This weekend, the DTM kicks off the 2022 season, the second with GT3 regulation, after the end of the exciting but overpriced Class One. There are already many novelties for this season, with a grid filled with big names and big brands.
The entry of Sébastien Loeb, the return of three-time champion René Rast, the historic entry of Porsche… The DTM is gearing up for a record season: 29 race cars, more than ever since the DTM’s return in 2000; six high-end brands, a number last seen in the 1990s, and riders from 15 nations, another record.
Alongside Loeb (Ferrari 488 GT3), perhaps the biggest star in the first two races of the year he will do, in place of Nick Cassidy, we will have Nicki Thiim (Lamborghini Huracán, T3 Motorsport), the son of Kurt Thiim, a DTM and 1986 champion Belgian Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche 911, SSR Performance) and German Maro Engel (Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM) have won 14 FIA titles between them. And the rest of the pack includes 16 more international titles, 28 endurance classics and six DTM titles. René Rast with the Audi R8 from ABT Sportsline is perhaps the most resounding return, with the three-time champion returning to where he was once very happy. Like Rast, reigning champion Maximilian Götz also has great respect for the renowned competition. The title defense by the Mercedes-AMG driver, who transferred from HRT to WINWARD, is by no means self-evident.
Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche – this brand range promises exciting duels on the eight circuits where the 2022 DTM is racing. Ferrari handed the title fight to Brazilian Felipe Fraga. BMW is also keen to win the title. In 2016, Marco Wittmann won the last DTM championship to date for the Munich manufacturer. The two-time champion and his three fellow BMW drivers from the Schubert Motorsport and Walkenhorst Motorsport teams trust the new BMW M4 which has shone with some good results recently. Audi has also optimized its R8 with the second Evo package. There are six R8s on the ground, one of them raced by Marius Zug (Attempto Racing), the youngest DTM rookie at 19, who surprised by announcing the fastest time on the official test days at Hockenheim.
Just a year older is David Schumacher, the son of former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher, who is racing in one of eight Mercedes-AMGs. Among the six Lamborghini drivers is the only female driver in the field, British Esmee Hawkey, who has already scored her first DTM points in 2021. Alongside the two Ferraris, the field also includes three Porsche 911s for the first time. The legendary sports car from Zuffenhausen, assisted by SSR Performance and KÜS Team Bernhard, with world endurance champion and Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard as team director, is adding a historic milestone to the 36th season of the DTM. For the first time since the glory days of Deutsche Rennsport-Meisterschaft (DRM) in the 1970s, Porsche will be fighting for the title in a championship with German roots.
More than enough reasons to go to Portimão and see the machines and stars of the DTM that start a season that promises to be exciting.
