Porsche Supercup ace René Rast tests BMW's M3 DTM for the 2012 season

If you’ve watched any of this season’s F1-supporting Porsche Supercup races, then you’ll have heard of René Rast – the young 24-year old German driver who has dominated Porsche Supercup and Carerra Cup racing for the past 3 years. Winner of the Porsche Carrera World Cup in 2011, Rast was Porsche Supercup champion in 2010, runner-up in 2009 and German Carrera Cup champion in 2008.

He’s a rising star, and one of Germany’s finest young drivers alongside that other well-known 24-year old, who’s likely to retain the Formula One crown this weekend in Suzuka.

BMW, realising the enormity of the challenge to compete against Mercedes and Audi in Germany’s DTM series next year, has chosen to test out some young talent alongside their seasoned factory drivers, Augusto Farfus, Andy Priaulx, Jörg Müller and Dirk Werner.

BMW Motorsport will continue its preparations for the 2012 DTM season with three more test days at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz, following successful tests at the Lausitzring and Hungaroring during September.

Joining the test session at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, drivers René Rast, Jean-Karl Vernay (FR) and Richie Stanaway (NZ) will be aiming to earn themselves a place in one of BMW’s DTM works teams for 2012 – BMW Team Schnitzer, BMW Team RBM and BMW Team RMG.

“We are delighted to be able to offer a selection of talented, young drivers like René Rast, Jean-Karl Vernay and Richie Stanaway, the opportunity to test our BMW M3 DTM”, says BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. “They have already proven their ability in various racing series and we are now looking forward to seeing them in our DTM car. At the same time, the focus at the Lausitzring test will once again be to gather important information and data on the BMW M3 DTM, as we continue to prepare for the 2012 season.”

All three works teams will each run two cars in the 2012 DTM series, however so far, BMW has only secured the services of Priaulx and Farfus for the coming season, so in theory there are still 4 seats up for grabs.