Team presentation - Velvet DC Racing

The ice cream truck in its new look! This season with more white and turquoise accents

No more experiments! This very conservative way of looking at the world should also apply to Velvet this season; after all, the Americans with the ice-cream van look were notorious for their unconventional approach to building their car. Christian Dittmer has announced that this year's Velvet will be a simple car with obvious choices. Speaking to us, the US-American states that they have learnt from these experiments over the last two years and are now applying them; so a weak engine with a light car will probably no longer be seen in Velvet.

What you will see, however, is a new and at the same time familiar face: Christian Dittmer has reactivated Robin Ihde. Like Dittmer, Ihde has now been granted US citizenship and will therefore form an all-American team together with Dittmer. Ihde has been seen competing several times in VFC's long history, making his return to the league all the more surprising. Team boss Dittmer is relatively open about this: ‘The deal with Robin was finalised relatively quickly.’

The reason for this minor upheaval was probably also Stefan Cerne's brief loss of motivation, which prompted Dittmer to enquire about Ihde. But this may have turned out to be a stroke of luck: Ihde should have the potential to really compete for points from time to time. And at the same time, VFC has another team with Core's departure. In that sense, it's a win-win situation for everyone.

So what are Velvet's hopes after this small upheaval? ‘I'm hoping that this season we can carry over the form from the last few races of last season; we've currently scored points in four races in a row, so if we can stay in that range it would be a huge success,’ says Dittmer. If this consistency remains, Velvet should hope to beat the team record from 2023 with 14 points. With the Dittmer/Ihde duo, this is certainly realistic.

At the same time, they have received a boost from some new, major sponsors. With ‘Visit Tegernsee’ and ‘BWW’, Velvet has gained some strong Bavarian sponsors, which will enable them to defend their status as the VFC's ‘party team’. Team boss Dittmer in particular smiles when asked about BWW: ‘BWW in particular helps us a lot to brew the best Tegernsee Hell and of course to distribute it in the pits!’ says the US-American.

Despite the more serious concept this year, the aim is to remain the party box.

With this in mind, good luck and cheers to Velvet DC Racing!