New Opel privateer Mamerow crashes at first test.

Not long after Opel finally sold one of it?s 2000 cars to a privateer, ambitious team owner and driver rolled the car at his first test at Hockenheim.

Peter Mamerow's plans are quite ambitious, as he wants to create his own staircase of talent in the German racing landscape. The 42-year-old Porsche tuner from Castrop-Rauxel has been a racing driver and team owner for a long time, and left a significant impression when he entered a heaviliy revised version of the Porsche 911 in the late ADAC-GT-Cup back in the mid-nineties.

More recently, he turned his head towards running an own team in the German beginners? series Formula Junior, a one-make-championship with small BMW-powered formula cars. After having succeeded as the official rookie team of championship promoter ADAC - the German counterpart to the RAC - Mamerow now feels he is ready for bigger things.

He purchased the Opel V8 Coupe that was driven by Michael Bartels in last year?s DTM campaign and wants to use it, not only for himself to race as the first and only true privateer in the forthcoming season, but also as a basement for an all-new ladder for young talents.

Mamerow?s long term plans foresee a staircase of talent that emerges out of his Formula Junior team, and intends to set up his own Formula Three stable to give the rookies the chance for the next step on the ladder. Ultimately, this will offer them a door into DTM through his own team, given they don?t want to take the risky and heavily expensive road that maybe might lead into Formula One or at least a career in international sportscar racing.

For now, Mamerow remains the only driver in his own team. Just a few days before the official DTM launch at Hockenheim on 5 April, he appears to be the only dare-devil that follows the way which had always been a key ingredient to the success of DTM?s first coming - tThe inclusion of ambitious privateers who stand little chance of winning races - but instead win the hearts of the fans for their efforts on the back of the grid.

The Berlin-based brothers Gerd and Jurgen Ruch wrote one of the most important chapters in DTM?s history by spending the money from Gerd?s plumbing business on a programme with spectacular Ford Mustang muscle cars on a privateer basis. They were interesting to watch but nothing more.

Ruch?s cars used to be involved into at least one shunt per race week end, and Mamerow now seems set to follow this tradtion. He rolled the car at his very first test at Hockenheim, causing such a severe damage that the Opel had to be taken back to the base of technical partner Opel Team Holzer at Augsburg to receive major bodywork surgery.

Mamerow has since continued his testing programme in a car previously driven by sacked Frenchman Eric Helary last year, and is likely to contest the season opener on 22 April with that car, before getting his original vehicle back.

In spite of the unlucky opener to his campaign, Mamerow plans to continue in full flight. He has already become one of the key players in the DTM. Not only because he is the one to restart an old and very important tradition of privateer inclusion - but also because he is the first one to buy an old Opel. Selling the used cars, however, has always been a major planning factor in Opel?s DTM budget calculation, and Mamerow?s kickstart was a much needed developement for the Ruesselsheim manufacturer.