The 21-year old Austrian was invited to the Young Driver Test at Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain at the end of 2018, and impressed R-Motorsport with his pace and approach, leading him to be offered one of the most sought-after seats in motor racing.
“Ferdinand is an up-and-coming talent who fits in well with our young team,” said R-Motorsport Team Principal Florian Kamelger. “His good results in F3 show that he has the talent to make his mark in the highly-competitive DTM.”
Habsburg is no stranger to a highly-competitive environment, having raced in the FIA European F3 Series for the last two seasons, taking race wins and podiums along the way. The new challenge is not something he takes lightly, but he intends to approach it with the positivity and focus for which he is well-known.
“Racing in the DTM was always a dream for me,” he said. “Did I think I’d get the opportunity at 21? Probably not, but I’ve spent some time with R-Motorsport and I really believe this is an incredible team with which I can grow and learn. It’s not only exciting to be in the DTM, but it’s really exciting to be part of the R-Motorsport programme – they are racing and winning in top level motorsport around the globe.”
R-Motorsport will run four brand new Aston Martin Vantage DTM cars in the nine round championship that, despite being German-based, is an international series and visits the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy in 2019. Championship stalwarts BMW and Audi will undoubtedly set the bar high, but Habsburg believes the Aston Martin Vantage DTM car will rise to the challenge.
“Aston Martin is a brand that I’ve watched and supported for many years and when I heard there would be a Vantage DTM entry on the grid I think I shared the same excitement as everyone else,” Habsburg continued.
“The team behind the build and preparation is incredibly impressive and I think we will be challenging for top results fairly soon into the season. I have a lot to learn but I’m part of a mega line-up of drivers and I can’t wait to get behind the wheel in a few months.
”Habsburg’s DTM debut will take place on 4/5 May in the season opener at Hockenheim, where he will compete alongside team-mates Paul Di Resta (GBR), Jake Dennis (GBR) and Daniel Juncadella (ESP)