A two-time champion and a returnee: Strong duo start for BMW in the 2026 DTM

• 14th DTM season for Fürth's Marco Wittmann
• Kelvin van der Linde returns to the DTM after a year away
• Schubert Motorsport to run two BMW M4 GT3 Evo

Munich. BMW and Schubert Motorsport line up with a two-time champion and a racer returning to the DTM in 2026. Marco Wittmann (champion in 2014 and 2016) from Fürth and South African Kelvin van der Linde will each be at the wheel of a BMW M4 GT3 Evo for team principal Torsten Schubert's outfit. Last year, the team from Oschersleben was in contention for the DTM title until the very last race in Hockenheim.

"After the dramatic finale to the 2025 season, we have a score to settle with the DTM," says Andreas Roos, Head of BMW M Motorsport. "We were so close to winning the title that we are now more determined than ever to do even better this year. With this successful combination of car, team and drivers, I am confident that we have everything we need to challenge for the DTM title."

Wittmann will contest his 14th DTM season this year. With 210 races under his belt - all with BMW - the 36-year-old is one of the most experienced drivers in the field. "I am very much looking forward to another DTM season and am really confident that I can challenge at the front again," says Wittmann. "We have established a super basis over the past two seasons with Schubert Motorsport. My crew of engineers and mechanics is virtually unchanged. That is very important, because we all work well together as a team. My clear goal for 2026 is to win my third DTM title."

Van der Linde returns to the DTM after a year's absence, succeeding René Rast at Schubert Motorsport. The South African has eight DTM race wins to his name and finished runner-up in 2024. "The DTM is a very special championship," says the 29-year-old. "As a child, I always dreamed of driving in this series, and winning races. I have achieved both, but the big goal still eludes me: to win the DTM title. Sheldon did it in 2022, and this is now a kind of homecoming at Schubert Motorsport, as I, his brother, am now driving for the team. In 2026, I want to be successful from the outset in the DTM, and to achieve my lifelong dream of winning the Drivers title."

Team principal Torsten Schubert is also optimistic ahead of the new season: "Preparations are already in full swing and we are excited about the new pairing of Marco Wittmann and Kelvin van der Linde. We must obviously first learn to work together, but I believe we know each other very well from the past and everything will soon come together."