Coulthard, Wolff to bring down curtain on racing careers

David Coulthard will officially retire from motorsport this weekend after he completes tomorrow’s German Touring Car Championship (DTM) season finale at Hockenheim, writes Jim McGill.

The 41-year-old from Twynholm, who won 13 Formula One grands prix for McLaren, has competed in the DTM for Mercedes since 2010. But the Scot has decided to call time on his racing career to concentrate on other things. “This weekend will be my final race at this level,” Coulthard said yesterday. “Now I’m going to concentrate on developing my off-track businesses and, of course, spending more time with my family.

“I want to thank Norbert Haug and Mercedes Motorsport for providing me with this opportunity and the sponsors for allowing the Wings for Life Foundation to have space on the car, which has helped raise awareness and funding for research into spinal cord injuries.”

Coulthard, who won the inaugural McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, made his car racing debut in 1989 in Formula Ford 1600 and won the British championship. This was followed by race-winning campaigns in Formula Vauxhall Lotus and F3, including the prestigious Masters and Macau races.

An F1 test role followed at Williams, and after the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994 the Scot graduated to a full Williams race seat. He took his first F1 win for the team in Portugal in 1995. A move to McLaren for ’96 was the catalyst for 12 more victories plus the runner-up spot in the world championship in 2001. Coulthard retired from F1 at the end of the 2008 season, having joined Red Bull in 2005 and giving it its first podium finish.

Also bowing out of the DTM circuit is fellow Scot Susie Wolff. In addition to working with Mercedes-Benz in the DTM, Wolff has been a development driver for the Williams F1 team since the start of 2012. She completed her first Formula 1 test for the team earlier this week.

She said: “Driving for Mercedes-Benz AMG in the DTM, one of the best championships in the world, has been an incredible journey that started seven years ago for me and I am very proud to have been part of such a great team. Along the way I have enjoyed some really exciting racing, had some tough fights and met some brilliant people.”