The 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the twenty-ninth season of premier German touring car championship and also sixteenth season under the moniker of

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, commonly abbreviated as the DTM, is a sports car racing series sanctioned by ADAC. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The series currently races a modified version of Group GT3 gra ...

since the series' resumption in 2000. The season started on 2 May at

Hockenheim Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain, Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" ( ...

, and ended on 18 October at the same venue, with Mercedes Benz driver

Pascal Wehrlein Pascal Wehrlein (; born 18 October 1994) is a German and Mauritian racing driver, who competes in Formula E for Porsche. In formula racing, Wehrlein competed under the German flag in Formula One from to , and won the 2023–24 Formula E Worl ...

clinching the Drivers' Championship, Mercedes Benz's

HWA AG HWA Team, also known as HWA RACELAB, is the auto racing team of HWA AG, a German company based in Affalterbach, that also develops and builds vehicles and components for Mercedes-AMG race cars. It is named after founder Hans-Werner Aufrecht. H ...

winning the Teams' Championship and

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

taking the Manufacturer's Championship after a total of nine events.

Marco Wittmann Marco Wittmann (born 24 November 1989) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He currently resides in Markt Erlbach. Wittmann has competed in such series as Formula 3 Euro Series, Formula Three Euroseries and Form ...

entered the season as the defending Drivers' Champion, BMW Team RMG as the defending Teams' Champion and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

as the defending Manufacturers' Champion.

Rule changes

Sporting

* Drivers were assigned permanent numbers for the duration of their DTM careers, with the championship adopting a system similar to the one used in

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

and

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

. The number 1 was the champion's right, with drivers free to choose any number from 2 to 99 or 100; the champion's "regular" number was reserved while they were using the number 1. * The 2015 season saw the DTM series go back to a two races per weekend format. It was the first time since

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

that the DTM used the format but the usual number of laps were replaced by time limit. *The usual knockout qualifying format was replaced by 20-minute single-session qualifying format (similar to 60-minute 1996-2002

single-session qualifying format).

Technical

*The weight of all DTM cars were increased to 1,120 kg. *The performance weights also has been introduced. *The softer optional tyres were removed to provide overtaking manoeuvre.

Teams and drivers

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2015 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by

Hankook Hankook Tire & Technology Co., Ltd. (), also known simply as Hankook ( , ), is a South Korean tire company based in Seoul. It is the seventh-largest tire company in the world. It is a part of Hankook & Company. History Hankook Tire was establis ...

Team changes

ART Grand Prix ART Grand Prix is a French motor racing team that competes in formula single-seaters in Europe. In 2012, it competed in the GP2 Series and GP3 Series as Lotus GP to reflect sponsorship from British sports and racing car manufacturer Lotus. The ...

joined the series in 2015, and ran a Mercedes works team of two cars, for

Lucas Auer Lucas Auer (born 11 September 1994) is an Austrian racing driver. He is the nephew of former Formula 1 driver Gerhard Berger. He currently drives for HTP Motorsport, HTP Winward Motorsport in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, DTM. He was a member of ...

and

Gary Paffett Gary James Paffett (born 24 March 1981 in Bromley) is a British former racing driver. Having become a household name in the DTM, following fifteen years in the series and two championship wins, Paffett moved onto Formula E for the 2018/19 champ ...

Driver changes

; Entering DTM *

Maximilian Götz Maximilian Götz (born 4 February 1986) is a German racing driver. He has competed in such series as International Formula Master and the Formula 3 Euro Series. He won the 2003 Formula BMW ADAC season, taking six victories. He also won the 2021 ...

, who won the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series, joined

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

. * European Formula 3 front-runners

and

Tom Blomqvist Tom Leonard Blomqvist (born 30 November 1993) is a British racing driver. He competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Meyer Shank Racing. Blomqvist also competes in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship, FIA World Endurance Champion ...

joined the series, driving for Mercedes-Benz and BMW respectively. ; Leaving DTM *

Joey Hand Joseph Alan Hand (born February 10, 1979) is an American professional racing driver who competes in sports car racing as a Ford factory driver. A former champion of the Star Mazda Series, Hand is the co-winner of the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona dri ...

, who drove for BMW between 2012 and 2014, left the series and joined the

United SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association ( ...

. *

Vitaly Petrov Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to ...

, who drove for Mercedes-Benz in 2014, left the series. ; Mid-season changes *

Timo Scheider Timo Scheider (born 10 November 1978 in Lahnstein) is a German racing driver who competes in the FIA World Rallycross Championship for Münnich Motorsport. He won the DTM title in 2008 and 2009. Career Karting Like most other drivers, Scheider ...

was excluded from participating in the

Moscow Raceway Moscow Raceway is an Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA-approved Motorsport#Motor racing, motor racing venue in the Volokolamsk, Volokolamsky District, Moscow Oblast, Russia. It is located near the villages of Sheludkovo and Fedyuko ...

round after pushing out both

Robert Wickens Robert Tyler Wickens (born March 13, 1989) is a Canadians, Canadian racing driver from Guelph, Ontario, driving in the Sprint Cup of the IMSA SportsCar Championship for DXDT Racing. In 2009 he finished in second place in the 2009 FIA Formula Two ...

and

in the second race of the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Austria, Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from t ...

. European Formula 3 front-runner

Antonio Giovinazzi Antonio Maria Giovinazzi (; born 14 December 1993) is an Italian racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Ferrari. Giovinazzi competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Giovinazzi won the 24 Hour ...

replaced him at the Russian venue for Audi Sport Team Phoenix.

Performance weights

Starting from

Norisring The Norisring is a street circuit in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as a motorcycle racing venue in 1947 and named in a 1950 competition to win a light motorcycle, the track became known as a sports car racing venue in the 19 ...

, ITR introduced a system of ballast based on the results obtained in the previous race. The basis weight is 1120 kg, and performance weight ranges from a minimum of 1105 kg to a maximum of 1140 kg

Race calendar and results

The nine event calendar was announced on 3 December 2014.

Calendar changes

* The round at the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtai ...

– which had been included on the DTM calendar in

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

– was discontinued.

Championship standings

;Scoring system Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows:

Drivers' championship

*† — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 75% of the winner's race distance.

Rule changes

Sporting

Technical

Teams and drivers

Team changes

Driver changes

Performance weights

Race calendar and results

Calendar changes

Championship standings

Drivers' championship

Teams' championship

Manufacturers' championship

Notes

References

External links