BMW M Motorsport will return to the DTM championship in 2023, contesting the series with four M4 GT3s and two teams. The Schubert Motorsport team is back to defend their driver and team titles from last season. Defending champ Sheldon van der Linde will be in one of the Schubert entries, and will be joined by René Rast, who was signed by BMW last season after years with Audi. Rast will miss round two of the series due to his commitments in Formula E, and will be replaced in that race by Dries Vanthoor.
The second team that will contest the DTM championship for BMW is Project 1, who is new to the series but not new to BMW. The German team has previously competed in the BMW M2 Cup Series in Europe, and they won the team title in the DTM Trophy last year with the M4 GT4. Project 1 also has competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship with Porsche, as well as in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Marco Wittmann will return to the series as one of the Project 1 drivers, with the second driver still to be announced.
The future of the DTM championship was uncertain after the end of last season, as the ITR organization that ran the series ceased operations. Fortunately, the ADAC stepped in and took over control of the series. ADAC promotes numerous racing series in Europe, most notably the ADAC GT Masters championship as well as the Nürburgring 24 Hour race. “BMW M Motorsport and the race series have a shared history spanning many decades,” said BMW M Motorsport Director Andreas Roos. “It would have been a shame if the DTM had fizzled out. Thankfully the agreement between [ITR chairman] Gerhard Berger and the ADAC prevented this from happening, so we are pleased to have the opportunity to defend our titles.”
The first race in the 2023 DTM championship will be on the weekend of May 26th-28th at Oschersleben. All of the races on the calendar are in Germany except for rounds at Zandvoort in Holland and Red Bull Ring in Austria. —David Haueter
[Photo by BMW.]