– Big surprise just days before the penultimate DTM weekend of the season at the Sachsenring: The Audi guest start, which the Seyffarth team had already canceled, will now take place after all! As officially confirmed by the ADAC, the team from the Leipzig area will compete with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo2 with the starting number 77, meaning vehicles from nine different manufacturers will start in the DTM.
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In the cockpit will be 21-year-old Simon Connor Primm. The young Saxon from Reichenbach is competing this season for the team alongside the Pole Robin Rogalski in the ADAC GT Masters and secured pole position in the series at the Lausitzring.
Originally, the team around team principal Tobias Seyffarth had postponed the DTM guest starts, which were already planned before the 2026 season, to 2027. For this reason, they also skipped the test at the Sachsenring a little over two weeks ago.
Last-minute change of plans causes previously canceled start
But as is heard, the situation has now changed at short notice. The team, which competes in the ADAC GT Masters under the name HGL Racing, is starting in the DTM as Seyffarth Motorsport – and at least knows the new DTM special tire from the tire tests in Vallelunga in March, in which they participated. The performance pit stops will probably be the biggest challenge.
“I was still karting five years ago,” says driver Primm before his DTM debut. “It was a huge dream for me to be able to drive DTM myself one day. That is just amazing for me.”(SPONSORED LINK: Get tickets now for the 2026 DTM season!)
Seyffarth team principal knows Primm from the ADAC GT Masters
Primm switched from karting to GT racing in 2022 and won the junior title in GT4 Germany in 2023. In 2023, he made his first guest starts in the ADAC GT Masters together with DTM driver Maximilian Paul and his team in a Lamborghini, and in 2025 he celebrated his only ADAC GT Masters victory so far in the Paul Lamborghini together with Finn Zulauf.
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Team principal Tobias Seyffarth acted as chief mechanic for the Paul team in the ADAC GT Masters and knows Primm well. Now the next challenge awaits the youngster with the DTM.
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“I feel great to now have the opportunity with Audi, I am motivated and really excited,” says Primm, who was at the start with the Seyffarth team last weekend at the Salzburgring and is currently eleventh in the championship.
Series continues: DTM with Audi involvement since 2000
In the DTM guest start, the Seyffarth team is not eligible for points, so the following participants move up in the points allocation. However, the entry ensures that the 2026 DTM season will not take place entirely without Audi. The Ingolstadt-based manufacturer has been present every season since the DTM was re-established in 2000 – albeit sometimes not as a factory team.
After the 2023 decision to dismantle the customer sport division, the end of the driver roster, and the construction stop for the R8, numerous teams have said goodbye to the long-standing DTM traditional brand. Last year, the Land team still competed with Ricardo Feller in the Audi and gave the brand its 143rd victory in Spielberg since the factory DTM entry in 1990.
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