Multiple architects of Mirko Bortolotti’s 2024 DTM title with SSR are working with him again at the Grasser team: Is a new success project in the making?
Is Mirko Bortolotti’s DTM championship with SSR Performance from the 2024 season being formed at Grasser? This is the impression you might get when you look into the pits of the Lamborghini team, which is currently preparing for the upcoming DTM season with the new Temerario GT3.
He was Maximilian Paul’s race engineer at Lamborghini team Paul Motorsport in 2025.
Schuster will take on the role of overall performance engineer at Grasser, responsible for both cars. He already held this role in 2024 when he was responsible for Nicki Thiim and Bortolotti at SSR Performance and became DTM champion with the Vienna-based Italian.
Grasser secures the services of ex-SSR data specialist
Schuster is considered a data specialist. “His great strength is data analysis,” says one expert. “He is incredibly valuable when it comes to comparing the drivers’ statements with the data, because he has a very deep insight. He also carries out simulations in the background.”
Maximilian Paul was also impressed by Schuster’s strengths last year. “He is absolutely organized, structured, gives a clear yes and no – and no ‘I’ve heard’ or ‘maybe’.”
Bortolotti and master race engineer reunited
Schuster will not only be working with Bortolotti again in 2026, who is returning to Grasser after the disappointing Abt season, but also with David Grabengießer. It was Grabengießer who guided Bortolotti to the title as race engineer at SSR Performance in 2024.
The then SSR team boss Mario Schuhbauer, who is the new DTM manager at Aston Martin team Comtoyou, described him as an “absolutely key person”.
When the Lamborghini team announced its withdrawal from the DTM after Bortolotti’s title, Grasser seized the opportunity and brought the 39-year-old from Erfurt on board. Grabengießer, who works closely with Lamborghini specialist Gottfried Grasser, was initially responsible for Jordan Pepper as race engineer in 2025 and battled with the South African for the DTM title right to the end.
After Pepper’s switch to BMW, the collaboration with Bortolotti, with whom he already worked extremely well in 2024, is now being relaunched. The Lamborghini top driver has special preferences when it comes to car set-up and is known for going his own way. It is therefore no disadvantage that the two are already well-rehearsed.
Also Bortolotti’s SSR chief mechanic at Grasser
But Bortolotti, Grabengießer and Schuster are not the only former SSR top performers in the Grasser team: Austrian Thomas Stranimeier – chief mechanic on Bortolotti’s SSR Lamborghini in his championship-winning year – has also been working for the Grasser team again since last year.
The 27-year-old, who worked for the outfit based near the Red Bull Ring even before his SSR days, will again be chief mechanic on Bortolotti’s Temerario GT3 in 2026.
Despite the familiar surroundings, 2026 will be new territory for all four of them: this is due to the Temerario GT3, which is replacing the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 this year after ten years, with which the Grasser squad had more experience than any other team. It will be interesting to see how the change will affect the balance of power between the Grasser and Abt Lamborghini teams.