– 19-year-old Finn Wiebelhaus is entering the DTM in 2026 as the reigning ADAC GT Masters champion with the Ford Mustang team HRT. And he must be prepared for a rough wind, especially in duels, believes team boss Ulrich Fritz. “That will be a challenge in the DTM, because that is far from anything he has ever experienced,” says Fritz in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com. “It will be a culture shock.”
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The former DTM head of Mercedes-AMG, who held this position from 2013 to 2018 during the series’ manufacturer era, recalls that well-known names have experienced the same. “I once had an Ocon who told me after the first race that he didn’t want to drive in this series at all anymore,” he says, referring to the Formula 1 driver who completed ten DTM races in the ART Mercedes in 2016.
“At least eight cars drove into his car in the first 200 meters,” Fritz remembers Esteban Ocon’s second DTM race in Hockenheim, where the then 19-year-old Mercedes junior fell victim to a chain reaction after the start and retired in the second corner.
Why Wiebelhaus is not used to the DTM’s toughness
“You have to learn that – and a Finn will learn that too, but it will be a learning curve,” warns Fritz his driver, who won the Road-to-DTM classification in 2025. Wiebelhaus was active in karting until 2022 before completing a Formula 4 year in 2023 and then gaining a foothold in GT3 racing with the HRT team.
DTM Hockenheim 2016 Highlights Race 2
But even the GT3 experience from the ADAC GT Masters, in which Wiebelhaus competed in 2024 and 2025, is only limited preparation for the DTM sprint races in terms of duels, according to Fritz, because there were “15 or 20 cars” in the junior series, of which “in reality only four or five were capable of winning.”
“And if you’re the championship leader, you think to yourself: Do I even get involved or would I rather collect the valuable points? So you avoid the duel,” says Fritz. This also applies to the GT World Challenge Europe endurance series, in which Wiebelhaus had five appearances last year and whose races usually last three hours.
Fritz praises Wiebelhaus: “Subordinates life completely to success”
Nevertheless, Fritz sees great potential in his DTM newcomer – and above all the right attitude. “Finn works very focused,” Fritz explains. “He is incredibly hardworking and very disciplined. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with a beer bottle.”
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That alone is not a quality feature, “but he is super professional, subordinates his life completely to success in motorsport and tries to earn the opportunities,” Fritz praises the young Hessian (SPONSORED LINK: Secure tickets for the 2026 DTM season now!).
This was also evident during the selection test for the Ford young driver program in the USA in winter, where Wiebelhaus and his Austrian colleague Kiano Blum were selected. “They didn’t just take it as a business trip, but prepared massively – in the simulator, with fitness and so on,” Fritz gives insights. “And that’s what characterizes Finn.”
How Wiebelhaus approaches the challenge
How is Wiebelhaus handling the situation? The youngster already makes a hardened impression and seems to be prepared. “Of course, things are much tougher in the DTM due to the high level than I’ve experienced so far,” he says in the FAZ. “There is harder fighting against each other on the track because it’s harder to make a difference.”
Apart from that, it’s also important to “block out the fact that over 100,000 spectators are live on site at a race weekend like the one recently at the Hockenheimring. But I’m fully confident I can do that. I’m well advised to drive smartly and with calculated risk – and not to take the crowbar into the cockpit,” he says.
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In general, the path to the top in motorsport, as in other sports, “only leads through really hard work, ambition and also sacrifice,” Wiebelhaus clarifies. “It’s never enough on this path; you always have to ask yourself anew what you can optimize on the car and on myself as a driver.”
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Fitness and the right environment are also a big topic, says Wiebelhaus, who is advised by DTM legend Manuel Reuter. “You need people who trust you and invest in you. And who create a feel-good atmosphere, on and off the race tracks, so that you can concentrate one hundred percent reliably on driving.”
