Roland Asch
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Roland Asch (born October 12, 1950 in Altingen near Tübingen, Germany) is a race car driver who is strongly associated with his home town Ammerbuch near Stuttgart, speaking the local Swabian dialect in interviews and commercials.
His career started 1973 with slalom before moving to hillclimbing to become German Champion in 1981. After racing also on circuits in the lower Trophy division of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft, he made his Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) début at age 34 in 1985. From 1985 to 1994 Asch consistently drove for Mercedes in DTM, moving to the German Supertouring Cars (STW) in 1995 for four years when the DTM faltered.
[edit] Incidents
At the end of the 1999 and final STW season at the Nürburgring, Asch was accused by some of hitting an opponent intentionally to support his Opel teammate Uwe Alzen.
Similar incidents caused by others had occurred earlier. One case in 1990 involved a young Michael Schumacher as the culprit who decided the DTM championship in the first corner by taking out a contender.
Asch was called into the pits for a jump start penalty, yet he was focused on racing like he always is, later stating that his radio had failed. Near the end of the race, he missed a braking point at the last chicane, ran over the grass and back on the track, hitting Audi's Christian Abt. While this incident was mainly considered a race accident, he was punished for ignoring the penalty, and some fans even called him Arsch. Alzen had celebrated immediately after the race, but the championship was given to Abt in November after video evidence was considered by the officials.
Now, Asch was unpopular among some Opel fans, too, despite being generally regarded as a nice fellow. This was proven only a few months later, in 2000. Abt had entered the new DTM, but missed the second race at Motopark Oschersleben to drive an Audi R8 at Le Mans. In true style, it was no other than Roland Asch who was called to step in and drive the Abt-Audi TT-R.
Apart from touring car racing, Asch was also busy in Porsche series. He won the German Porsche 944 Turbo Cup twice, in 1988 and 1989, before winning the German Porsche Carrera Cup in 1991.
Well in his 50s, Asch has returned to the German Porsche Carrera Cup, where he raced until 2003, bar a one-off race during the 2004 season.
In 2004 he also drove some races in the European Touring Car Championship for RSline Ford, the brand he runs a dealership for at Ammerbuch.
Since the 1999 24 Hours Nürburgring, he uses to race the Nissan Skyline GT-R entry of Japanese Team Falken tyres every year as their leading driver.
Currently, he is supporting his son Sebastian Asch, who is winning in the SEAT León Cup.
