The 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season is 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 motor racing teams and drivers 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 will be the twelfth season of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000. The 2011 season will be the first season that cars will not run on Dunlop tyres, instead running on Hankook tyres in the first year of a three-year control-tyre deal. It was the final season running the 4-door saloon style spec cars, which has been the series' sole car style requirements since 2004. It was also the final season that all DTM cars running with the manual gearbox shifters before all DTM cars switched to sequential semi-automatic gearbox paddle shifters at the following season.
Contents
- Teams and drivers
- Driver changes
- Race calendar and results
- Drivers Championship
- Notable events
- References
Canadian Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler leads the series after five races. After winning the season opening Hockenheim and the most recent race at the Norisring, Spengler now holds a three-point lead over German Audi driver Martin Tomczyk who won races at the Red Bull Ring and Eurospeedway. The two hold 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 has had to take a break from DTM to recover with series veteran Tom Kristensen replacing him.
Teams and drivers
Driver changes
Mike Rockenfeller will move into the factory Team Abt Sportsline outfit, driving a latest-specification car for the first time. He replaces Martin Tomczyk who will fill Rockenfeller's vacant drive at Team Phoenix. With Paul di Resta leaving the HWA Team for Force India in Formula One, Jamie Green will fill his spot in a latest-specification Mercedes.
Team Rosberg will have 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 will compete for Team Phoenix after selected drives in various series in 2010. Single-seater racers Christian Vietoris and Renger van der Zande will both compete for Persson Motorsport; van der Zande moving from GP3, while Vietoris will combine his DTM programme with a season in GP2.
Reigning champion Paul di Resta will not defend his title with the HWA Team, having moved into a Formula One drive with Force India. Audi driver Markus Winkelhock will move 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.