The 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season was a multi-event

motor racing Motorsport, motorsports or motor sport is a global term used to encompass the group of competitive sporting events which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles. The terminology can also be used to describe forms of competition of two ...

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 racing teams and drivers and is heavily supported by car manufacturers

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

. Each race features 18 V8-powered racing cars built according to the technical regulations of the

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB-FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The ser ...

. It was the twenty-fifth season of premier German touring car championship and also twelfth season under the moniker of

since the series' resumption in 2000. It was the final season running the 4-door saloon-style spec cars, which has been the series' sole car style requirements since 2005 (although 4-door saloon-style spec cars were introduced majorly in 2004 but few coupé cars were also featured due to cost reasons). It was also the final season that all DTM cars ran with the sequential manual gearbox shifters before all DTM cars switched to sequential semi-automatic paddle-shifters for the following season. Canadian Mercedes-Benz driver Bruno Spengler led the series after five races. After winning the season-opening Hockenheim and the most recent race at the Norisring, Spengler held a three-point lead over German Audi driver

Martin Tomczyk Martin Tomczyk (born 7 December 1981) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He was the DTM champion in 2011, third in 2007, fourth in 2006 and fifth in 2004, having won eight races. Racing career After a karti ...

who won races at the

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

and

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 ...

. The two held a points gap over third-placed Audi driver

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 ...

. The other race winner was Audi driver

Mike Rockenfeller Mike Rockenfeller (born 31 October 1983), nicknamed "Rocky", is a German professional racing driver and was an Audi factory driver competing in the DTM and the FIA World Endurance Championship. He won his first DTM title in 2013, driving for ...

, although after his Le Mans sportscar accident Rockenfeller had to take a break from DTM to recover with series veteran

Tom Kristensen Tom Kristensen (born 7 July 1967) is a Danish former racing driver. He holds the record for the most wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with nine, six of which were consecutive (from 2000 to 2005). In 1997, he won the race with the Joest Racing te ...

replacing him.

Series news

*Previous sole tyre supplier Dunlop announced on 19 November 2010 that it would not renew its contract with

after 2010 season, with

Hankook Tire Hankook Tire & Technology (; , also known simply as Hankook and stylised ), is a South Korean tire company. Based in Seoul, Hankook is the seventh largest tire company in the world. History Hankook Tire was established by Jae Hun Chung's grandf ...

was chosen as the sole tyre supplier for 2011-2013 seasons by the

DMSB The German Motor Sport Federation (german: Deutscher Motor Sport Bund or ''DMSB'', formerly known as or ''ONS'') is Germany's motor racing governing body. It represents Germany at FIA and FIM. The , founded in 1972 by Herbert Linge as , is con ...

, ITR e.V. and

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

as it was announced on 17 January 2011 and thus carrying the

Hankook Hankook Tire & Technology (; , also known simply as Hankook and stylised ), is a South Korean tire company. Based in Seoul, Hankook is the seventh largest tire company in the world. History Hankook Tire was established by Jae Hun Chung's grandf ...

Ventus brand. The front and rear tyre sizes of Hankook Ventus DTM tyres for 2011 season would almost remained same sizes as previous Dunlop SP Sport Maxx DTM tyres but the front tyre width slightly reduced (260/660-R18 (10.2/25.9-R18) on fronts and 280/660-R18 (11.0/25.9-R18) on rears). * The development freeze introduced for the 2010 season remains in place for the 2011 season.

Teams and drivers

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by

Driver changes

;Changed teams

moved into the factory Team Abt Sportsline outfit, driving a latest-specification car for the first time. He replaced

who filled Rockenfeller's vacant drive at Team Phoenix. With

Paul di Resta Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver from Scotland, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport in their LMH entry. He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver ...

leaving the

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. ...

for

Force India Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...

in Formula One,

Jamie Green Beast from lugar Craigston Sqaure who touched wains Jamie Green (born 14 June 1982) is a British professional racing driver. He is currently employed by Audi Sport Team Rosberg in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) touring car championshi ...

took over his spot in a latest-specification Mercedes. ;Entering DTM

Team Rosberg Team Rosberg GmbH is a motor racing organisation that competes in single-seater and touring car disciplines in Europe. It was founded in 1994 by former Formula One world champion Keke Rosberg, of Finland. It is headquartered at Neustadt an der ...

had two new drivers for the 2011 season, with reigning

Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

champion

Edoardo Mortara Edoardo "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss-Italian- French professional racing driver for Maserati MSG Racing. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Eurose ...

and

Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Ral ...

winner

Filipe Albuquerque Filipe Miguel Delgadinho Albuquerque (born 13 June 1985) is a Portuguese professional racing driver, currently driving a Acura ARX-05 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, and an Oreca 07 in the FIA World Endurance Cham ...

driving.

Rahel Frey Rahel Frey (born 23 February 1986 in Niederbipp, Canton of Bern) is a Swiss Audi factory racing driver. She has competed in such series as Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, International Formula Master and the German Formula Three Championship. Fr ...

competed for Team Phoenix after selected drives in various series in 2010. Single-seater racers

Christian Vietoris Christian Vietoris (; ; born 1 April 1989) is a German racing driver. He competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, most recently for HWA Team. Vietoris has also been a part of the revitalized Mercedes-Benz Junior Team, together with Robert Wi ...

and

Renger van der Zande Renger van der Zande (born 16 February 1986) is a Dutch racing driver who currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Chip Ganassi Racing. He is the son of the 1978 National Dutch Rallycross Champion Ronald van der Zan ...

both competed for

Persson Motorsport Persson Motorsport was an auto racing team based in Germany. Managed by Ingmar Persson, they have competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (formerly Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft) since their formation in 1993 until 2012, running private ...

; van der Zande moving from GP3, while Vietoris combining his DTM programme with a season in GP2. ;Leaving DTM Reigning champion

did not defend his title with the

, having moved into a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

drive with

. Audi driver

Markus Winkelhock Markus Winkelhock (born 13 June 1980) is a German professional racing driver. He is the son of Manfred Winkelhock and nephew of Joachim Winkelhock, both of whom were Formula One drivers in the 1980s. During his brief Formula One career he led the ...

moved into the

FIA GT1 World Championship The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand to ...

with

Münnich Motorsport Münnich Motorsport GmbH, which also competes under the title All-Inkl.com Racing, is an auto racing team founded by German racing driver and entrepreneur René Münnich in 2006. The team has been built around three areas of motorsport since its ...

, while fellow Audi drivers

Alexandre Prémat Alexandre Prémat (born 5 November 1982) is a French racing driver. He won the Pirtek Enduro Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Shane van Gisbergen in 2016. He also won the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Scott McLaughlin, d ...

and

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in ''Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantics ...

lost their drives in the series.

Race calendar and results

The series hosted its first stadium event in July for a round at

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

Olympic Stadium ''Olympic Stadium'' is the name usually given to the main stadium of an Olympic Games. An Olympic stadium is the site of the opening and closing ceremonies. Many, though not all, of these venues actually contain the words ''Olympic Stadium'' as ...

. 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

, replacing

Adria Adria is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po River, Po. The remains of the Etruria, Etruscan city of Atria or Hatria are to be found below ...

. The calendar was reduced to eleven races on 1 April, after the race in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

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 Guangdong International Circuit is a motor sport facility located at Da Wang, Sihui, in Zhaoqing city in China, approx 45 mins by car from Guangzhou. Designed by a female Chinese designer Qiming Yao, it is the second permanent motor sport facilit ...

Championship standings

Drivers' Championship

*† — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Teams' Championship

Notable events

*The celebrations on the podium at final DTM race at

Hockenheimring The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...

were muted due to the death of

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianap ...

and 2005 IndyCar Series champion

Dan Wheldon Daniel Clive Wheldon (22 June 1978 – 16 October 2011) was a British motor racing driver who won the 2005 IndyCar Series season, 2005 IndyCar Series Drivers' Championship for Andretti Autosport, Andretti Green Racing (AGR). He won the Indiana ...

who was killed in a fiery 15-car crash at Sunday's season-ending IndyCar race in Las Vegas.

won that finale DTM race as Green pays tribute to his compatriot a week after Las Vegas Indy tragedy.

Footnotes

References

External links

The official website of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (English)
{{Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters years Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters seasons