“Red is my father’s preferred colour, blue is my favourite,” Timo Bernhard explains. Therefore, these two colours have been characteristic for the KÜS Team Bernhard’s race car liveries for years already. The team from Landstuhl in Palatinate having already announced its entry into DTM and DTM Trophy at the end of 2021, team principal Timo Bernhard proudly presented the refreshed liveries for all the three Porsches on Friday, 25 March, with red and blue taking a more prominent role than ever before.

The design evolution can already be seen in action for the first time on Saturday, 26 March, during the “Team 75 Bernhard by SimRC” esports participation in the virtual Sebring 12-hour race. In DTM, the Porsche 911 with starting number 24 will have Austrian Thomas Preining behind the wheel while the drivers of the two Porsche 718 Caymans with starting numbers 25 and 26 will be announced next week. “To increase the charisma even more, we will also be racing with this basic livery in DTM Trophy to enhance the recognition value.” Moreover, the characteristic livery also emphasises the partnerships of many years that were not only extended, but also intensified for the new season.

But not just the colours are a reference to the familie ties. Father Rüdiger founded the team in 2010 for the rallying activities of his son Timo and the mother has been involved ever since as well. Meanwhile, there is a generation change as Timo has taken over the team principal’s role from his father and his sister also has considerable responsibility as the team manager. A family affair if ever there was one!

Timo Bernhard, born in Homburg in the Saarland region, ranks among the most successful German racing drivers. A two-time world endurance champion, a two-time overall winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours, overall winner in the Sebring 12 Hours, five overall wins in the Nürburgring 24 Hours: that is the outstanding track record of his extraordinary career as a professional racing driver from which he officially stepped down at the end of 2019. In the extensive interview with DTM.com, the 41-year-old not only speaks about the family business, but also about the “next level” that DTM and DTM Trophy are representing for his team. He has respect when looking at Porsche’s motorsport history in Germany, especially in the 1970s, on which he would like to build, and recalls a DTM test in 2001. Meanwhile, he hasn’t hung up his helmet for good as test laps are mandatory for him, also with the Porsche DTM car. And at present, Timo Bernhard doesn’t even rule out a guest start for himself.

You are refering to the move by your team into DTM as “the next level”. What does this next level mean to you, what does it stand out for?

Timo Bernhard: “We have built up the team step by step. And with “we”, I mean my family first and foremost, becase our race team is a family business in which everything is only about passing it on to the next generation for us. This means that the team principal’s role is gradually being handed over to me while my sister is responsible for the team management and therefore is at the helm of the entire organisation. My parents remain important initiators and they contribute great, valuable work. With their passion for motorsport and their commitment, they have given the start signal for the operation. DTM is the top series in Germany and also very much acknowledged worldwide with a huge history and very strong competition. And that is what we want to take on now.”

The entry with your Porsche team in DTM is not your first contact with the series. There already was an invitation to a test. What was the story back then?

“Yes, that is correct. In 2001, I won the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland title as a Porsche junior driver and on the evening after winning the title, I already had two offers for a test straight away: one offer with a substantial perspective of a regular drive with Opel and on the other hand a test with the championship-winning team HWA with Mercedes. I had opted for the Mercedes test, so the door to Opel was closed as a result. The test was good and gave me quite some experience. Eventually, the decision at HWA took long and to be honest, one just doesn’t turn down a Porsche factory contract that is ready to sign. So therefore, the path for me was clear.”

As a racing driver, you are looking back upon an extraordinary career with two world championship titles, two Le Mans wins and five wins in the Nürburgring 24-hour race. Irrespective of your ties to Porsche, still as a brand ambassador today, were there any moments in which you would have liked to move into DTM as a driver?

“I would have liked to race in DTM for once, especially at the start of my career. In karting and later on in Formula Ford or as a Porsche junior driver, it definitely was a goal of mine. I think, the biggest chance was right after winning the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland title. Later on, perhaps there would have been chances when I was on loan to Audi and raced in their LMP programme. But at that time, I was too much taken up by the LMP1 ‘monsters’ and by the Le Mans 24 Hours as an event in particular. And then came Porsche’s comeback in WEC, the World Endurance Championship, and I simply had to be part of that.”

Porsche has an enormous heritage and a success story in motorsport. In Germany, the brand from Zuffenhausen particularly made its mark and dominated in the Deutsche Rennsport-Meisterschaft, or DRM for short, in the 1970s. What does it mean to you as a long-standing Porsche works driver to now become involved in DTM with Porsche and with your own race team?

“In the past four decades, it wasn’t possible to race a Porsche in DTM, but that has always been a basic requirement for me. When going back a few more years to the days of the Deutsche Rennsport-Meisterschaft, the 911 RS and later the 935 model with top drivers like Klaus Ludwig, Bob Wollek and Manfred Winkelhock were on the grid. They made their mark on DRM in those days and generated the necessary attention for the series. Of course, we want to build on that as a team with our 911. The 911s with their shape and sound definitely are a great asset for the fans and spectators.”

What is there to know about your team? So the location, employees, other activities? And what does 75 in the team name stand for?

“The current team goes back to the days in which my father and I celebrated success as a father-and-son pairin in karting and in Formula Ford and finally made it to Porsche works driver status. My father is technically really accomplished and skilled. This situation and the full support from my family is what made me able to live my dream of being a driver in the first place. That is what KÜS Team Bernhard is built on. The company name Team75 Motorsport refers to the year in which my father got started in motorsport, so the year 1975 is a tribute to him. We are based in the region where I come from, Saarland and the Palatinate, in Landstuhl, to be specific. Next to our race team, Team75 Motorsport GmbH, there is Team Bernhard Design GmbH, developing and producing all the promotional items, wrappings, stickers and designs. Our team is not the only customer, we are also working for external companies. In total, we have twelve contracted employees at our base, plus freelancers for individiual projects. Our team is based on three pillars: the professional team, customer sport and the junior segment. Next to the top-level programme in DTM, we have DTM Trophy with the young driver support while we are mainly involved in the Porsche Sports Cup in the customer racing segment. On top of that, we are also present in selected track days with ambitious amateur drivers to support them in their dream of professional racing. We are all considering ourselves as real racers who are loving and living the racing life with total conviction.”

Initially, the team was founded in 2010 for your second passion, rallying. Back then, did you already think about perhaps racing in DTM with your team one day?

“At that time, sadly, that wasn’t yet possible because of the regulations, but I have always been following DTM. And the goal has always been to be competitive in the top-level series with the professional programme, to be in contention for victories and mid-term also for titles.”

Which changes in terms of staff and equipment did your DTM involvement require?

“In terms of equipment, we upgraded in some areas indeed. Especially concerning the pit stop equipment as it is the pit stop in specific that has a different format in DTM. But I have to say that in the German GT championship or in the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, where we raced quite often, we were up against very strong competition, too. So in these procedures, not too much will change, really. When it comes to staff, stability is very important to us. The core of the crew, Thomas Preining as a driver included, has remained unchanged. That, to me, is an undisputed strength as we not only have known each other for a long time already, but also appreciate one another and the working methods are at a high level. Additionally, we got a full-time performance engineer on board to have more capacity. For me, that is the best way to make the step into a new series: the band is staying together.”

Like yourself, your father Rüdiger has a passion for motorsport, he is the actual team principal while you are the team owner. How have the duties for the DTM involvement have been split up?

“Exactly, that was the way things were split up during my active sporting career. Meanwhile, though, I have taken up the role as team principal, too. My father remains an important initiator, especially in technical matters, and with his vast knowledge and his experience, he is an important factor for us. On top of that, he is taking care of the karting kids, our way to support the next generation in a sustainable way and allow them to mature. On the operational side, next to my role as the team principal, my sister as the team manager and head of the organisazion is a very important element in our team. After all, she grew up with the same motorsport impressions that I had and she is an absolute insider. Prior to that, she already worked in top positions for bigger companies. This view from outside is helping us, of course. She is doing her job in an excellent way, there is 100 percent confidence. We are the central hub, as things go in a family.”

You are using the potential of the DTM platform with a two-pronged approach, so to say, running a 911 in DTM and two 718 Caymans in TM Trophy. What do you expect from the talent pool within the DTM package?

“For me, it was clear that we would only do the DTM programme together with DTM Trophy. Especially with one DTM car, the Trophy programme helps to be efficient, for instance with the permanent pit crew. But I also see the necessity to use the positive effect from the DTM programme for the junior drivers. Therefore, we are running the same basic design in both programmes. Next week, we will announce the driver line-up. I can say that we will have a very exciting driver pairing, a huge young talent and a young driver with experience. In any case, we will be adding colour and we want to be contenders for top positions here as well.”

Honestly now: you haven’t completely hung up your helmet yet. How tempting would it be for you to drive the Porsche in DTM configuratiion yourself, perhaps even during a guest start? Could that be an option for you?

“Well, you can definitely count on me driving the Porsche in DTM configuration. In fact, I am driving all our cars to give important input for the set-up. And that doesn’t mean that I don’t trust our drivers, quite the opposite. But throughout my career as a professional driver, I have contributed to so many race cars, helped in the development and the evolution, so that I want to continue to make use of this experience. That is something not every team can offer and this situation has already helped us a great deal quite a few times in the past. Of course, participating in the races is a totally different story, but I have had several substantial requests already (laughs). The most important thing is that the DTM programme is running and that it is successful, that is my undisputed priority. But when we are doing well, who knows. Perhaps, a one-off guest appearance will happen. I am still young, after all.”