Why it looks like there will be a second Mercedes-AMG team in the DTM after all after the HRT brand change to Ford and who could take a seat in the cockpit
Is there now hope for a second Mercedes-AMG team in the DTM after all? Due to the brand change from HRT to Ford, Thomas Jäger, who acts as sporting director for the DTM division at Mercedes-AMG, did not rule out the possibility at the DTM season finale that the team would only compete with two cars in the traditional series in 2025.
And then the unexpected WEC entry with Iron Lynx was announced, which means that there is less money left in the Mercedes-AMG annual budget to support a second DTM team.
But now there are positive signs: It is said that the Landgraf team is ready to close the HRT gap and enter the DTM as a second Mercedes-AMG team alongside Winward, after the Schnitzelalm squad was also considered a candidate for a while.
Will the number of DTM cars from AMG remain the same as in 2024?
Klaus Landgraf’s squad, which already competed in the DTM in 2023 but did not receive any support from Mercedes-AMG to remain in the series in 2024, became ADAC GT Masters champions for the second year in a row last year.
Now it looks as if the team from Gensingen, near Mainz, will return to the DTM with two Mercedes-AMG GT3s – and the project also appears to be on a sound financial footing. This means that the brand with the star would have four cars on the grid, as it did in 2024, because the Winward team has a valid DTM contract with the manufacturer for 2025.
16-year-old GT Masters champion as cockpit favorite
But what about the choice of driver? There could be a surprise here, because a hot candidate is 16-year-old Tom Kalender. The student from Hamm crowned himself the youngest ADAC GT Masters champion of all time in 2024 as a debutant with the Landgraf team, replacing Kelvin van der Linde.
Exciting: Not Kalender, but Landgraf team partner Elias Seppänen, who even won the ADAC GT Masters title for the second time in a row, was crowned the winner of the Road-to-DTM program in 2024 because he had a twelve-point lead due to better qualifying results.
The reward for winning the junior program, in which Silver drivers under 25 years of age are allowed to participate: In 2025, the ADAC would waive the entry fee of 98,000 euros (until the end of January) or 120,000 euros (until the end of February) for Seppänen’s DTM car.
Which works driver will get the call?
Nevertheless, Landgraf is likely to have decided against the 21-year-old Finn and instead back youngster Kalender in the DTM. Incidentally, both are coached by DTM legend Bernd Schneider. It is quite possible that the dowry plays a role in this regard, because the waived entry fee for Seppänen only accounts for a fraction of budgets of at least 1.5 million euros per car.
Who could become the second driver? The candidates are Lucas Auer, whose works contract has now been extended by Mercedes-AMG and who will also race in the DTM, Luca Stolz, Jules Gounon or Maro Engel.
However, Engel is likely to stay with the Winward team after his strong 2024 season, in which he fought for the title until the end, especially since he was already competing for Landgraf in 2023.
