The DTM championship wrapped up the 2026 season with a pair of races at the Hockenheimring on the weekend of October 9th-11th. When all was said and done, Marco Wittmann came away as the highest placed BMW driver at third in the championship.
Wittmann had a shot at the driver’s title going into the last race of the season at the Hockenheimring. With a third-place finish in the first race, he finished ahead of championship leading Porsche driver Thomas Preining and closed the gap to just 20 points, with Mercedes-AMG driver Marco Engel just two points behind Wittmann in third.
Marco Wittmann (green suit) celebrates with fellow drivers Maro Engel (blue suit) and champion Thomas Preining (black suit).
Wittmann was behind the eight ball for race two, as he only qualified in 16th, with Preining starting in seventh and Engel in third. He made up several positions to finish seventh, but Engel won the race and Preining was third. Those results gave Preining the DTM title (his second) and dropped Wittmann to third in the final point standings behind Engel. “When you’re still in with a chance of winning the title going into the final round but then don’t have the tools to fight at the very front on the decisive weekend, it’s naturally disappointing,” said Wittmann.
“Nevertheless, third place in the overall standings is a good result when you consider where we’ve come from this season. I’m proud of my team and of our performances this season.” Schubert Motorsport, which ran the M4 GT3 EVO entries for Wittmann and Kelvin van der Linde, finished third in the team championship, while BMW finished third in the manufacturer’s championship behind Mercedes-AMG and Porsche. Wittmann ended up with seven podium finishes in 16 total races, including wins at the Nürburgring and the Sachsenring.
Kelvin van der Linde had a season to forget in 2026.
Fellow driver van der Linde had a season to forget. He only had one podium finish in the season, a win at Zandvoort, and had five DNF’s, most of them through no fault of his own. He also had a race where he didn’t even make it to the grid with car problems and had one race he had to sit out to recover from an accident. In the final two races, he finished sixth and 18th. “Unfortunately, the final weekend here at Hockenheim perfectly sums up my entire season,” said van der Linde. “Apart from my win at Zandvoort, the whole year has been very disappointing. I’d naturally set my sights much higher for my comeback in the DTM, but bad luck was literally hot on my heels. Many thanks to the team, who never gave up despite all the setbacks. I hope we’ll get a chance to make amends in the future.”
Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport and driver Michael Schrey dominated the M2 Cup series.
The M2 Cup series also wrapped up its season on the same weekend as DTM. Hofor Racing by Bonk Motorsport driver Michael Schrey had a dominant season, winning seven times in eight races. The only race he didn’t win was the last one, but he had a sizable lead in the points at the finale.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Gruppe C Photography]
