Curious Facts about the DTM

With the DTM race coming this weekend, we thought that we would take a moment and look at some interesting, and perhaps trivial, facts about the series.

The last time that Mercedes, BMW and Audi competed against each other in DTM was on June 18, 1992, at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Two 100km races were held that weekend. Audi took the top three spots in the first race, and Mercedes was first  and second in the second race, and BMW took third.

Keeping in mind that the DTM was stopped between 1996 and 2000, the closest finish ever to a race in the original DTM was at the Norisring in 1996 between Karl Ludwig and Uwe Alzen both of whom were driving Opel Calibra V6s. The gap was 0.089 of a second. The largest lead ever in the series was in 1985 at an airfield in Mainz when a BMW 323i was 51.96 seconds ahead of the second place Volvo 242. Even in the modern series, the largest gap was in 2011 at Oschersleben when Mattais Ekstrom in an Audi A4 DTM had a 42.167 second gap to second place.

The most successful driver ever in the series has been Bernd Schneider who has won 43 races. The second most successful was Klaus Ludwig with 36 races. However, due to the different points allocations from two different DTM series, Ludwig actually scored more points with 1792.5 compared to 1770.5 for Schneider. Schneider also has the most pole positions (25) and fastest laps (60).

Mercedes has the most wins in the series history. It has won 166 compared to Audi's 61 and BMW's 50 wins. Mercedes also has 110 pole positions compared to 59 for Audi and 30 for BMW; Mercedes also leads the fastest laps record with 162 compared to 64 for BMW and 46 for Alfa Romeo.

The AMG/HWA team is the most dominant team in the series' history. It has the most wins (123) compared to 39 for Abt and 22 for Alfa Corse; most pole positions (79) compared to 52 for Abt and 20 for Zakspeed; and most fastest laps (117) compared to 39 for Abt and a tie with 21 fastest laps for Alfa Corse and Zakspeed. 

Audi has a win streak going in Valencia. It has not lost a race there since the inaugaral race in Spain in 2010. 

The fastest that the DTM cars reach when racing is 260km/h at the end of the Parabolika at Hockenheim. The slowest that the cars go is 50km/h at the first corner of the Norisring. 

Since last year, the DTM has held a Race of Champions-style competition at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. Drivers race two at a time around a course with the slower driver being knocked out. Last year the two top drivers were Eduardo Mortara and Bruno Spengler. The competition will be held there this year on July 15. 

The new rules are bringing some new elements to the series. The practice sessions will now be two, 100 minute sessions. The cars has a minimum weight of 1100kg plus 85kg for the driver. Drivers who weigh more have to carry ballast to bring them up to the required weight. The drivers are limited to 28 tires for each race weekend, except for the first race at Hockenheim where drivers get 40 tires.

The race teams must designate two driver groups who are limited to three engines once the season starts. That means that each driver may change engines once if necessary, and there will be one extra just in case. Those two driver groups can use six sets of brake discs in the entire season. 

As before, the teams must perform two tire changes per race. However, refueling is no longer allowed during races. Audi claims to have its pit stops down to 3 seconds. A maximum of 14 mechanics are allowed to perform pit stops.