From Wehrlein to Hakkinen, the Legendary Drivers of the DTM

DTM
Author: Lütfi Mete Odabaşı
Creation: 11 October 2026

The legendary drivers who have left their mark on the DTM from 1984 to today come together in this guide, along with their careers and championships.

Share This Page

When it comes to the most legendary DTM drivers, Bernd Schneider comes to mind first: the holder of the "Mister DTM" title with five championships. Alongside him are names like Mika Häkkinen, who came from F1 and built a second career in Germany's own homegrown series, Pascal Wehrlein, the youngest champion in history, and René Rast with three championships. Here is a guide to the drivers who have left their mark on DTM from 1984 to today - with their careers, brand switches, and unforgettable eras.

Highlights

With 5 championships Bernd Schneider is the most successful driver in DTM history.
Became the first DTM champion Volker Strycek - without winning a single race!
Pascal Wehrlein, in 2015, at the age of 20 became the series' youngest champion.
In the DTM, Mika Häkkinen took 3 wins in 31 races and 8 podiums.
The 2026 grid features 21 cars and 8 different brands .

From the Beginning to the Golden Age: The First Names That Defined the Series

DTM, or Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, got its start in 1984. And even its beginning was a proper motorsport joke: the first champion, Volker Strycek, failed to win a single race that season! The fact that he collected consistent results with his BMW 635 CSi and turned that into the championship tells us just how different the classic DTM's system was. The winner of the first event was Harald Grohs, and in those years big names like Hans-Joachim Stuck defined the color of the grid.

Then came the 1990s, and the series turned into a full-blown battlefield. BMW E30 M3, Mercedes 190E and Audi V8 - the battle of this trio intensified even further with the arrival of FIA Class 1 rules. Contact was no longer "racing," it was practically a contact-sport of its own: names like Klaus Ludwig, Roland Asch, Bernd Schneider and Nicola Larini were willing to collide at every corner entry. In the season where Ludwig won his second championship with the 190E, he with 16 race wins simply ran over everyone. In the same period, the Mercedes and BMW M3 Sport Evolution drivers - including Johnny Cecotto - raced each other head to head.

This golden age was cut short in 1996 due to high costs; the short-lived international ITC adventure couldn't carry it forward either. But the DTM name was so powerful that the series was reborn in 2000 at Hockenheimring as the "new DTM". Mercedes won the first race and the first championship - the stage for the great comeback was right there.

Bernd Schneider: Why Do They Call Him "Mister DTM"?

If the best DTM driver of all time is to be debated, the answer usually comes down to one name: Bernd Schneider. This man's story draws such a career arc that it single-handedly bridges two separate eras of the series. He joined the Mercedes-AMG family in 1992 and captured his first championship in 1995 with the AMG C-Class . Then, when the series shut down and returned in 2000, Schneider was still in the seat - and he practically grew even bigger.

He won championships in the new series in 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006, and added runner-up finishes on top of that. With five championships, even today no one has come close to that number. What makes Schneider so special? In my opinion, beyond the numbers, it's the way he adapted at the same speed to both the wild theme of the classic era and the disciplined sprint of the new era. If you put a driver like him on today's grid, he would probably still be getting the job done. And crowning the peak of his career with his fifth title in 2006 is pure screenplay material - number five, five championships.

Those Who Came from F1: Häkkinen and a Story of Rebirth

Now comes what I consider the most emotional chapter in DTM history: Mika Häkkinen. The Flying Finn, a two-time F1 world champion, joined the DTM with HWA/Mercedes in 2005 after retiring. And surprise: he won only his third race! The transition from F1 aristocrat to touring car driver is by no means easy - heavy cars, a crowded grid, a world where contact is considered normal. But Häkkinen showed he took the job seriously in the DTM, collecting 3 wins, 3 pole positions and 8 podiums in 31 races .

He took part in a McLaren test in 2006, but when no F1 return materialized, he left professional motorsport at the end of 2007 and became a Mercedes-Benz brand ambassador. A small side note by the way: the list of those who moved from F1 to the DTM is quite long - names like David Coulthard, Jean Alesi, Ralf Schumacher, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Robert Kubica and Allan McNish also gave it a try. Some commentary even describes these moves as "a texture of disappointments"; on the contrary, examples like Häkkinen and Wehrlein prove how serious a stage this series is with the right driver.

New Generation Stars and Unforgettable Championships

The new DTM's gallery of champions is quite colorful, and each name represents an era. Here is a selection from that gallery:

Laurent Aïello (2002): He came with Abt's Audi TT-R , saw, and conquered.
Mattias Ekström (2004, 2007): He captured the championship in his first year competing as Audi's factory team.
Timo Scheider (2008, 2009): The architect of Audi's back-to-back domination.
Paul di Resta (2010): The youngest champion of his era; he broke Audi's three-season reign on behalf of Mercedes.
Marco Wittmann (2014, 2016): Two titles with the BMW M4 DTM ; he took his first win at the 2014 season opener.

The manufacturers' front also saw an interesting turnaround: Opel withdrew at the end of 2005 due to costs, while BMW returned in 2012 after exactly 20 years - and in its first year it won the drivers', teams' and manufacturers' championships all at once. A comeback performance like that is, to make a comparison, like quitting basketball for two years and then winning the championship in your first game back!

Driver	Championship Years	Brand
Bernd Schneider	1995, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006	Mercedes
Mattias Ekström	2004, 2007	Audi
Timo Scheider	2008, 2009	Audi
Marco Wittmann	2014, 2016	BMW
René Rast	Three titles (the most recent in the last few years)	Audi

Record-Breaking Rast and the Critical Threshold

René Rast deserves its own paragraph. This man broke the record for the most consecutive DTM race wins in 2018 and nearly repeated the same feat in 2020. With three drivers' championships and his 24th victory, he was written into DTM history as the most successful Audi factory driver. He is still on the grid today - racing as a three-time champion in the 2026 season. In his driving, a Roger Federer-like, calm but massive consistency.

Pascal Wehrlein: The Path of History's Youngest Champion

Now let us hand the spotlight to Pascal Wehrlein. Wehrlein, the youngest race winner in DTM history, became champion with Mercedes in 2015 at just 20 years of age . These two records at once - youth on one side, a championship on the other - instantly made him a star. He then moved to F1 in 2016-2017 and ran 39 Grands Prix, but left the Mercedes program at the end of 2018.

So what happened next? Here is the beautiful part: he switched to electric Formula E with Porsche and became world champion - then won the world championship for the second time in London in August 2026. So the youngest champion in DTM history went down in history as a name who reached the world summit in two different disciplines. I tell every young driver who sees DTM as a launch pad the story of Wehrlein: take-off is possible from here.

Brand Wars and the Technology Transformation

DTM'nin marka savaşlarının yaşandığı efsanevi 90'lar döneminden bir turismo aracı, serinin teknoloji dönüşümünü simgeliyor.

It is impossible to separate the stories of DTM drivers from vehicle technology. After the warriors of the classic era came the silhouette-era cars: rear-wheel drive, first with 4.0-liter V8 engines (460 hp; 500+ hp in 2017-18; 610 hp including push-to-pass in 2019), then in 2019-20 2.0-liter turbo inline-4 units (580 hp + 60 hp push-to-pass). 0-100 km/h acceleration was about 2.6 seconds in the V8s and 2.8 seconds in the turbos; top speed rose from 280 to 300 km/h. DRS was added in 2013 as F1-like, and the HANS device had been mandatory since 2002. These cars were effectively prototypes; the expense of Class 1 technology ultimately also sealed the series' fate.

Mercedes left at the end of 2018, and when Audi withdrew in 2020 the Class 1 era closed and the series switched to the GT3 format in 2021. This transition is undisputed: factory manufacturers decreased, the name remained but the order completely changed. On the other hand, grid stability and brand diversity increased - in the 2026 season 21 cars and 8 different brands are racing; McLaren and Lamborghini joined in 2024, and in 2025 Aston Martin and the Ford Mustang GT3 returned. Moreover, GT3 cars now run in DTM's fastest configuration, meaning minimal restrictions and weight. Those cars are in a price range of 500,000-850,000 EUR - serious money, but still more reasonable than the Class 1 prototypes.

The Legacy of Legends in the 2026 Season

Traces of the past can still be seen on today's grid. René Rast is racing with his three championships; there are experienced names like Mirko Bortolotti, Thomas Preining and Timo Glock; Kelvin van der Linde has returned and new stars like Jack Aitken from Emil Frey Ferrari and Jordan Pepper from Grasser have joined. Last year's champion Ayhancan Güven is also defending with Manthey; in 2025 Mercedes-AMG won the manufacturers' championship and Manthey EMA won the teams' championship. The race format is also clear: 55 minutes plus one lap, with one mandatory pit stop on Saturday and two on Sunday.

As for my favorite detail: a series that began in 1984 with Strycek, a champion without a single win, has produced five-time titleholder Schneider, F1 legend Häkkinen and Wehrlein, world champion in two disciplines. Which name do you think will be added to this list in 2030? I've cast my vote for Rast, but anything can happen on this grid - in DTM history, it has always been the most unexpected name that reached the championship.