Magnussen had ‘a lot of fun’ in Mercedes DTM test

Kevin Magnussen has described his maiden touring car experience as “a lot of fun” after the former McLaren-Honda reserve driver sampled the Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM at Jerez earlier this week.

The Dane had been invited to test Pascal Wehrlein’s 2015 championship winning car along with Sauber reserve Raffaele Marciello, GP3 Series multiple race winner Marvin Kirchhöfer, Formula Renault 3.5 Series front runner Jazeman Jaafar, 2014 ADAC Formel Masters champion Mikkel Jensen, and ex-DTM racer Maro Engel.

“It was a really good day, and the test was a lot of fun,” said Magnussen. “The DTM is a completely new experience for me. So far, I’ve always driven single-seaters. Consequently, it was a totally new experience to test a touring car.

“The car has very high downforce and much more grip than you would expect. I can imagine that racing in one of these cars is really enjoyable.”

Since McLaren dropped him last October, Magnussen has also been given the opportunity to trial Porsche’s LMP1 charger, though this year’s FIA WEC champions have already announced they will retain the same line-up for 2016.

The 23-year-old has often mentioned his willingness to drive in IndyCar, having missed such opportunity earlier this year when he had to sub for the injured Fernando Alonso in Australia.

Magnussen also remains a dark horse candidate to land one of the two remaining F1 seats available for next year at Manor.

Magnussen did not deliver, says McLaren boss

Click here for a more light-hearted look at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix