Albon to race in DTM in 2021
Alexander Albon and Liam Lawson will be racing in the 2021 DTM season with backing from Red Bull when the German Tourenwagen Masters switches to GT3 cars.
Albon became Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull’s F1 Team in August 2019 when the Milton Keynes outfit demoted Pierre Gasly to the AlphaTauri sqaud. Although the Thai driver delivered promising performances in his first outings with the team, he failed to keep up with the Dutchman in 2020.
Following this troubled season for the 24-year-old driver, Red Bull decided to replace Albon with Sergio Perez for the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship. The energy drink company owned team has now announced that Albon will be participating in selected DTM races whenever his Formula 1 duties as a test, replacement and simulator driver allow. Red Bull will confirm later who Albon will be alternating with during the 2021 DTM season.
In the second Red Bull cockpit,18-year-old New Zealander Liam Lawson will be driving, meaning that a talent from the ranks of the Red Bull Junior Team will be racing in the DTM that will be held with powerful GT sports cars for the first time in the new season. The team is yet to confirm which team and sports car brand it will work with.
#DTMnews F1 driver @alex_albon and young @LiamLawson30 will be racing in the DTM with @redbull backing. Albon will be participating in selected races whenever his F1 duties as test and replacement driver allows. The driver Albon will be alternating with will be announced later. pic.twitter.com/n8my9KOMme
— DTM (@DTM) January 4, 2021
Commenting on the announcement, Red Bull’s motorsport consultant, Dr. Helmut Marko said: „The DTM with a high-class field and GT3 sports cars is an interesting platform and a real challenge, both for successful race drivers like Alex Albon as for our Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson."
“Formula 1 drivers like Alex Albon, DTM stars like three-time champion René Rast, GT professionals and young talents like Liam Lawson - that is a high-class driver mix the way I would like it for the 2021 DTM season. It is also a perfect fit that ex-Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button has already submitted an entry for the DTM with his team,” said Gerhard Berger, an ex-Formula 1 and DTM driver himself.
Berger targets a strong field for the brand-new era for the DTM Championship: “My big goal is 20 cars with at least five brands, strong drivers and a battle for the title that goes down to the wire, the final race. The DTM participation of Alex Albon is yet another important step in this direction,” he said.
