PETRONAS News: PETRONAS is New Team Sponsor for Mercedes-Benz in DTM Series

Mercedes-Benz has announced an extension of its motorsport partnership with PETRONAS from Formula One to the German Touring Car Masters (DTM). Already title sponsor of the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One team, the Malaysian national oil and gas corporation will now have a prominent profile in DTM as team sponsor of Mercedes-Benz when the new season begins on 1st May in Hockenheim.

All nine Mercedes-Benz DTM drivers will race this season with the PETRONAS logo on their racing overalls and helmets, as well as on their AMG Mercedes C-Class cars. The Mercedes-Benz Formula 3 partner teams Mücke Motorsport and Prema Powerteam will likewise feature PETRONAS branding on their Dallara Mercedes Formula 3 racing cars.

The partnership between PETRONAS and Mercedes-Benz now extends from discovering and nurturing young talent in Formula 3 to the senior categories of DTM and Formula One. In all three race series, Mercedes-Benz relies on high-performance motor oil and lubricants supplied by PETRONAS under the Syntium brand name.

As is the case for Formula One, PETRONAS motor oils have been specially formulated to meet the unique demands of DTM racing. With piston velocities of over 35m/s and valve pressures of over 9,000kg/cm², DTM engines are subject to immense physical forces. It is only when all moving parts, operating at gap sizes of a few micrometres, are optimally lubricated for these extreme conditions that the engine can deliver sustained peak performance. The specially formulated Syntium motor oil with its integrated additives ensures that the engine is able to perform consistently well throughout the season.

PETRONAS has been involved in motor racing since 1988, becoming a Formula One team sponsor in 1995. When the Malaysian Grand Prix made its debut at the Sepang International Circuit in 1999, PETRONAS secured the F1 Grand Prix title sponsorship rights to the event. Since the start of the 2010 season, PETRONAS has been title sponsor of the Silver Arrows team - MERCEDES GP PETRONAS - with its driver pairing of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.

Vice-President, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, Norbert Haug said, "We are delighted to welcome PETRONAS as our new DTM partner. Our existing partnership in Formula One is characterised by a spirit of constructive cooperation, coupled with the ongoing desire to improve performance. The fact that PETRONAS has extended its involvement from Formula One, with our Silver Arrows team, to the DTM emphasises the growing importance of this series. Just as in Formula One, the research and development work done by our partners at PETRONAS makes an invaluable contribution to the competitiveness of our cars."

General Manager, PETRONAS Motorsports, Anita Azrina Abdul Aziz said, "We are extremely proud to extend our partnership with Mercedes-Benz. Building on our partnership in Formula One, this new relationship takes us to yet another level with our involvement in arguably the most competitive touring car series, the DTM, as well as the important single-seater category, the Formula 3 Euro Series. More importantly, this is a significant step forward for PETRONAS as we continue to pursue our commercial business objectives particularly in growing our lubricant businesses and extending our technical involvement globally."