Sebastien Ogier will make a surprise debut outing in DTM with Mercedes next month at ♏the Red Bull Ring.

The five-t🎃ime and reigning World 🌠Rally Champion is looking ‘to broaden my racing horizons’ in racing and is thrilled to secure the one-off opportunity with Mercedes for the penultimate round of the 2018 DTM championship.

Last year Ogier tested with the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team at the Spielberg circuit, and is backed by the♉ energy drinks company, while the DTM entry marks his first non-rally competition since taking part in two Porsche Supercup races back inཧ 2013 and 2014.

“This is a very🐓 🐼exciting experience,” Ogier said. “The DTM is something completely new for me, but I'm trying to learn as much as possible with each lap.

“I ❀see it as an opportunity to broaden my racing horizons and gain more experience. Up to now, I haven't driven much on permanent racetracks - only a couple of times in a✃ GT car. A DTM car is obviously faster. Of course, you can't expect to be competitive as a guest starter right away.

“I'm expecting a difficult first weekend at Spielberg, where🍌 my target will be to keep uꦓp with the other drivers as much as is possible.”

O𒊎gier is spending the next two days (August 7-8) testing a Mercedes DTM💧 car at Italian circuit Vallelunga as preparation for the Red Bull Ring round on September 21-23.

“Sebastien is a real racing driver. He has demonst♒rated his ability more times than enough all over the world on gravel and tarmac by winning five world rally championships," Ulrich Fritz, Head of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM, said. "So it comes as no big surprise to me that he would now like to tame a DTM car.

“He will be making his DTM debut on a🐟 proper race circuit at Spielberg, and I know for sure that he and his fans will haveꦰ a lot of fun as he does so.

“It's a🅷lso very apparent that it will be no walk in the park for Sebastien as a guest starter in such a hotly contested field. Still, that's what drives a champion like him to put on a good show for the fans.”

Ogier is currently second in the 2018 WRC drivers’ championship, 21 points behind leader Thierry Neuville, having continued his titl𝔍e-winning run last season while switching from Volkswagen to M-Sport Ford after the German manufacturer dropped out of the series.

After the French driver's DTM test he will return to WRC action for Rallye Deutschlandꩲ (August 16-19) and Rally of Turkey (Se﷽ptember 13-16).

Mercedes is set to leave DTM at the end of the current championship despite leading the drivers’ standings with Gary Paffett first and Pau⛄l di Resta second, heading up the teams’ championship with a 1-2 of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport Petronas leading and Silberpfeil Engergy Mercedes in second plus a healthy lead in the manufacturers’ standings over🍰 Audi and BMW.