The DTM Championship opens its second season with a GT3 car. While critics may still argue that the series has lost its uniqueness by moving to a global sports car platform, certain numbers support this shift. There are 29 cars on the starting grid, the most since the championship extension in 2000.

Thus the initial list increased by 10 cars compared to last year, mainly due to the arrival of new cars. Of course, there are also traditional brands Mercedes, Audi and BMW (with the new M4 model), however, thanks to the inclusion of Porsche, a complete “German big four” will be presented in this year’s series.

Ferrari Italia will also get its big rival, being allowed to travel to DTM last year’s transition to GT3. Thanks to him, Lamborghini also entered the German championship this year, and the “stags” and “black bulls” will also meet on the track.

Mercedes’ Maximilian Götz is retaining his title, but he certainly doesn’t have an easy task ahead of him. After a year’s hiatus in which he devoted himself to Formula E, three-time champion René Rast with the Audi colors returned to DTM, while at BMW they relied most on two-time champion Marc Wittmann.

Porsche’s most prominent face for the DTM is Belgium’s two-time IMSA champion in the GTLM and GTD classes, Laurens Vanthoor, while Nicki Thiim appears in Lamborghini. Denmark’s two-time world champion of the LMGTE-PRO class in the WEC championship follows his father Kurt Thimi, the 1986 DTM champion.

Perhaps the biggest concern of all the drivers during the opening weekend at Portimao was attracted by Sebastien Loeb. The legendary nine-time world rally champion jumps into a Ferrari in AlphaTauri colors for Nick Cassidy, who is a priority for the Formula E race in Monaco.

You’ll be able to watch all events from Portimao live on the DTM Championship’s official YouTube channel, the stream of which can be found below.

DTM – Qualifying Saturday (10:00)

DTM – Saturday Race (13:15)