Happy Birthday DTM: Europe’s top racing series turns 40

Happy Birthday! The DTM turns 40 on 11th March. In the four decades since its debut back in 1984, the DTM has developed into the most famous German motorsport brand. As a top motorsport export, the series with a German heart and an international fan community is watched live on television in more than 150 territories around the world. Since the end of 2022, the ADAC has been at the helm of the DTM. During this time, it has successfully introduced the next era of the popular series, with new sustainable and future-oriented structures. When the DTM celebrates its birthday on 11th March, the fans will also benefit: under the slogan “40 years, 40%, 4000 tickets”, the organisers are offering a 40% Happy Birthday discount on a limited number of 4,000 tickets for all eight DTM events of the 2024 season (tickets in category 3, Norisring category 4/stone grandstand). There is also a 40% anniversary discount in the DTM shop (dtm-shop.com). 

“For four decades, the DTM has been all about top motorsport ‘Made in Germany’. Its huge appeal means the DTM has now become a synonym for motorsport with production-based cars. Anyone who has ever experienced the DTM live knows just how captivating this series is. We will continue to make history and reach new milestones with the DTM, and are looking forward to the next 40 years,” says ADAC Sport President Dr. Gerd Ennser.

It all began in March 1984 in the Belgian town of Zolder. Harald Grohs won the inaugural race near the German border. Come the end of the season, it was Volker Strycek who took the champion’s trophy home with him. Like Grohs, he lined up in a BMW 635 CSi. The series was billed as the “German Production Car Championship” in the first two years, during which it laid the foundations on which to become Germany’s most successful series.

The DTM is all about top motor racing with premium car manufacturers and motorsport stars. The starting lists from across the past four decades read like a who’s who of motor racing. As well as Formula 1 world champions Jenson Button, Mika Häkkinen, Keke Rosberg and Michael Schumacher, they also include Jack Aitken, Alex Albon, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger, David Coulthard, Christian Danner, Paul di Resta, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Timo Glock, Robert Kubica, Ralf Schumacher, Joachim Stuck, Karl Wendlinger, and Alex Zanardi. Susi Wolff, the current director of the F1 Academy, also took her place behind the wheel of a DTM car. Plus, two-wheel experts like Johnny Cecotto, Wayne Gardner and Andrea Dovizioso have also made appearances in the DTM, as have world rally champions Walter Röhrl, Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb.

One former Formula 1 driver remains to this day the most successful driver in the DTM: record champion Bernd Schneider claimed five titles for Mercedes-Benz and won 43 races. His team-mate at the time, Ellen Lohr, also made history: at the Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, “Elli” celebrated what remains the only race win by a woman in the DTM. The most successful manufacturer in the DTM is Mercedes-Benz/Mercedes-AMG with 203 successes to date. The most successful team: HWA (formerly AMG), which was founded by Hans-Werner Aufrecht.

The DTM has reinvented itself in many aspects over the past four decades. However, it always remained true to the successful concept of sprint races with one driver in each car. Production-based Group A cars took their place on the grid up to 1992. From 1993, the drivers battled it out in Class 1 cars. However, the expensive technology and an internationalisation, which saw the DTM line up as the International Touring Car Championship (ITC) after 1995, ended in a fascinating but costly arms race. That led to a break in the DTM at the end of 1996. Four years later, the series returned, and was able to build on previous successes. Then came the next era in 2021: having seen GT cars all over the world replace the touring cars that had been so popular in the 1980s and 1990s, the DTM introduced a new chapter with a shift to GT3 cars in 2021. Nowadays, the DTM is regarded as the series with the greatest strength in depth in the world in this segment. The series now sits at the top of the ADAC Motorsport pyramid, which rises from karting, through ADAC GT4 Germany and the ADAC GT Masters, to the pinnacle that is the DTM.

The birthday party will take place this summer in Nuremberg, when the DTM celebrates at the Norisring from 5th to 7th July. Two DTM Classic races with cars from the four decades of DTM history, as well as a host of DTM heroes, will bring to life the captivating history of Germany’s most popular racing series.