His early exit from what is provisionally his last race made Rene Rast question his retirement from the DTM: How he feels about it now and whether he will be on the grid in 2026 after all
After the disappointing DTM season finale in Hockenheim, Rene Rast considered reversing his decision to retire: After retiring in the first lap, he felt he was missing “a bit of that last race, but also the last lap in particular,” said the three-time DTM champion, whose thoughts in the days that followed revolved around whether he wanted to reverse his retirement.
To answer this question definitively, he wanted to wait “until January or February” and spend time with his family. “Maybe it will be boring after two months. Maybe I’ll say: It was the wrong call!” said Rast. But how has his mood changed since then with regard to continuing his DTM career? “Nothing has changed,” he said. “I’m still happy with the way things are. Of course, it’s a shame how it turned out, but my opinion hasn’t changed. I still stand by what I said in Hockenheim.”
How is the Schubert team reacting to Rast’s decision?
This should make it clear once and for all that Rast will not be occupying a regular cockpit in the DTM in 2026, at least, and that BMW and the Schubert team will be entering the new season with a changed driver lineup.
This makes sense, as Kelvin van der Linde is already in the starting blocks to take over Rast’s cockpit, while Marco Wittmann remains set to drive the Schubert team’s second BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
However, that would not rule out the possibility of Rast making a guest appearance in the DTM in 2026 in order to bid a fitting farewell to his fans. Apart from that, Rast has always emphasized that his departure from the DTM does not have to be permanent and that a comeback at a later date is possible.
“You didn’t notice anything”: How Rast explained his retirement
How did Rast explain his departure at Hockenheim? “I won’t be driving in the DTM next year, which isn’t easy for me because the DTM has always been my home and my passion,” he said on Friday evening before the two final race days in a media roundtable.
“Nevertheless, it feels right because I’ve been on the road so many race days over the last few years and driven double programs that I now say: The day is coming when I have to take a step back and give my family and myself a little more time to try new things. And just to see what it’s like to lead a reasonably normal life.”
He wants to experience “what it’s like to be at home for two weeks straight, what it’s like to see my son learning to ride a bike all of a sudden,” says Rast, who lives with his wife Diana in Austria on Lake Constance and has two sons.
“My eldest is now nine years old,” he says of his older son Liam James. “It feels like he grew up and you didn’t notice. I don’t want to do that again with my second son,” says Rast about his three-year-old son Joah, who was born in 2023 immediately after his Spielberg victory.
Why Rast sacrificed the DTM and a comeback is possible
However, if he finds out in 2026 that his recently announced WEC program in the BMW hypercar does not fulfill him and he wants to complete a double program again, then he could imagine returning to the DTM. Maybe not in 2027, “but after that, anything can happen,” Rast said in early October, leaving the long-term future open.
Why did he sacrifice the DTM and not the hypercar program? “The hypercar program is factory racing,” Rast replied. As a race car driver, you go where the factory racing is.” Apart from that, the DTM has changed with the GT3 switch after the end of the manufacturer series in 2021.
“That doesn’t mean it’s worse, but I’m still more attracted to sports cars and the WEC environment than the DTM at the moment. That’s why, unfortunately, the DTM had to go. I’ve also achieved a lot in the DTM and haven’t won Le Mans or the WEC yet.”
