– Are cars intentionally retired in the DTM on Saturdays? At the Nürburgring, six cars were already out of the race after eight laps in the Saturday race – and that, even though the GT3 vehicles are not exactly known for being unreliable. In total, only twelve out of 21 cars finished, which is a new negative record. On Sunday, 16 cars finished.
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The reason is clear: At the Nürburgring, each driver has only three sets of tires available for both qualifying sessions and both races. So if someone is in an unfavorable position on Saturday, they prefer to retire before the stop – and have an additional new set of tires available on Sunday. But this is now causing great dissatisfaction.
“I didn’t like that many just gave up because they had no chance anymore or had to serve a penalty anyway,” says Manthey-Porsche driver Thomas Preining clearly. “That is especially not good for the fans who pay to be here.”
Preining demands consequences: “Not in the spirit of the sport”
The Austrian demands consequences: “You have to have more control over what the teams do – or punish if someone retires intentionally – because it is not in the spirit of the sport.” From the teams’ perspective, however, it is “100 percent understandable that you do it if the regulations allow it – everyone would do that.”
The “Grello” driver was overtaken in the fight for second place on the last lap of the Sunday race by the unleashed Landgraf-Mercedes outsider Tom Kalender, who had already retired in lap seven on Saturday after a collision with Nicki Thiim and had a clear tire advantage.
Kalender almost overtook winner Wittmann as well. “I see it similarly to Thomas, that we have to think in the winter about how to stop this,” says the Schubert-BMW driver, who also sees a limit reached. “Teams always find some reasons for a DNF and can retire the car, but the balance is no longer right. Tom had two new tires, we had no new tires.”
Seven drivers retired cars prematurely
Not only Kalender, but also Mirko Bortolotti, Marco Mapelli, Timo Glock, and the two HRT-Ford drivers retired their cars in the first eight laps on Saturday. For Arjun Maini and Finn Wiebelhaus, the strategic background was particularly obvious because they were hopeless after the drive-through penalty and fully focused on Sunday.
Kelvin van der Linde at least drove until the tire change – and then reported that possibly the rear stabilizer was broken. One lap later, the Schubert-BMW driver retired.
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“Especially this season with the new tire, there is a big difference between a better or a good tire and a very used tire, which is particularly relevant on a weekend with three tire sets,” says Preining. The situation in 2026 is also exacerbated by the new DTM special tire, which wears out a bit faster.
Wittmann thinks about penalties: But is intentional retirement provable?
But how can the problem be solved? “The only way to prevent this is either four sets and only one pit stop on Sunday, or five sets and two pit stops like now,” answers Preining. “Because otherwise, you have to use one set from Saturday also on Sunday.”
Wittmann would even go a step further. “I don’t think you solve it with more or fewer tire sets,” he says. “You might even have to think about penalties if the retirement is unnecessary.”
The only question remains: How do you prove that a car was not really undrivable if a driver claims so? Apart from that, a team in an unfavorable situation could prepare a car so that it does not last the whole race.
Retirement rate on Saturday: Statistics show interesting trend
But does the statistics prove that the retirement rate on Saturday is really higher than on Sunday? On average, at the six weekends in 2026, 15.5 cars finished on Saturdays, and 17.5 on Sundays. However, it is noticeable that the difference was largest recently in Oschersleben and at the Nürburgring.
In Oschersleben, 14 cars finished on Saturday, 18 on Sunday. And at the Nürburgring, the comparison was 12:16. At both weekends, three instead of four tire sets were available – as is the case in Spielberg, Zandvoort, the Sachsenring, and Zandvoort.
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And unlike at Lausitzring and Norisring, there was no rain shower during the Saturday race that would have brought rain tires into play and relieved the teams. Possibly, the problem would already be under control if a fourth set is used on weekends with three sets in 2027.
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