The Mercedes-AMG team Winward is relying on a new look for Maro Engel in the 2025 DTM, while team-mate Jules Gounon is competing in the “Mamba” anniversary design.
Since the Ford rebranding, the Ravensberg-based lubricant manufacturer Ravenol has also been an HRT sponsor and is therefore likely to set the tone for two car liveries in 2025, which could cause confusion during the races.
Fans might also need some time to get used to the Mercedes car driven by newcomer Jules Gounon: after Engel and Lucas Auer, the Mann-Filter-Mamba is now changing drivers for the second time in three years.
Engel changes his starting number every year
“I’m delighted to be starting another exciting DTM season with Mann-Filter and Ravenol at my side,” says Winward team principal Christian Hohenadel. “Both cars have a distinctive design that makes them highly recognisable. We can’t wait for the season to finally get underway at Oschersleben.”
Strictly speaking, the colors may be new at Engel, but the sponsor is the same: the Ravenol logo was already on his Winward Mercedes last year, even though the silver-white-black livery was still under the Mercedes “130 Years of Motorsport” motto at the time.
Engel was also racing with the starting number 130 back then. This year he is using the number 24. In general, the old hand seems to be quite flexible when it comes to numbers in the DTM, because in 2023 he drove for Landgraf with the “Mamba” number 48, in 2022 he had the 88 on his car, in 2017 it was the number 63.
“Mamba” celebrates a milestone birthday in 2025
In the year after the Mercedes anniversary design at Winward, the “Mamba” is now celebrating a milestone birthday: the number ten is emblazoned on the roof of Gounon’s car, indicating the years 2015 to 2025 in which the snake design has already been seen on the world’s race tracks.
The cult look was launched in 2015 by the Car Collection Mercedes in the oil filter manufacturer’s first complete design at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring – albeit still without a snake head, but in yellow and green. Gounon, who is driving for Winward this year instead of Landgraf’s new signing Auer, uses the starting number 48, which has been typical of the “Mamba” for years.
Interestingly, the number has its origins with the Winward predecessor team HTP, whose standard number was 84 for a long time. When Mann-Filter was responsible for the design of the second vehicle, the number 48 was used. The “Mamba” number was born.
