With 25 years of motorsport under her belt already, Claudia Hürtgen is set for a new challenge for 2021 when she joins the ABT CUPRA XE team for the first season of Extreme E.
The German racer started in karting before moving in to single-seaters, unfortunately an accident at the 1993 F3 invitational race at Monaco ended those dreams after suffering hand injuries crash. In 1995 she switched to touring cars, winning the Austrian championship before a move in to sports car racing which saw her take on the American Le Mans Series, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
During the early 2000’s she continued racing in touring cars and sports cars and took a victory in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix driving a Maserati in 2000. 2003 and 2004 saw Hürtgen claim championships in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Challenge. In 2005 Hürtgen won the VLN championship, becoming the first female champion since Sabine Schmitz in 1998.
The new challenge will see Hürtgen join Mattias Ekström for season 1 and has already completed initial testing of the 400-kW all-electric SUV. From 17-19 December the team will head to Aragon in Spain to join other competitors in pre-season testing before everything is loaded up and shipped out ready for the first round.
“Even after 25 years in motorsport Extreme E is an all-new and exciting challenge for me that I’m very much looking forward to,” says Claudia Hürtgen.
“What makes this competition special among other things is the fact that this is an all-new adventure for all entrants that we’re jointly embarking on. I learn something new on every kilometre and try to handle each corner with greater perfection. Needless to say, it’s great to have such an experienced and open-minded teammate in Mattias who superbly supports me in this effort.”
ABT CEO Thomas Biermaier is delighted to bring together Ekström and Hürtgen for the new series, “We met Claudia for the first time at a small shoot-out with several female candidates this summer and were soon convinced that she’d be the right choice – not only because of her strong performance in the cockpit, but also due to her professional cooperation, her precise feedback to our engineers and her overall demeanour. Claudia is simply a good fit for us,”
Two-time DTM Champion, World Rallycross Champion and CUPRA ambassador Ekström is looking forward to the new season alongside Hürtgen, “Claudia and I’ve occasionally crossed paths with each other in recent years, we know each other and get along well,
“It didn’t take long for her to impress the entire team and me as well. Claudia is an extremely quick learner and immediately adjusts to all requirements. Given that she’s joining us with just little experience in off-road racing, that’s even more impressive.”
