Nicki Thiim had two mixed DTM years in Lamborghini: Why his Aston Martin team expects a significant upward trend for the Dane in 2026
After three mixed attempts in Lamborghini, Aston Martin factory driver Nicki Thiim will compete in the DTM for the first time in 2026 with the Vantage GT3 Evo. His team boss is convinced that the 36-year-old Dane, who has won just about everything in GT racing outside of the DTM, will be significantly stronger with his brand than with the Huracan GT3 Evo2, with which he has only managed one DTM victory and one other podium finish in 36 races so far.
“Of course, because that wasn’t representative,” “Both cars have rear-wheel drive, but we have a front-engine car with different aerodynamics, electronics, and a different ABS system. All these things were difficult to cope with, even for a super pro like Nicki.”
In fact, the Lamborghini Huracan GT3, with its narrow operating window, is considered a difficult car even for professionals. In addition, Thiim always drove the Vantage outside of the DTM and therefore had to constantly adjust.
“More weekends impossible”: Aston intensive program for Thiim
“That’s the Nicki we know from the GT World Challenge,” says Comtoyou team boss Verbist. “He jumps into the Aston and is on the car’s level from the very first lap. I’m convinced that this will be a big plus for the team—and for him too.”
Instead of the patchwork racing program of recent years, Thiim can look forward to enormous consistency in 2026 with his “family,” as he calls Aston Martin: In addition to the eight DTM weekends, he will also compete in the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) sprint and endurance series for the Belgian Aston Martin team.
That means an additional ten weekends. “He will complete more than 30 races in the Aston,” says Verbist, who is convinced that Thiim and the Aston Martin will form a unit in 2026. “I think it would have been impossible to fit more race weekends into Nicki’s schedule. We really tried everything to make it work.”
Team boss: Thiim’s strength is in the “first three laps”
According to the Comtoyou team boss, we already got a small taste of Thiim’s formidable form in the Aston Martin at the 24-hour classic in Daytona at the end of January, when he pulled out all the stops in the final stages of the battle for victory in the GTD Pro class against Winward Mercedes driver Philip Ellis and even made the maneuver of the race.
WHAT a save!!! pic.twitter.com/jen0kgTDtJ
— Jardier (@JaroslavHonzik) January 25, 2026
“Nicki was very alert and pushed hard to make it work, but unfortunately he finished second,” says Verbist. “Still, it was a mega result for him and Aston Martin. He tried until the end and you can see that he was on pace throughout the race.“
What does he see as Nicki Thiim’s strength? ”For me, it’s his driving skills,“ replies the Comtoyou team boss, who won the 24 Hours of Spa with Thiim in 2024. ”Nicki is a natural talent. He can use that to drive a good lap in qualifying, but the most important thing for me is his performance in the first three laps.“
That is usually the decisive phase in the GT World Challenge. ”Sometimes you get stuck in traffic. Then we put Nicki in the car,“ he says. ”I think that will be Nicki’s biggest advantage in the DTM.”