Which “former enemy” the Mercedes-AMG squad has strengthened itself with for the DTM comeback and what role Bernd Schneider is playing in the Landgraf team
The Landgraf team will make a comeback in the DTM in 2025 after a one-year break with the driver duo Lucas Auer and Tom Kalender. But the Mercedes-AMG squad will not only be completely different from the drivers than it was two years ago, when team principal Klaus Landgraf made his DTM debut with experienced Maro Engel and Jusuf Owega.
The team has also reorganized its personnel and, with the experienced engineer Marius Avemarg, has brought a strong man from HRT after the Ford brand change. “For me, he was always a very difficult opponent,”
“If you can’t beat your enemies, you have to try to get them on your side. He made things difficult for us in the past when we were racing against each other, so he has a good reputation. And he is also a great addition to the team in human terms.”
HRT newcomer works with Auer at Landgraf
For many years, Avemarg was head of technology at the former Mercedes-AMG team Toksport WRT, which was one of Landgraf’s opponents in the ADAC GT Masters. Last year, he was race engineer to Arjun Maini at Haupt-Racing-Team, where he had his best DTM season so far – and the team competed against Landgraf in the ADAC GT Masters. Klaus Landgraf has now brought him on board primarily because of his technical skills and his will to win.
Avemarg will be race engineer to new signing Lucas Auer, who was DTM runner-up in 2022 and brings a wealth of experience to the team. Meanwhile, the team is banking on stability with team-mate Tom Kalender, who is only 16 years old.
He will work with race engineer Dirk Martin as in his ADAC GT Masters championship-winning season in 2024. “We have decided this so that Tom does not have to accept any personnel changes in what is a huge step for him and can approach the matter with this feel-good team.”
Apart from that, Martin has their “complete and utter” trust, says team principal and team owner Landgraf. “We already had a great sense of achievement with him last year. He did a very good job,” he says, referring to the ADAC GT Masters title with Kalender and his team partner Elias Seppänen.
Landgraf on Bernd Schneider: “He has a very broad network”
Speaking of which, Kalender and Seppänen are managed by “Mr. DTM” Bernd Schneider, who will also play a role in Landgraf’s DTM project in 2025. “First and foremost, he is my friend – that’s the most important thing,” explains Landgraf. ‘Secondly, he is an advisor. And thirdly, he mainly takes care of Tom, of course.’
Schneider has been ‘a big part of our young talent program for years. It all started with Elias Seppänen. It’s great that these young people can draw on his experience.’
But Schneider, who is also a Mercedes-AMG brand ambassador, will also make his expertise available to the team as a consultant, for example in personnel decisions. “That’s not necessarily the reason why we work with him, but of course he has a very broad network due to his many years of experience. That also benefits us from time to time,” says the team boss about the five-time DTM champion.
In 2023, the team relied on a completely different set-up with technical director Alexander Zöchling and race engineers Renaud Dufour, Maro Engel and Dominic Liebl, who was responsible for Ogawa’s car. And most of the mechanics from back then are no longer with the team either. Instead, last year’s GT Masters crew now forms the core of the team.
This means that pit stop training is called for, because there is a minimum standing time in the ADAC GT Masters and no performance pit stops. Nico Heinz, the son of Nico Hülkenberg’s former manager Werner Heinz, is a well-known figure and is Landgraf team manager, having been with the team from Gensingen since 2021.
