Fifteen DTM drivers crammed the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the Spa 24‑Hours test and the Zandvoort DTM round into a single week, creating one of the most demanding schedules of the 2026 season.
Intense triple‑header timetable
From May 14‑17 the Nürburgring 24 Hours featured 17 of the 21 current DTM drivers on the grid. Just two days later, 15 of those pilots travelled to Belgium for the official Spa 24 Hours prologue, and a further handful competed at Zandvoort a few days after that. Only six DTM drivers missed the Spa session, meaning that Maro Engel, Lucas Auer, Jules Gounon, Arjun Maini, Ben Dörr, Kelvin van der Linde, Maximilian Paul, Mirko Bortolotti, Luca Engstler, Marco Mapelli, Thomas Preining, Ricardo Feller, Bastian Buus and Nicki Thiim endured the full three‑event stretch.
Team logistics and driver recovery
Grasser ran the entire programme with a single crew, amplifying the strain on mechanics and engineers, whereas Winward rotated staff between championships to mitigate fatigue. Engel, who completed the trio, credited meticulous schedule tweaks that kept early‑morning starts to a minimum and allowed the team to reach Zandvoort relatively rested. “The physical toll was massive, but our focus on regeneration paid off,” he said after celebrating a long‑awaited Nürburgring victory in the AMG Lounge.
Nicki Thiim, representing Walkenhorst and Comtoyou, echoed the sentiment, noting that age and sleep deprivation were his biggest obstacles after battling the Green Hell, the Ardennes and the Dutch dunes in rapid succession.
Future GT3 commitments
Because the GT3 platform underpins most of these series, top‑level drivers remain in high demand across multiple championships. The grueling week underscores how quickly teams must adapt to differing weather, track characteristics and technical specifications. With the GT World Challenge Europe round at Monza scheduled for May 29‑31, several of the same drivers will head into another high‑intensity sprint, further testing the limits of both personnel and machinery.
"