Bernd Schneider and Klaus Ludwig, by far the most successful ever DTM touring car racing drivers, have been appointed as brand ambassadors, instructors and test drivers for AMG and Mercedes-Benz. With these appointments, which take immediate effect, Mercedes-Benz and the high-performance brand AMG have succeeded in securing the extensive wealth of experience and expertise of two of motorsport’s greatest professionals.
Bernd Schneider, who competed in his last DTM race at the season’s finale on 26 October 2008 at the Hockenheimring circuit, will now provide support to the AMG development team as a test driver and will also pass on his know-how as an expert instructor at the AMG Driving Academy. The record-breaking DTM champion will also be much in demand as a conversation partner at both customer and press events. His duties with AMG began officially on 1 January 2009.
“We are very happy to be welcoming Bernd Schneider to AMG. As a fair sportsman, Bernd Schneider enjoys a great deal of recognition and respect throughout the entire motor racing world and automotive industry. I am certain that our development team will benefit greatly from Bernd Schneider’s expertise. With his pleasant manner, he is also bound to be a great asset not only at customer and press events, but also at the events of our AMG Driving Academy where he will be involved as an instructor,” explains Volker Mornhinweg, Chairman of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.
Bernd Schneider: “I see my decision to work for AMGfollowing my career as an active racing driver as absolutely logical. I was able to celebrate most of my victories, and also the most satisfying ones, in the AMG Mercedes team, and now I am looking forward to the new tasks as an instructor, test driver and brand ambassador for AMG.”
Schneider’s racing career: textbook perfect
As one of Germany’s most successful racing drivers of all time with five DTM titles and one each in the ITC and FIAGT Championship, Bernd Schneider
(44 years of age) can look back over an extremely impressive career. The first milestone was his victory in the 1980 Junior World Kart Championship. After winning his spurs in the Formula Ford monoposto series he entered the German Formula 3 championships, which he won in 1987. Prior to this, in 1986, he had first competed with Ford in the DTM. After two years of Formula 1 with Zakspeed in 1988 and 1989, as well as sports car racing with Porsche in 1990 and 1991, Schneider moved to Mercedes and the Zakspeed DTM team as the successor to Michael Schumacher for the last two races in 1991. In 1992 he made another move to AMG Mercedes, where Schneider has remained to the present day.
Over the subsequent 17 years, as part of the AMG and HWA teams, he won 43 out of 226 races in the DTM and ITC, and eleven races in the 1997 and 1998 FIA GT Championships. All in all he won seven titles in these three championships.
In his penultimate DTM race at Le Mans, he emerged victorious from a tough but fair duel in atrocious conditions with the new DTM champion, Timo Scheider, thereby proving that even at the age of 44, he has lost none of his competitive spirit. Bernd Schneider ended the 2008 DTM season in sixth place in the final race at the Hockenheimring, ranking him in sixth place overall in the driver standings with a total of 34 points.
Klaus Ludwig: actively involved in series production development since 2000
Klaus Ludwig, former DTM team colleague of Bernd Schneider, also started his duties as brand ambassador for Mercedes-Benz on 1 January 2009. Ludwig will represent the Stuttgartcar manufacturer on official occasions, such as at customer and press events. 59-year-old Ludwig has in fact been involved in series production development at Mercedes-Benz since the end of his active career as a DTM racing driver in 2000. Since 2003, he has been an established member of the “Ride & Handling Core Team”. As such he forms part of a team consisting of 15 Mercedes engineers who are responsible for assessing and approving the ride comfort and handling characteristics of all new vehicles prior to their market release – from the new E-Class and Maybach models, right through to smart. In addition, the renowned Ludwig also works as a driver training instructor for the SLR. CLUB, the very exclusive community for owners of the SLRMcLaren.
Dr Thomas Weber, member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG with responsibility for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development: “Klaus Ludwig’s very extensive experience is extremely beneficial to us. His long and above all highly successful motorsport career makes him a very experienced partner for our engineers and therefore also helps in achieving the perfect chassis and suspension set-up for new vehicles.”
“As part of my duties, I have enjoyed making a constructive contribution to the development of new Mercedes vehicles for many years,” says Ludwig. “Now I am looking forward to working even more closely with Mercedes-Benz in the future.”
Three DTM titles and three victories at the Le Mans 24-hour race
Klaus Ludwig, like Bernd Schneider, also ranks as one of Germany’s most successful motorsport professionals. Between 1985 and 2000 he took part in some 217 DTM and ITC races, emerging as victor on no fewer than 36 occasions. This has earned Ludwig second place in the DTM/ITC list of winners, behind Bernd Schneider. Achieving a total of 1792.5 points, he even tops the all-time best points list. A native of Bonn, Ludwig also won the German Touring Car Championship three times (1988, 1992, 1994). In 1979 and 1981, he emerged as champion of the DRM (German Racing Championship), the forerunner to the DTM, celebrating a total of 38 first places driving for BMW, Porsche and Ford. As such, combining both DRM and DTM results, he holds the overall record of 74 victories. Another of Ludwig’s records, set in the year 2000, also still stands to this day: at the age of 50, and therefore still the oldest DTM driver, he won both races at the Sachsenring circuit driving an AMG-Mercedes CLK DTM. He officially brought his long DTM career to an end at the close of the season.
Klaus Ludwig was also very successful in sports car racing, as demonstrated not only by his victory for AMG-Mercedes in the FIA GT championship in 1998. A further three victories at both the Le Mans 24-hour race (1979, 1984, 1985) and the Nürburgring 24-hour race (1982, 1987 and 1999) are also evidence of his great achievements.
