– The DTM starts the new season after the long winter break at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg – and for the first time in Austria. With champion Ayhancan Güven, flagship Rene Rast, Jack Aitken, and Jordan Pepper, four top drivers are no longer participating, but this offers other drivers the opportunity to follow in their footsteps.
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South African Kelvin van der Linde is back after a year off – and is highly motivated to win the title in the Schubert BMW like his brother Sheldon did three years ago. Mercedes-AMG driver Lucas Auer also aims for this, who was at the top for a long time last year and then became runner-up. And the Manthey team with Thomas Preining and newcomer Ricardo Feller should always be on the radar.
The field consists of 21 drivers, including former Formula 1 driver Timo Glock again in the Dörr McLaren. And Nicki Thiim is finally going for the DTM title in his Aston Martin, which his father Kurt Thiim has already won. Additionally, there is the DTM debut of the new Lamborghini Temerario with Grasser and Abt, which replaces the Huracan this year.
The new DTM special tire from Pirelli, which is supposed to provide faster lap times and more degradation and still holds some secrets for the teams, also adds excitement. Especially since the tires are difficult to bring up to temperature at the Red Bull Ring due to the long straights and usually cool weather.
Livestream, Schedule and TV Broadcast
The weekend format remains unchanged this year compared to last year. The qualifying sessions for the two races take place in the morning, with a mandatory pit stop in the race on Saturday and two on Sunday as in 2025. All sessions are available with German commentary in the livestream on ran.de and Joyn. Additionally, there are live offerings on the DTM YouTube channel.
The races can also be watched on free TV at home. ProSieben broadcasts live on Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 pm. Highlights from the race weekend are shown on Sunday evening on n-tv in the magazine “PS – DTM kompakt” at 7:10 pm and 11:25 pm. Livestreams of the races are also offered by the online platform of ServusTV. On race days, there are also summaries of the two races on TV.
DTM Spielberg 2026 Schedule (all times CEST)
Friday, April 24
11:30 am: 1st Practice (ran.de, Joyn, YouTube Livestream)
4:00 pm: 2nd Practice (ran.de, Joyn, YouTube Livestream)
Saturday, April 25
9:40 am: 1st Qualifying (ran.de, Joyn, YouTube Livestream)
12:55 pm: 1st Race (ProSieben, ran.de, Joyn, YouTube Livestream, ServusTV, ServusTV On)
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Sunday, April 26
9:30 am: 2nd Qualifying (ran.de, Joyn, YouTube Livestream)
12:55 pm: 2nd Race (ProSieben, ran.de, YouTube Livestream, ServusTV, ServusTV On)
The DTM supporting program offers Formula action right at the start: The Formula Regional, from which many promising talents have already emerged, holds three races in Spielberg. Additionally, the usual ADAC series take place: The ADAC GT Masters, like the DTM, has its season opener. The same applies to the ADAC GT4 Germany.
Furthermore, the races of the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany are on the program, which had its season opener a week before Spielberg in Imola.
Enormous Brand Diversity
This year, eight high-class brands start, distributed across eleven teams: the Mercedes-AMG GT3, BMW M4 GT3 Evo, Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo, the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3, Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, Ford Mustang GT3 Evo, and Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
Photos: DTM 2026: Official Test in Spielberg
The Lamborghini is a completely new car, while the Porsche, Ferrari, and Ford received updates over the winter. The balance of performance (BoP) classification, for which the SRO Motorsports Group has been responsible since 2023, is intended to ensure fairness.
Exciting Driver Lineup
This year, the DTM cars are driven by 21 drivers from twelve different nations (all details about the teams and drivers in our Motorsport-Total.com database). Among them are former champions Marco Wittmann, Thomas Preining, and Mirko Bortolotti, as well as rookies like the strong Emil Frey Ferrari driver Matteo Cairoli, ADAC GT Masters champion Finn Wiebelhaus, and Porsche talent Bastian Buus.
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It will also be interesting to see how the Land team, known from last year with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, copes this year after switching brands to Porsche, especially since the team has a particularly high benchmark with the Manthey crew. Incidentally, the Audi is the only car from last year that will no longer be used permanently this year.
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