Spend your euros in Paris on this 2000 DTM Mercedes CLK

Ready for a Paris shopping spree? RM Sotheby’s has this Mercedes CLK for sale that Marcel Fässler raced in the 2000 DTM. The auction is on February 1^st.

The 2000 DTM series is important. After years of cost escalation in the nineties, with the highly complex ITC cars and races as far as Japan and Brazil, all of a sudden the once glorious DTM was dead in 1997.

No longer Meisters but Masters

It would take three years for the DTM to regroup and restart. DTM no longer meant Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft but Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. AMG co-founder Hans-Werner Aufrecht (the A in AMG) was the driving force behind the new formula, where the cars would be developed under a silhouette formula: a tubular frame and a carbon cell formed the basis around a naturally-aspirated 4-litre V8 that sent power to the rear wheels. This was the same basis for all, and a carbon bodyshape was made resembling one of the manufacturer’s cars.

From Ludwig to Alesi

Aufrecht made Mercedes the driving force, with the CLK DTM. Similarly, Opel entered the Astra coupé in V8 form. And thanks to Abt, a very heavily modified Audi TT saw the light of day in the new DTM. It was the start of a wonderful new DTM era. It had it all; great sounding cars, close action and plenty of great names. With Bernd Schneider and Klaus Ludwig, the old DTM guard was present, and with Jean Alesi and later Mika Häkkinen, just-retired Formula 1 greats found the DTM a very welcoming and lucrative retirement home.

The DTM was also a new proving ground for young talent. Gary Paffett and Robert Wickens are two famous examples, and so was Marcel Fässler. The young Swiss was moving up through the ranks, and had grabbed the attention with four wins in the 1999 German Formula 3 championship.

Warsteiner

Fässler found himself behind the wheel of this HWA, the sporting arm of AMG, run Mercedes CLK DTM. HWA at that point was the official Mercedes works team in the DTM. Fässler raced chassis RS00-05 as a teammate to Klaus Ludwig, in the Warsteiner-sponsored CLK. He got off to a good start, scoring second twice in the opening rounds at Hockenheim behind Bernd Schneider. More podiums would follow, and Fässler finished the season in fourth place, the best of the young guard.

On the button

While Fässler remained in the DTM for five more seasons, before moving to Audi and winning Le Mans three times, his car remained at Mercedes on promotional duty. The factory sold it later on to Czech collector Antonin Charouz. In 2013, he sold it to the present owner. The car appeared in different events the German team Intax Motorsport prepared. They also kept the car serviced and running.

According to RM Sotheby’s, the car is in running condition and gearbox (a six-speed Xtrac sequential unit), clutch and the waterpump have been replaced. In total, this car has around 3500 kilometres on the clock.

RM has not yet communicated a price yet, but our guess would put it around 400,000 to 500,000 euros. More info here.