– Aston Martin factory driver Nicki Thiim and his Comtoyou team are the mid-season champions of the DTM! But how did the initially lagging team from Belgium become a winning team competing for the title in the 2026 DTM season? “You must not forget that this is only our second season in this championship,” Thiim recalls. The team has “massively improved compared to the previous year.”
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The Dane himself had a hand in this development: when it became clear that his dream of starting with Aston Martin this year was coming true, he brought Mario Schuhbauer to the team – the man who led his SSR teammate Mirko Bortolotti to the DTM title as team principal in 2024.
But how did it come about that Schuhbauer now leads the DTM project at Comtoyou? “It’s exciting, especially with Mario,” Thiim replies. “There are also other people I wanted to bring on board. Many are freelancers and tied to other projects, but especially with Mario, I have always stayed in contact.”
“Schuhbauer brings a lot of calm to the team”
Schuhbauer had already reached out in 2025 after leaving the dissolved Lamborghini top team SSR towards Formula 1, but then decided to return to the DTM. “The decisive connection was maybe even Nicki,” Schuhbauer said after the move. “That’s how conversations start. And then one thing leads to another.”
Thiim confirms this as well. “I already spoke openly with him about it before the announcement,” says the 36-year-old. “We all know that in the organizational area where Mario works, you need people who have been in the business for a long time. You just try everything to get the maximum performance out.”
Especially in the DTM, which works differently than most GT3 series, you need the “best of the best.” Therefore, Thiim tried to “get people into the team who have worked in the DTM for several years and have been successful.” That seems to have paid off, because a DTM expert notices: “Schuhbauer brings a lot of calm to the team.”
Hardly any mistakes and sensational pit stops
It is also noticeable that compared to the previous year, when carelessness happened repeatedly, the team now makes hardly any mistakes. Comtoyou only received one penalty this season: when Thiim collided with Landgraf-Mercedes driver Lucas Auer in Zandvoort.
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The most significant improvement for the Comtoyou team, however, was in the pit stops. Although they were sometimes already around seven seconds last year, a stop often went wrong. This year, since the third race weekend at the Lausitzring, they have consistently been under seven seconds – without bringing in new mechanics from other teams.
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“We work very intensively and analytically on the stops, have tried a lot,” Schuhbauer explains the reasons. “Some always look at the best time during pit stops, but I never did that. I always look at the average time of the six stops per weekend. Because if I am always half a second faster but one stop goes completely wrong, I ruin the whole weekend.”
Schuhbauer: “We worked on it together”
At Comtoyou, the average at the Norisring was 6.757 seconds – an impressive number. And at Thiim’s Saturday win at the Norisring, the Comtoyou crew even managed 5.8 seconds and was the only team to break the six-second barrier.
Is the improvement his credit? “We worked on it together,” Schuhbauer replies, who moved to Belgium for the job. “Of course, I brought in things I know from SSR, but the guys are so eager to make strong stops,” the DTM project manager points to the team spirit. “They know what they are doing – and are incredibly motivated. They also show that in other series.”
In this, the Comtoyou team is clearly in the role of David fighting Goliath, because while other teams can afford to use a separate crew for each championship, the Belgians compete in five championships with two crews: the same mechanics are used in the DTM and in the sprint series of the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE).
Technically much better sorted than in 2025
But the team’s experience also pays off in 2026: while Comtoyou was still fumbling somewhat in 2025 with the setup, especially regarding the warming process of the Pirelli tires, they now appear much better sorted. This is also shown by the three pole positions for Thiim at the Lausitzring and the Norisring.
“With my experience and my knowledge of the tracks, I can significantly advance the team,” Thiim, who knows the DTM tracks well, also contributes. “The German tracks differ so much from where we usually race.” (SPONSORED LINK: Get tickets now for the 2026 DTM season!)
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Overall, the team seems to have arrived in the DTM – and in the ranks of the top teams. This could also be related to the fact that the series now enjoys a higher internal priority. “Jean-Michel (Baert; team owner – ed.) and team principal Francois Verbist have really caught the bug,” Schuhbauer notices. “They push the team and want to move it forward in the DTM.”
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