The DTM has presented the starting field for 2026 with 21 cars: Which drivers are taking part, which stars are missing and why the field is slightly smaller than last year
After the end of the registration period for the 2026 season on March 31, the DTM presented the new grid in a press release: A total of 21 cars, from eight manufacturers, will be on the grid this year. Last year, there were 24 cars from nine manufacturers.
“The quality of the DTM driver line-up is enormous, and drivers from eleven nations underline the high international relevance of the series,” said ADAC Head of Motorsport Thomas Voss, expressing his satisfaction.
“We are looking forward to three former champions, stars like Timo Glock, the comeback of Kelvin van der Linde, top-class newcomers and the exciting debut of road-to-DTM winner Finn Wiebelhaus, who has made the leap into the DTM.”.
Why there will be fewer cars and manufacturers on the grid in 2026
Despite the loss of three cars and one manufacturer compared to 2025, the DTM field has proven to be extremely stable: Audi will disappear from the DTM, at least on a permanent basis, due to the Land team’s brand switch to Porsche.
In addition, the DTM is losing a team with the Lamborghini squad of Maximilian Paul, who is moving to Grasser. However, this is due to the fact that the Dresden-based team will not receive a new Lamborghini Temerario and the manufacturer does not want to continue racing the Huracan, which was previously used in the DTM.
Are more cars to be expected?
In addition to the Paul Lamborghini, the third cars from Manthey (Morris Schuring) and the Emil Frey team (Ben Green) will also no longer be available in 2026. A second Land Porsche has also gone quiet. Although the ADAC reserves the right to accept entries after the deadline, it does not look as if Bastian Buus will have a team-mate in 2026.
Three-time champion Rene Rast, like Jack Aitken, is concentrating on the prototypes, which means that the DTM is losing a figurehead.
Champion Ayhancan Güven, who will not be defending his title in the Manthey Porsche, will be lost to the DTM as he prepares for his switch to Formula E. And Grasser-Lamborghini high-flyer Jordan Pepper will also have to take at least a temporary break from the DTM following his switch to BMW.
South African Kelvin van der Linde, who fought for the title in the Abt-Audi in 2021 and 2024, will return to the series after a year out of the DTM and a switch to BMW. The field can once again be considered top-class, even if drivers such as newcomer Matteo Cairoli, who succeeds Aitken in the Emil Frey Ferrari, do not yet have a big name outside the GT3 scene.
Three ex-champions on the grid
Three ex-champions, Thomas Preining, Mirko Bortolotti and Marco Wittmann, will also be on the grid and will be making another attempt at the crown. And Timo Glock, who is currently the most prominent DTM driver, will also try his luck again in the Dörr-McLaren after his comeback last year.
Glock is one of eleven DTM race winners in the field – and at 44 years old, the oldest driver competing. The youngest is not 20-year-old Finn Wiebelhaus, who is the first road-to-DTM winner to move up from the ADAC GT Masters to the DTM with Ford Team HRT, but still Landgraf Mercedes youngster Tom Kalender, who celebrated his 18th birthday five days ago.
