The 2026 DTM line-up is set, and the German touring-car championship is heading to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg to open its season with a 21-car grid, eight manufacturers and a generational shake-up that has delivered four rookies alongside three former series champions.
Published on April 20 by Motorsport.com, the confirmed entry list features drivers from 11 nations and carries an average age of 29.5 years. Germany supplies the most drivers with eight, ahead of Italy (three) and Austria and Denmark (two apiece).
Three DTM champions headline the grid. Schubert Motorsport reunite 2017 title winner Kelvin van der Linde with 2014 champion Marco Wittmann, both wielding BMW M4 GT3 EVOs and carrying the championship numbers 3 and 11. Porsche factory man Thomas Preining, the 2023 champion, returns with Manthey EMA alongside Swiss teammate Ricardo Feller.
Mercedes' presence is anchored by Winward Racing, with 2022 runner-up Maro Engel joined by GT specialist Jules Gounon of Andorra. Landgraf Motorsport fields Austrian Lucas Auer and newcomer Tom Calendar to give the three-pointed star a four-car front.
The Italian invasion continues to grow. Mirko Bortolotti leads the Grasser Racing Lamborghini effort alongside German Maximilian Paul, while Abt Sportsline pair veteran debutant Marco Mapelli with touring car protege Luca Engstler in their Huracan GT3 Evo2 machines.
Ferrari, now entering its full second season in the category, sticks with Emil Frey Racing and the pairing of Italian Matteo Cairoli and Dutchman Thierry Vermeulen. Cairoli crosses to DTM after years of Porsche endurance success, one of four confirmed rookies on the grid.
Aston Martin's Comtoyou Racing runs Danish former World Endurance race winner Nicki Thiim with Belgian Nicolas Baert, a newcomer who caught the paddock's eye with his 2025 season finale showing.
The biggest manufacturer shift comes from Ford. Haupt Racing Team (HRT) brings the Blue Oval to the series with Indian Arjun Maini and twenty-year-old Finn Wiebelhaus, the reigning Road to DTM champion who at 20 becomes the youngest driver on the grid.
Dorr Motorsport keep flying the McLaren flag with Timo Glock — the former F1 driver now in his third DTM campaign — and team principal's son Ben Dorr. Dorr's McLaren 720S GT3 Evo programme rounds out an eight-manufacturer spread that has become the signature of the GT3-era DTM: BMW, Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Ford and McLaren.
Not every familiar face returns. Turkish ace Ayhancan Guven has departed for Formula E with the McLaren squad, while three-time DTM winners Rene Rast and Jack Aitken have both chosen to focus on prototype programmes. South African Jordan Pepper has rotated out of the full-season line-up after moving within BMW.
Five newcomers balance the departures. Mapelli makes his DTM debut at 38 after a decorated Lamborghini factory career. Cairoli brings Porsche endurance pedigree. Baert gets a full-season chance after his late-2025 finale heroics. Wiebelhaus graduates from Road to DTM as champion. And Danish racer Bastian Buus, 22, finally secures his full-time seat with Land Motorsport Porsche.
The season opener takes place at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria — a venue that has hosted the first round of the DTM calendar before but returns as the 2026 curtain-raiser after the series announced the calendar last August. Eleven race winners will line up on the grid, meaning the opening weekend should produce the same kind of close GT3 fight that has defined recent seasons since DTM transitioned away from Class 1 prototypes.
With the Red Bull Ring lights set to go green for practice in less than a month, the depth of the 2026 field — eight manufacturers, three former champions, four rookies, and a new Ford factory presence — promises one of the most wide-open DTM championships in years.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/dtm-2026-grid-21-drivers-red-bull-ring-season-opener-preview). Visit for full coverage.*
