– The Grasser team will only compete with Mirko Bortolotti’s Lamborghini Temerario GT3 at the upcoming DTM weekend in Oschersleben following Maximilian Paul’s severe Norisring accident two weeks ago. And this, despite the Austrian team’s efforts to get the second car ready in time and to start with a replacement driver for the injured Dresden native.
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“We would certainly have found a driver, but it is due to the delivery of parts that we cannot repair the vehicle in time,” explains team boss Gottfried Grasser when asked by Motorsport-Total.com. “That is not logistically feasible.”
The chassis of the crashed Temerario GT3 is intact – and a repair is basically possible. Because the greatest damage occurred when colliding with Kelvin van der Linde’s BMW in the front area. The parts of the car damaged in the process are replaceable.
No replacement car for Grasser team
A theoretical alternative would also have been a replacement car, but even at the start of the season it was a major effort for Lamborghini to equip all teams in time with the new GT3 car. It is conceivable that this now also affects the current situation.
The plan now is that at least at the sixth DTM weekend of the season, which takes place in a month at the Nürburgring, both Grasser Lamborghinis will be on the grid again. “We are in exchange with Lamborghini in this regard and consider it realistic,” announces Grasser.
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Due to the withdrawal of Paul’s car, who suffered a tibia and fibula fracture and a lumbar vertebra fracture in the Saturday race in Nuremberg, the DTM field shrinks to 20 cars for the upcoming weekend in Oschersleben.
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Kelvin van der Linde starts in Oschersleben
BMW factory driver Kelvin van der Linde, who was also involved in the crash and suffered bruises, can, unlike Paul, start at the Schubert home race in Oschersleben (SPONSORED LINK: Get tickets now for the 2026 DTM season!).
The German-South African returned to the cockpit of his BMW M4 GT3 Evo on Wednesday during a test in Oschersleben eleven days after the accident and completed around 70 laps. “I am fit,” van der Linde makes clear, for whom a new BMW was built in a hurry.
The 30-year-old will already sit in the WRT BMW together with his teammate Charles Weerts this weekend at the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) sprint series in Misano and will compete in one race each on Saturday and Sunday.
In the case of Maximilian Paul, who now faces a longer rehabilitation period after being discharged from the hospital in Nuremberg, it is to be assumed based on the severity of the injuries that it will take months before he can start again.
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