Model history:
In March 1989 the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.5-16 Evolution 1 was officially presented at the Geneva Motorshow as a road car. After a couple of months all 502 Evo1 road cars were produced and the first DTM Evolution made its circuit debut on 14 May 1989 in Mainz-Finthen. This car had the new 2.5-16V engine and Mercedes also developed new carbon fibre parts as the boot lid, etc. This development was necessary, as BMW made good progress with the M3 whose engine could rev up to 10.000rpm. But Mercedes hit back with an engine that had more torque at lower revs due to a higher cylinder capacity. But the biggest change was of course the handling with wider track and rims. The improvements showed off. When testing the Evo1, lap records fell one after the other.

Mercedes was the clear favourite this season. At the start in Zolder they had to start with the ‘old’ 2.3-16 instead of the new Evo1 because of problems with suppliers. As Mercedes didn’t have a constant performing driver, the best Mercedes driver became Kurt Thiim with a 4th place in the championship. Development continued during the season and was even necessary to stay competitive. Therefore in August 1989 Mercedes already began with the development of the famous Evolution 2 model.

1990
The DTM became more famous every year. 581.000 spectators, 11 races and 153 million TV viewers worldwide. This year was the first year where turbos weren’t allowed anymore, therefore Ford stepped out the DTM. But Audi entered the championship with the Audi V8 with a 3.6-litre V8 engine and 4WD.

Mercedes started the season with eight cars and three teams: AMG, Snobeck and MS-Racing. They started the season with the Evo1 and were still very dominant at the beginning of the championship. Mercedes however worked hard on a second Evolution model of the 190, the 190E 2.5-16 Evolution 2. In May 1990 the latest homologation versions of the Evo2’s were produced in Bremen.

The Evo2 made its debut at the Nordschleife circuit and it was like the introduction of the Evo1 a year before. Best practice time, leading the race, but both cars of Ludwig and Thiim broke down during the race. During the season all factory teams changed to the Evo2 model.

1991 – New records
Because Audi won the 1990 championship pretty easy in the first year, BMW and Mercedes demanded more weight for the Audi. But at the end Audi’s weight remained the same and BMW and Mercedes were allowed to race with 60kg less. But to bring the Mercedes 190 down in weight would be very expensive.

In 1991 there were four official Mercedes factory teams in the DTM. Mercedes started the season with MS-Racing, Snobeck, AMG and the new team Zakspeed. It was a very exciting season with very close fights between the different brands. Audi again won the championship and Ludwig became second with Mercedes-Benz. This season lead again to new records, 652.000 live spectators and over 300 million TV viewers worldwide.

1992 – Mercedes is DTM champion

Three official Mercedes teams were participating in this season, AMG, MS-Racing and Zakspeed with 8 cars at the start. 2 Privateers with Armin Bernhard and Olaf Manthey. Audi was soon out of the title race and even stopped after half the season. Therefore the battle was between the only 2 brands left in the series - BMW and Mercedes. Mercedes got power steering and power-assisted brakes, a new six speed transmission with automatic clutch and an upgraded engine, good for 380 bhp. At the end, K Ludwig won the championship for Mercedes-Benz just ahead of Cecotto in the BMW.

Specific history of this car:
Chassis E201-91-32 was built as a Works car for the 1991 DTM season. Mercedes-Benz AMG never sold the car, but lended it to the MS-Jet Racing team for the 1991 season, driven by Jörn van Ommen and Frank Schmickler in the famous Kärcher livery.

For the 1992 season the car was still lended by Mercedes-Benz to the MS-Jet team. They managed to also engage ex-F1 driver Jaques Laffite for 1992 next to Jörg van Ommen. Both drivers used this car.

After that season the car was painted by Mercedes-Benz in the famous Klaus Ludwig championship winning livery as it is presented now.

Among specialists, E201-91-32 is known as one of the most original DTM cars remaining. Due to the fact that the car was always owned by Mercedes-Benz, it only came into private hands after it could still be actively raced and modified!

Today the car still features original paint, the original radio, as well as some ultra racing parts that could only be found on the 1992 Works cars.

This is a rare opportunity to purchase a highly original Mercedes-Benz DTM Works car from the golden era of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft.