German team Münnich Motorsport has confirmed that Italian Stefano D’Aste will return to the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) with them in 2015, albeit not currently for a full season.
D’Aste, who is one of the most experienced WTCC drivers with 176 starts to his name, is only confirmed for the first eight rounds of the season due to clashing commitments with his own PB Racing project for the final four meetings of the year. It is, however, still possible that the two-time race winner could complete the season.
“We are very happy to have a driver like Stefano in our team, who already won races in the FIA WTCC,” said Team Principal René Münnich. “I am very excited to see his performance.
“Currently, Stefano confirmed the first eight WTCC weekends with us. But there will be overlaps with his own racing project for the last four WTCC meetings. Together with him we will try our best to find a solution for that.”
D’Aste last raced in the WTCC in 2013 when he competed at the wheel of a BMW 320 TC run by his own PB Racing team. The 40-year-old is looking forward to returning to the championship in which he competed every season except 2014.
“I’m really very happy and excited, [as] in the last year I missed the WTCC and all the people that work around this awesome championship a lot,” said D’Aste. “I visited Münnich Motorsport at the Paul Ricard race track last year and I hurt because I couldn’t do it.
“Last year my target was to develop the new car of the Lotus Cup and take care and make the best start of the championship. We are in a good way now and I am able to be behind the wheel again.”
D’Aste also thanked his former team boss Dominik Greiner, with whom he worked alongside during his time at Wiechers-Sport in 2007, 2009 and 2011.
“Big thanks to the team manager Dominik Greiner and racing stable owner René Münnich, who gave me the chance to achieve that in the WTCC.”
Münnich Motorsport also confirmed that they will run a second car in 2015, although they did not say when and who would be driving the Chevrolet Cruze.
“We want to be on track with the second Chevy at the half-way point of the season,” explained Münnich. “We have a driver that we are having negotiations with at the moment, but he is not available earlier”.
The German team will compete full-time in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2015 with a brace of self-developed Audi S3s, with Münnich himself committed for a full season of rallycross racing.