New DTM team R Motorsport has completed its 2019 line-up by revealing Ferdinand Habsburg and Daniel Juncadella as its third and fourth drivers for 2019, joining Paul id Resta and Jake Dennis in the new cars.
21-year-old Habsburg joins the tin-top series after spending five years in single-seater racing, competing in various Formula 3 series’.
The Austrian was victorious at Spa-Francorchamps in 2017 on his way to seventh overall in the F3 European Championship, but last year he could only manage 13th in the standings.
Habsburg is the most recent member of royalty to join the DTM, but previously Leopold von Bayern was an extensive touring car competitor in the 1980s and 1990s.
Habsburg took part in the DTM Young Drivers Test in Jerez at the end of last year, but has had little seat time since as the project continues its development.
The young racer has well-known ancestors, being the great grandson of Emperor Karl I of Austria, who himself was the nephew of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination started the First World War.
Habsburg will be joined by Juncadella, who is therefore continuing with HWA, who are involved in the Aston Martin project, and is set to enter his sixth season in the DTM.
The 27-year-old was victorious with Mercedes-Benz last year, when he claimed his first DTM win. He also scored a first podium and a first pole position earlier in the same year.