Darryl also competed in the Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race in Malaysia, driving for Porsche Club Singapore, he won the race with Mok Wing Sun and Alexander Nicholas Davison. The trio completed 308 laps in 12 hours in their Porsche 997 RSR, Darryl completed a motor racing hat-trick on 16 November 2008 when he took top honors at the Windsor Arch Macau GT Cup, driving a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup. He beats Danny Watts by more than two seconds and this was the third time he has won in a Porsche in Macau. In 2009, Darryl announced that he would compete the entire 2009 FIA GT Championship season, in doing so, the 29-year-old was the first Chinese race driver to compete a full championship in the FIA GT. In addition, in 2009, Darryl entered the 24 hours of Le Mans for the first time in his driving a Porsche GT3 RSR. The Chinese driver spearheaded the driver line up made up of Phillip Hesnault of France and he drove for the first ever Hong Kong team entry, Endurance Asia Team which was managed by Thierry Perrier
31.
Team Rosberg
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Team Rosberg GmbH 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 and it is headquartered at Neustadt an der Weinstraße in Germany, and competes under a German racing license. After his retirement from Formula One in 1986, Keke Rosberg stayed involved in racing, competing with Peugeots World Sports Car Championship operation in the early 1990s. He entered Germanys top-level touring car championship – the DTM – in 1992, driving first for Mercedes-AMG and it was in 1994 that he decided to begin the transition into team ownership, and the newly formed Team Rosberg became part of Opels DTM program in 1995. In this first year, Keke Rosberg continued driving alongside reigning champion Klaus Ludwig in a pair of Calibra V6 coupes, in 1996, Rosberg retired from driving to concentrate on team management. As the DTM evolved into the short-lived International Touring car Championship, 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, Lehto achieved several podiums but failed to win a race. After the collapse of the ITC, Team Rosberg transferred to the Super Tourenwagen Cup, Rosberg managed Nissans factory program in 1997 and 1998, with a pair of Nissan Primeras for Roland Asch and Sascha Maassen. Asch was the highest ranked Nissan driver, finishing eighth in the 1997 championship,1998 was no different, Asch again finished eighth overall, and Maassens replacement, Michael Krumm, finished ninth. When Nissans factory participation in the STC came to an end, Rosberg took a sabbatical from touring cars in 1999, 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 expected to renew its association with Opel. It was one of four teams running CLK coupes, with Darren Turner and 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. In 2001, with only the factory AMG team running 2001-spec CLKs, 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, albers and Paffett both graduated to the factory AMG line-up in 2003 and 2004 respectively, and Paffett became the DTM champion in 2005. When the relationship between Rosberg and Mercedes ended after the 2004 season, it spent 2005 away from touring cars, 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. The hiatus was ended with the opportunity to return to the DTM, not as a Mercedes customer, 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. In 2007, Team Rosberg ran Mike Rockenfeller and Lucas Luhr to 12th and 17th in the Drivers Championship, luhrs lack of results 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 2012 as its most successful recent season, edoardo Mortara won two of the ten rounds, helping the team to fourth in that years championship
32.
Markus Winkelhock
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Markus Winkelhock is a German professional racing driver, who has taken part in one Formula One Grand Prix, which he briefly led. He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, having switched to sports and touring car racing, he has also won the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012 with team-mate Marc Basseng. Born in Stuttgart, Winkelhock won races in a string of junior formulae including Formula König, German Formula Renault, in 2001, Winkelhock joined the German Formula 3 Championship, where he remained until the championship became the F3 Euroseries in 2003. His record was fifth overall in 2001, seventh in 2002 and he switched to touring car racing in 2004, with a season in the DTM in an AMG-Mercedes CLK. But he failed to score a point all year with the Persson team, Winkelhock switched back to single-seater racing in 2005, joining the World Series by Renault with Draco. He won three times but there were some less than shining moments – notably when he crashed at Monaco in qualifying. On 24 January 2006, Marcus Winkelhock was confirmed a test and reserve driver in the Midland F1 team and he participated in Friday test sessions for the team at the Bahrain, Australian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix. He was re-signed for 2007 by the team, now in its Spyker F1 guise and he also made a brief return to the DTM in 2007, starting three races. Following Christijan Albers departure from Spyker after the 2007 British Grand Prix, the deal was only for one race with Sakon Yamamoto set to race for Spyker for the rest of the season. Due to Christijan Albers departure from the Spyker F1 Team, Winkelhock was called in for the 10th race of the season, Winkelhock started last on the 22-car grid alongside team mate Adrian Sutil. But on the lap with the rest of the field already on dry-weather tyres. By lap 4 he had a lead of 33 seconds over Ferraris Felipe Massa in 2nd place, as the rain got heavier the race stewards first sent out the safety car, and then suspended the race following a series of spin-offs in the first corner behind the safety car. The race restarted after the rain had eased, Winkelhock and his team chose to start on full wet tyres on a drying track in the hope of further showers, as the team expected he would be overtaken by faster cars anyway. The gamble failed and, having restarted the race from pole position and he retired on lap 15 with hydraulic problems that caused a small fire. He had led for a total of six laps, Winkelhock returned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after he lost his Spyker seat, and has remained in the series, driving for Team Rosberg, for 2008,2009 and 2010. In 2011, he competed in the FIA GT1 World Championship for the All-Inkl. com Münnich Motorsport team alongside team boss Marc Basseng driving a Lamborghini and they won the championship the following year, the team having switched to the Mercedes SLS due to a change in the regulations. ‡ As Winkelhock was a guest driver, he was ineligible for points,1 – Shanghai was a non-championship round. ‡ — Guest driver – Not eligible for points, † Winkelhock was ineligible to score points during the Moscow weekend due to Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhofs absence
33.
Katherine Legge
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Katherine Legge is a British auto racing driver. She is also featured in Richard Hammonds Crash Course, prior to joining the Toyota Atlantic series, Guildford-born Legge raced in several developmental open-wheel series in Britain, including Formula Three, Formula Renault and Formula Ford. In 2000 she was the first woman to achieve a pole in a Zetec race, in 2001 she beat Kimi Räikkönens lap record and achieved a pole, and she was the first woman to receive the BRDCs Rising Star accolade. She received the 2005 RACER Magazine Most Promising Road Racer of The Year award, other drivers that have won the award include Räikkönen, Jenson Button, Cristiano da Matta, Alex Barron, Giancarlo Fisichella, Greg Moore, and Gil de Ferran. After she crashed after 2 laps on her first run on the track, it was decided to postpone the test until the following day and she was also the first woman to test an A1 Grand Prix car, on 9–11 December 2005 with A1 Team Great Britain. In 2005, Legge competed in the Toyota Atlantic Championship with Polestar Motor Racing and she won the series opener at Long Beach in her first career Atlantic start. In doing so, she became the first woman to win a developmental open-wheel race in North America, Legge went on to win her second and third races of the season at Edmonton and San Jose. She finished the season 3rd in the championship with three wins and five podiums and she also received the Toyota Atlantic BBS Rising Star 2005 Award. In the 2005–2006 off-season, Legge tested a Champ Car once for the Rocketsports Racing, in February 2006, it was announced that she would drive for PKV Racing in the 2006 Champ Car season. In June, she became the first woman to lead a lap in series history, Legge suffered a violent accident at the 2006 Grand Prix of Road America when the rear wing of her car broke, she was able to walk away from the car unharmed. Legge drove for Dale Coyne Racing in 2007, and her best result in the series was sixth place, twice, in 2008, Legge moved to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, driving for Colin Kolles Futurecom TME Audi team. For 2009 and 2010 she raced for the Abt Sportsline team, for 2009 she was the only one of the 5 drivers in the Abt Sportline team using the previous years car. In January 2012, Legge signed with Dragon Racing in the IndyCar Series, Legge reached a two-year agreement with sponsor TrueCar as part of their Women Empowered campaign. However, since the Lotus engines were shown to be uncompetitive, but team owner Jay Penske could only procure one Chevrolet engine lease agreement for the team, so they could only enter one car per race after Indianapolis. Therefore, for the remainder of 2012, Dragon entered Bourdais at the road and street courses, Legge finished 26th in points, competing in ten of the 15 races, and had a best finish of ninth in the 2012 MAVTV500 IndyCar World Championships at Auto Club Speedway. In 2013, Legge left IndyCar to join the DeltaWing program in the United SportsCar Championship, Legge competed in the 2014 and 2015 seasons for DeltaWing. In May 2015, Legge announced her involvement with the Grace Autosport project to enter the 2016 Indianapolis 500 race, the team will be all-female and intends to help promote technology and engineering as a career path for young women. The team has confirmed it has the support of the FIAs Women in Motorsport Commission, Legge joined Michael Shank Racing in 2017 to drive an Acura NSX GT3 at the IMSA SportsCar Championship
34.
Mercedes-Benz
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Mercedes-Benz is a global automobile manufacturer and a division of the German company Daimler AG. The brand is known for vehicles, buses, coaches. The headquarters is in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, the slogan for the brand is the best or nothing and Mercedes-Benz was one of the top growing brands in 2014 with 18% growth. The Mercedes automobile was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, emil Jellinek, an Austrian automobile entrepreneur who worked with DMG created the trademark in 1902, naming the 1901 Mercedes 35 hp after his daughter Mercedes Jellinek. The first Mercedes-Benz brand name vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benzs, on 28 June 1926, Mercedes Benz was formed with the merger of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimlers two companies. Gottlieb Daimler was born on 17 March 1834 in Schorndorf, after training as a gunsmith and working in France, he attended the Polytechnic School in Stuttgart from 1857 to 1859. After completing various activities in France and England, he started work as a draftsman in Geislingen in 1862. At the end of 1863, he was appointed inspector in a machine tool factory in Reutlingen. Throughout the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz produced the 770 model, a car that was popular during Germanys Nazi period, Adolf Hitler was known to have driven these cars during his time in power, with bulletproof windshields. Most of the models have been sold at auctions to private buyers. One of them is currently on display at the War Museum in Ottawa, the pontiffs Popemobile has often been sourced from Mercedes-Benz. In 1944,46,000 forced laborers were used in Daimler-Benzs factories to bolster Nazi war efforts, the company later paid $12 million in reparations to the laborers families. Mercedes-Benz has introduced many technological and safety innovations that became common in other vehicles. Mercedes-Benz is one of the best-known and established automotive brands in the world, for information relating to the famous three-pointed star, see under the title Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft including the merger into Daimler-Benz. As part of the Daimler AG company, the Mercedes-Benz Cars division includes Mercedes-Benz, mercedes-AMG became a majority owned division of Mercedes-Benz in 1999. The company was integrated into DaimlerChrysler in 1999, and became Mercedes-Benz AMG beginning on 1 January 1999, Daimlers ultra-luxury brand Maybach was under Mercedes-Benz cars division until 2013, when the production stopped due to poor sales volumes. It now exists under the Mercedes-Maybach name, with the models being ultra-luxury versions of Mercedes cars, Daimler coorporates with BYD Auto to make and sell a battery-electric car called Denza in China. In 2016, Daimler announced plans to sell Mercedes-Benz branded all-electric battery cars in China, beside its native Germany, Mercedes-Benz vehicles are also manufactured or assembled in, Since its inception, Mercedes-Benz had maintained a reputation for its quality and durability
35.
Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Class DTM (W204)
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The Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Class W204 DTM is a Touring car constructed by the German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz. It was the version to the Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Class W203 DTM. Mercedes-Benz AMG C-Class W204 DTM was unveiled at 2007 Geneva Motor Show, like all racing cars of the DTM is based on the C-Class W203 DTM only look at the eponymous series cars. Constructed is the prototype of a CFK - monocoque chassis with an integrated 15. 4-imperial gallons fuel tank, since refuelling at this time was the duty still in the race, a 26. 4-imperial gallons tank was not built as from 2012. The C-Class W204 DTM is powered by a 4,000 cc Mercedes-Benz naturally-aspirated V8 engine, power output approximately 476 hp and maximum torque approximately more than 490 N·m. The rear-wheel drive C-Class DTM also has a sequential 6-speed sports transmission, a 3-plate carbon fiber clutch supplied by Sandtler then ZF and an adjustable multi-disc limited-slip differential
36.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
37.
Ralf Schumacher
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Ralf Schumacher is a German former racing driver. He is the brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher. Schumacher began karting at the age of three and achieved early success before making the transition to automobile racing in the German Formula Three Championship and he first drove in Formula One with Jordan Grand Prix for the 1997 season. Schumacher moved to the Williams F1 team in 1999, finishing 6th in the Drivers Championship that year and he won his first Grand Prix in 2001, en route to 4th place in the Drivers Championship, and subsequently won five more races over the course of two years. Schumacher left Williams at the end of 2004 and joined Toyota Racing in 2005, however, his performance throughout 2006 and 2007 resulted in Schumacher leaving Formula One, as a result of internal pressure. Schumacher was born in Hürth, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany on 30 June 1975, the son of Rolf Schumacher, a bricklayer. He has one brother, Michael. Schumacher began karting at the age of three driving on his parents go-kart track in Kerpen and his first major karting success came when he clinched the NRW Cup and the Gold Cup in 1991. In 1992 he won the German Junior Kart Championship and he then moved up into the senior series, finishing runner-up. Aged 17 Schumacher moved into car racing, finishing runner-up in the ADAC Junior Formula Championship and this performance allowed Schumacher to test a Formula Three car during 1992, and later took part in a Formula Three event. His testing and one-off appearance in the series caught the attention of WTS Racing allowing Schumacher to enter the German Formula Three Championship in 1994 and he finished fourth and thirtieth in the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula 3, respectively. His performances in 1995 had improved over the year, Schumacher secured pole position and victory in the Macau Grand Prix. In the German Formula Three series, Schumacher took three victories and finished second in the Championship behind Norberto Fontana, for 1996, Schumachers manager Willi Weber secured him a seat in the Formula Nippon Series, driving for the Team Le Mans alongside experienced driver Naoki Hattori. Schumacher won the series on his first attempt, becoming the first rookie driver to clinch the championship, in August 1996, Schumacher tested for the McLaren team at Silverstone. In September, it was announced that Schumacher had signed a contract to drive for the Jordan team. The deal also brought in a further £8 million from Schumachers sponsor Bitburger brewery, in January 1997, Giancarlo Fisichella was confirmed as Schumachers team-mate replacing Martin Brundle, who expressed a desire to remain with the team. Schumacher believed that Brundles experience would have helped him in the coming season, Schumachers season started off with consecutive retirements in the opening two rounds in Australia and Brazil. He picked up the first podium of his career in Argentina with third place despite a collision with team-mate Fisichella, further consecutive retirements followed in the next four races before picking up a sixth-place finish in France
38.
Persson Motorsport
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Persson Motorsport is an auto racing team based in Germany. Managed by Ingmar Persson, they have competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since their formation in 1993, in the old DTM, from 1993 to 1996, their drivers included Uwe Alzen and Bernd Mayländer, the Formula One Safety Car driver. Over this period, Persson were the best privateer team, three years in succession between 1993 and 1995, the DTM was resurrected in 2000 and Persson returned with Tiemann and Peter Dumbreck. In 2001 they gave future F1 driver Christijan Albers his DTM debut alongside Thomas Jäger, katsutomo Kaneishi raced for the team in 2003, while Stefan Mücke and Markus Winkelhock raced for them in 2004. In 2005 they gave future race-winners Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green their DTM debuts, former F1 driver Jean Alesi raced for them in 2006 alongside Alexandros Margaritis and Mathias Lauda. Unsurprisingly he was signed by the factory AMG-Mercedes team for 2008, in 2009 Perssons drivers are British duo Jamie Green and Susie Stoddart, with Green winning the third round of the 2009 season at the Norisring
39.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
40.
Cheng Congfu
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Cheng Congfu is a Chinese racing driver. In 1996, Cheng raced in karting in China, winning the championship in 1998,2000 and 2001. He also took part in the European Karting Open and the Asian Karting Championship, in 2003 he will be supported by the McLaren Formula One team, as part of its driver development programme. He joined A1 Team China and drove in the A1 Grand Prix series from the 2006-07 season in the 2008-09 season and he raced in the Formula Three Euroseries for 2008. Cheng Congfu then became the first Chinese driver to participate, finish and he drove in the 2010 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season for Mercedes. Cheng page at a1teamchina. com. cn Driver Statistics at results. a1gp. com Career statistic driverdb. com Cheng Congfu interview,17 September 2006
41.
Maro Engel
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Maro Engel is a German professional racing driver. He is a long-time Mercedes-AMG works driver, currently racing in Formula E and he has previously raced in the DTM, V8 Supercars, F3000 and F3. Born in Munich, Maro competed in karting in Germany and France between 1996 and 1999 and finished 4th in the 2000 European Junior Karting Championship. He then moved onto Formula BMW, finishing 3rd in the 2001 Junior Cup and he moved onto Formula Three in 2003 as a factory Opel driver, and raced in the Recaro F3 Cup in 2004, and Italian Formula 3000 in 2005. He returned to F3 for the British series in 2006 and 2007, in 2007 he was signed as a Mercedes-Benz Junior driving for Carlin Motorsport. He finished fifth with one victory in 2006, and was runner-up to Marko Asmer in 2007 with three wins and he was signed by AMG Mercedes to drive a one-year-old car run by Mücke Motorsport in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for the 2008 season. He remained with the team 2011 season, in four years racing in the category, he achieved a best result of sixth place at first round held at the Hockenheimring in 2009. He went on to finish the 2009 season in place over all. Engel made his V8 Supercar debut in 2013, driving a Mercedes E63 AMG entered by Erebus Motorsport, Engel replaced Shane van Gisbergen as the driver of the No.9 SP Tools entry. Next to his commitments in V8 Supercar for Erebus Motorsport he competed in the 2013 Macau GT Cup with a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 scoring pole position, narrowly missing out on the victory due to sustaining a puncture on the front left while leading,2 laps before the end. In 2014 Engel resumed his duties as a member of the AMG Customer Sports team racing exclusively with the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, the German trio dominated the race for 9 hours before an issue forced them to pit for repairs dropping them 7 laps down. Engel also competed in various VLN races for ROWE Racing winning the 9th round of the VLN championship and he also raced in the German ADAC GT Masters series for ROWE Racing. Engel continued racing with and for the AMG Customer Sports team in the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 as an Official Mercedes-AMG Performance driver. He joined team Black Falcon as the pro driver in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in Pro-AM with a best result of 2nd at the 1000 km Paul Ricard race and he also contested the Spa 24 Hours with team Black falcon where the team had a DNF. On the Nürburgring Engel continued to race with ROWE Racing winning one VLN race and he also participated in the Nürburgring 24 Hours but the team had to DNF the car after several punctures. Engel was also part of the Mercedes-AMG drivers that assisted development of the new Mercedes-AMG GT3, in 2015 the Macau GT Cup was recognised by the FIA as the FIA GT World Cup lifting its status to the world championship for GT3 cars. Engel returned with his Mercedes-AMG Driving Academy team in the successful Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, Engel won the 12 lap qualification race from third on the grid after Stefan Mücke was penalised for a Safety car procedure infringement. Starting from pole position in the 18 lap race around Macaus famous Guia circuit Engel won the race and was crowned the inaugural FIA GT World Cup Champion
42.
David Coulthard
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David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver turned presenter, commentator and journalist. He was runner-up in the 2001 Formula One World Drivers Championship, Coulthard began karting at the age of eleven and achieved early success before progressing to car racing in the British Formula Ford Championship and the Formula 3000 series. He first drove in Formula One with Williams F1 in the 1994 season succeeding the late Ayrton Senna, the following year he won his first Grand Prix in Portugal, and then for the 1996 season he moved to McLaren. After winning two races in the 1997 season, he finished 3rd in the World Drivers Championship in the 1998 season and he won five races throughout 1999 and 2000 before finishing 2nd in the Drivers Championship to Michael Schumacher in 2001. Two more victories followed between 2002 and 2003 before he left McLaren at the end of 2004 and he moved to Red Bull in 2005 and secured their first podium a year later. Coulthard retired from Formula One racing at the end of 2008, after retiring from Formula One Coulthard continued working with Red Bull as a consultant and joined the BBC as a commentator and pundit for their coverage of Formula One. He returned to motorsports in 2010 joining Mücke Motorsport in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Coulthard has also participated in the Race of Champions, finishing runner-up in the Drivers Cup in 2008, since 2016 he has worked as a commentator and analyst for Channel 4 after they took over the BBC’s terrestrial television rights. Coulthard was born on 27 March 1971 in Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire and his family was connected to motor racing, his grandfather competed in the Monte Carlo Rally and his father drove karts, becoming Scottish National Champion. From an early age motorsport was where his interest lay, later listing Formula One World Champions Jim Clark, Nigel Mansell, Coulthard was educated at Kirkcudbright Academy, achieving eight O Grades. Coulthard began karting when his father presented him with his first kart for his eleventh birthday, Coulthard graded each race he entered on a scale of 1 to 10, with an additional column headlined Performance. He later gave credit to David Leslie, senior and junior for allowing his career to develop, in 1990, Coulthard travelled to Belgium to compete in the EFDA Nations Cup for Great Britain and was partnered with Nicky Hart, where they finished 9th. During the year, Coulthard was selected by Vauxhall Motorsport to race in an appearance in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch. He did not return to the series after suffering a leg injury in a Formula Vauxhall race at Spa-Francorchamps, for 1991, Coulthard signed with Paul Stewart Racing to compete in the British Formula 3 series, taking five victories and finishing second in the Championship behind Rubens Barrichello. Coulthard won the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula Three and he later traveled to the Fuji Speedway to compete in the annual Formula Three Fuji Cup, taking pole position and finished second behind Jordi Gené. In 1992, he moved to the International Formula 3000 series, for 1993, Coulthard joined Pacific Racing, taking one victory and finishing third in the series. He entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside John Nielsen, the trio won the GT Class, although they were later disqualified for a technical infringement. He moved to the Vortex team in 1994, which received investment from a private investor, in his first and only race for the team held at Silverstone, Coulthard finished third
43.
A1 Grand Prix
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A1 Grand Prix was a single make open wheel auto racing series. It was unique in its field in that competitors solely represented their nation as opposed to themselves or a team, as such, it was often promoted as the World Cup of Motorsport. The series was ratified by the Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile and races were held in the traditional Formula One off-season, the nation-based A1GP concept was founded by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum of Dubai, initially in 2003. After a successful first season of A1GP, it was announced on 29 September 2006 that Maktoum was to sell his position as Chairman & Director of A1GP, the transfer of his share in the organisation of A1 Grand Prix to RAB Capital was finalized in December 2006. Tony Teixeira took control of the series in 2006, leading it to liquidation by 2009, the nation-based A1GP concept was founded by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al Maktoum of Dubai, initially in 2003. Thirty franchises were made available, twenty-three of them were restricted to specified nations, the first season was planned for 12 rounds, however the cancellation of a race scheduled for Curitiba, Brazil in January 2006 reduced this number to 11. Nelson Piquet, Jr. won the race of the series for A1 Team Brazil. Their winning form was not to continue, wins at Estoril and Malaysia saw A1 Team France build up a sizeable gap. By the start of the break, France had run away with the lead with A1 Team Switzerland 28 points behind. At the final race of the season in Shanghai, A1 Team France were crowned the first-ever A1 Grand Prix world champions with 172 points, Switzerland were second with 121 points and A1 Team Great Britain third with 97 points. Katherine Legge was the first woman to drive A1 Grand Prix cars during test session in December 2005 on Dubai Autodrome, changes were made for the 2006–07 season to race durations and distances to improve the spectacle for attendees and TV viewers. The 2006–07 schedule was released on 7 July 2006, with the first race at Circuit Park Zandvoort on 1 October 2006, New teams Team Singapore and Team Greece joined the competition but Team Turkey failed to secure funding for the season. Team Austria, Team Japan, Team Portugal and Team Russia did not return for the second season, however, after securing funding Team Portugal competed in the final four rounds of the second season in South Africa, Mexico, China and Britain. Team Germany won the series with 128 points,35 points lead ahead of Team New Zealand, the 2008–09 season was the first season in which the new Powered by Ferrari A1GP car was used. According to 2007–08 champion Neel Jani, 90% of teams in the paddock warned Teixeira ahead of time that this car change was untimely and an inefficient use of funds. Rule changes included shorter qualifying sessions, a pit-stop during the now longer Sprint Race, removal of limits on Friday test drivers, and reduced Sprint Race points scoring. The opening round of the season, scheduled as part of the well established Nikon SuperGP race meeting, was cancelled five days before practice was due to begin. The event was underwritten by the Queensland state government, who have mentioned the possibility of taking legal recourse against A1 Grand Prix