2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters


The 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season was a multi-event motor racing series largely based in Germany for highly modified touring car racing cars and is one of the most popular sedan car based motor racing series in the world. The series features professional racing teams and drivers and is heavily supported by car manufacturers Audi and Mercedes-Benz. Each race features 18 V8-powered racing cars built according to the technical regulations of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. It was the twenty-fifth season of premier German touring car championship and also twelfth season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. It was the final season running the 4-door saloon style spec cars, which has been the series' sole car style requirements since 2005. It was also the final season that all DTM cars ran with the manual gearbox shifters before all DTM cars switched to sequential semi-automatic gearbox paddle shifters for the following season.
Canadian Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler led the series after five races. After winning the season opening Hockenheim and the most recent race at the Norisring, Spengler held a three-point lead over German Audi driver Martin Tomczyk who won races at the Red Bull Ring and Eurospeedway. The two held a points gap over third placed Audi driver Timo Scheider. The other race winner was Audi driver Mike Rockenfeller, although after his Le Mans sportscar accident Rockenfeller had to take a break from DTM to recover with series veteran Tom Kristensen replacing him.

Series news

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Hankook.
CarTeamDriversRounds
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009HWA Team2 Gary PaffettAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009HWA Team3 Bruno SpenglerAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009HWA Team6 Ralf SchumacherAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2009HWA Team7 Jamie GreenAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008Persson Motorsport10 Susie WolffAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008Persson Motorsport11 Christian VietorisAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008Persson Motorsport20 Renger van der ZandeAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008Mücke Motorsport16 Maro EngelAll
Mercedes-BenzAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2008Mücke Motorsport17 David CoulthardAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2009Abt Sportsline4 Timo ScheiderAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2009Abt Sportsline5 Oliver JarvisAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2009Abt Sportsline8 Mattias EkströmAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2009Abt Sportsline9 Mike Rockenfeller1–3, 5–10
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2009Abt Sportsline9 Tom Kristensen4
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2008Abt Sportsline22 Miguel MolinaAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2008Team Phoenix14 Martin TomczykAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2008Team Phoenix15 Rahel FreyAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2008Team Rosberg18 Filipe AlbuquerqueAll
AudiAudi A4 DTM 2008Team Rosberg19 Edoardo MortaraAll

Driver changes

;Changed teams
Mike Rockenfeller moved into the factory Team Abt Sportsline outfit, driving a latest-specification car for the first time. He replaced Martin Tomczyk who filled Rockenfeller's vacant drive at Team Phoenix. With Paul di Resta leaving the HWA Team for Force India in Formula One, Jamie Green took over his spot in a latest-specification Mercedes.
;Entering DTM
Team Rosberg had two new drivers for the 2011 season, with reigning Formula 3 Euro Series champion Edoardo Mortara and Race of Champions winner Filipe Albuquerque driving. Rahel Frey competed for Team Phoenix after selected drives in various series in 2010. Single-seater racers Christian Vietoris and Renger van der Zande both competed for Persson Motorsport; van der Zande moving from GP3, while Vietoris combining his DTM programme with a season in GP2.
;Leaving DTM
Reigning champion Paul di Resta did not defend his title with the HWA Team, having moved into a Formula One drive with Force India. Audi driver Markus Winkelhock moved into the FIA GT1 World Championship with Münnich Motorsport, while fellow Audi drivers Alexandre Prémat and Katherine Legge lost their drives in the series.

Race calendar and results

The series hosted its first stadium event in July for a round at Munich's Olympic Stadium. The event did not count for points but the entire grid took part over two days. A twelve-race provisional calendar was announced on 29 September, including the non-championship event in Munich, and a return to the newly renamed Red Bull Ring, replacing Adria. The calendar was reduced to eleven races on 1 April, after the race in Shanghai was dropped. The Chinese motorsport authorities did not want an event clash with the inaugural Chinese round of the World Touring Car Championship due to be held on the same day at the Guangdong International Circuit.

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

Notable events