DTM Merc for Adelaide Motorsport Festival

We never saw Mercs like Klaus Ludwig’s 1992 DTM championship winner in Australian touring car racing. But had Mercedes been involved in touring car racing down under back in the early ‘90s, this wild, winged 190E would have been right in the thick of it up against our local Commodores, Ford Sierras, BMW M3s and Nissan GT-Rs.

While Australia was still formulating its post-Group A rules in 1992 (what would later be known as V8 Supercars), by then Germany had already ditched Group A for its own formula. The new DTM started out as a modified version of Group A before quickly becoming more and more radical.

This car reflects the early stages of that evolution in the DTM. With more than 260kW from the 2.5-litre four-cylinder engine, along with what must surely be a fair bit of downforce from that big wing, the ’92 DTM Merc most likely would have been a serious contender had it raced at Bathurst that year.

Ludwig himself only made the one visit to Mount Panorama, at the infamous World Touring Car Championship round five years earlier. He was part of the Eggenberger Texaco Sierra RS500 squad, which dominated both qualifying and the race. Ludwig took pole before going on to finish second behind team-mates Steve Soper and Pierre Dieudonne - only for both Sierras to be disqualified from the results some months later, elevating the third-placed Brock/Parsons/McLeod HDT Commodore to an unexpected victory.  

Ludwig’s ’92 Mercedes-Benz 190E DTM car will run in the Invitational category at the 2024 Adelaide Motorsport Festival, alongside the already confirmed Mazda 767B Le Mans style sportscar, with the other cars in the category being announced soon.

Click here to purchase tickets to the 2024 Adelaide Motorsport Festival.