The 2018 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the thirty-second season of premier German touring car championship and also nineteenth 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. 2018 would be the final season for the traditional 4.0-litre V8 naturally-aspirated engine package that debuted in the inaugural reborn season; as the brand new engine package has been introduced for the following season as part of the "Class 1 Project" prospect with Japanese

Super GT Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a sports car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of ...

GT500 cars. 2018 also marked the final season for

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, ...

DTM DTM may refer to: Sport * Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, a motor-racing series staged annually in Germany since 2000 * Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, a motor-racing championship staged in Germany from 1984 to 1995 Computing * Data Transfer ...

due to

departing to

FIA Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

from the 2019–20 season and thus ended its 19-year participation.

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 ...

won his second title at the final round of the season with a third-place finish, beating previous champion

René Rast René Rast (; born 26 October 1986) is a Germans, German professional racing driver and the 2017 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2017, 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2019 and 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, 2020 DTM champion. He last compete ...

by four points despite a late charge to six consecutive wins by Rast, a new series record. Paffett became the second non-German driver to have won more than one

driver title, and thus repeating Swedish driver

Mattias Ekström Bengt Mattias Ekström (born 14 July 1978) is a racing and rally driver from Sweden. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters for Audi from 2001 until his retirement in 2018, and has been competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship ...

's feat in 2004 and 2007 seasons.

won the manufacturer's championship for the first time since 2010.

Rule changes for 2018

Sporting

*The additional wildcard entry is introduced for the first time ever, but ineligible for championship points even if they finish in top 10.

Technical

*Aerodynamic downforce aids, such as side winglets and side fences, has been enforced to all cars, in order to improve competition. As a result, the minimum weight of all cars has been reduced from to . *The quantity of engine components a driver may use during the season has been increased from seven complete engines during the entire season, to a new system where each of the engine components are combined. Therefore, in 2018, each driver is permitted to use up to eight set engines.

Calendar

The provisional ten event calendar was announced on 24 November 2017, and later finalized on 18 December 2017.

Calendar changes

* The races in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

are scheduled to return to the DTM schedule for the first time since 2013 and 2010 respectively. On 6 December 2017 it was confirmed that the British round would be held at

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

, on the circuit's GP layout as opposed to the Indy layout of previous DTM races.

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 ...

was dropped from the 2018 schedule. For the first time, Misano will host the round in Italy, as a night-time event. The

Lausitzring The Lausitzring (formally known as the Dekra Lausitzring for ownership reasons) is a race track located near Klettwitz (a civil parish of Schipkau, Oberspreewald-Lausitz district) in the state of Brandenburg in northeast Germany, near the bord ...

round will revert to full road course layout after last used in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Teams and drivers

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2018 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 ...

Driver changes

left the series after eighteen years, but remains with

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 ...

via its

FIA World Rallycross Championship The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull G ...

programme.

2017 Blancpain GT Series The 2017 Blancpain GT Series was the fourth season of the Blancpain GT Series. The season started on 2 April in Misano and ended on 1 October in Barcelona. The season featured ten rounds, five Endurance Cup rounds and five Sprint Cup rounds. C ...

driver

Robin Frijns Robin Christiaan Maria Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch racing driver. He most recently raced in Formula E with Envision Racing, and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Team WRT as part of the BMW in motorsport, BMW factory driver l ...

will make his DTM début with

Audi Sport {{Commons category, World Rally Championship teams Teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of ...

. In addition, the two-time champion made a one-off appearance in the 2018 season opener in

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" ( ...

with an additional Audi RS 5 to mark his retirement from the series. *

Philipp Eng Philipp Eng (born 28 February 1990 in Salzburg) is an Austrian professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. Career Karting Eng started karting in 2003, by competing in KF2, Intercontinental A Junior karts, competing in the Andre ...

and Joel Eriksson – both members of BMW's junior team – joined

BMW Team RBM Racing Bart Mampaey (formerly Juma Racing) is a racing team based in Mechelen, Belgium that runs the BMW Team RBM operation in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. Previously the team had been racing in the European Touring Car Championship and World ...

, to partner

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Bruno Spengler Bruno Spengler (born August 23, 1983) is an Alsatian-born Canadian racing driver. A long-term Mercedes-AMG and BMW factory driver, he currently works for Bugatti. He is the 2012 DTM champion. Career Early career Spengler was born near Strasbo ...

. After five years with

BMW Motorsport BMW M Motorsport (formerly BMW Motorsport) is the division of BMW responsible for motorsport-related activities, including works-run competition programmes in touring car racing, sports car racing, motorcycle racing. The current organisation is a ...

Maxime Martin Maxime Martin (born 20 March 1986) is a Belgian professional racing driver and son of four-time Spa 24 Hours winner Jean-Michel Martin. He is currently a factory driver for Mercedes-AMG set to compete in the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championsh ...

left the marque, and its DTM programme after four years to join

Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin Racing is a British auto racing team established in 2004 as a partnership between automobile manufacturer Aston Martin and engineering group Prodrive. The partnership was initially created for the purpose of returning Aston ...

in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship, abbreviated as WEC, is a world championship for automobile endurance racing organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The se ...

for the 2018–19 season.

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 ...

will also leave the series after three years, but remains with

via its Formula E and GT programmes. * After spending two years 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 ...

with Manor and

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG, currently competing in Formula One as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and also known simply as Kick Sauber or Sauber, is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who pro ...

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 ...

returned to the DTM with

Mercedes-AMG Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG (Aufrecht, Melcher, Großaspach), is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG v ...

HWA Team 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. ...

. After a one-year sabbatical,

Daniel Juncadella Daniel Juncadella Pérez-Sala (born 7 May 1991) is a Spanish racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for TF Sport. He is son of Xavier Juncadella and nephew of José María Juncadella, Alex Soler-Roig and Lui ...

also returned to the DTM with HWA.

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 ...

left the series after six years to join

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren, competing as Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team due to sponsorship, is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt in 2001 as Sam Schmidt Motorsports (SSM). The team operates the N ...

in the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

for the 2018 season.

Maro Engel Maro René Engel (born 27 August 1985) is a Germans, German professional racing driver based in Monaco. He is a Mercedes-AMG factory driver since 2008 & brand ambassador since 2017. He is a FIA GT World Cup Champion (2015, 2024), Nürburgring 2 ...

left the series after one season to focus solely on

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

. *Former Williams Formula One driver, two-time

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

champion and four-time

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

gold medallist

Alex Zanardi Alessandro "Alex" Zanardi (; born 23 October 1966) is an Italian professional racing driver and paracyclist. He won the CART championship in 1997 and 1998, and took 15 wins in the series. He also raced in Formula One from 1991 to 1994 and again ...

made his DTM début with

Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli The Misano World Circuit (officially known as Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli or Misano Circuit Sic 58, and before 2006 called Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica Misano) is a race track located next to the town of Misano Adriatico ( Pro ...

as a guest driver. *Five-time

World Rally Champion The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. Each season lasts one calendar year, and typi ...

Sébastien Ogier Sébastien Eugène Emile Ogier (; born 17 December 1983) is a French Rallying, rally driver, competing for the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team in the World Rally Championship (WRC). He is currently teamed with co-driver Vincent Landais. He has won 8 List ...

made his DTM début with

as a guest driver at 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 ...

Results

Championship standings

;Scoring system Points were awarded to the top ten classified finishers as follows: Additionally, the top three placed drivers in qualifying also received points:

Drivers' championship

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