Surfing lessons from the world champion - DTM meets windsurfing
A great spectacle during the world’s biggest windsurfing
event. This weekend, Tom Kristensen, Mike Rockenfeller (both
Audi) and Daniel la Rosa (Mercedes-Benz) visited the Colgate
World Cup Sylt at Westerland. The DTM drivers had brought
an Audi A4 DTM with them. During a pit stop demonstration
on the boulevard, surf legend Robby Naish even picked up the
airgun. “Incredible how quick such a pit stop can be,
even with my”, the motorsport fan said.
The DTM drivers were also excited. They signed autographs
and gave interviews. Tom Kristensen used the chance to find
out about the secrets of windsurfing from his compatriot,
35 times’ world champion Björn Dunkerbeck. Rockenfeller
and La Rosa also were informed about windsurfing by Dunkerbeck
and Germany’s best female surfer, Steffi Wahl. They
found many similarities. “In both sports, you need precision,
concentration, top-level equipment and a good spirit to be
successful”, Kristensen said. In return, Mercedes-Benz
driver La Rosa invited Steffi Wahl to visit the DTM final
at Hockenheim. “There, I will show you the action we
have in the pit lane”, he promised.
In the afternoon, the members of the Windsurfing Team Germany
doubled up as mechanics. Bernd Flessner, Klaas Voget, Normen
Günzlein and André Paskowski swapped their boards
for an airgun and battled to find out who was the quickest
to change the tyres on the Audi A4 DTM. No winner was established,
but Abt-team manager Thomas Biermaier promised good chances
for all of them of finding a new job after their careers in
windsurfing: “Surely we can use people with such a hands-on
mentality”.
ITR board member for communication Jürgen Pippig made
a positive verdict. “The atmosphere here at the Colgate
World Cup Sylt is unique. It is nice that we have been able
to bring the DTM closer to the spectators here at Sylt. Now,
we are looking forward to the grand final of the DTM.”
That will be taking place at Hockenheim, October 14th. So
far, some 60,000 tickets have been sold already for the final
DTM round of the season, more than at the same time last year,
when the race attracted a new record crowd for the DTM with
149,000 spectators.
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