For its second season under GT3 regulations in 2022, the DTM took a major step forward in competitiveness. Not only were grid sizes bigger, only once dipping below 20 cars as a product of the Hockenheim race one crash-fest, but the pool of quality drivers scrapping for honours was back to a level comparable with the manufacturer-based Class 1 era with a mix of established factory drivers and hotshoes with plenty to prove.
No less than 11 different drivers took a pole position, while the same number took victories in a season characterised by unpredictability. That is to be expected in a championship governed by Balance of Performance, which changed regularly throughout race weekends in an effort to keep the different brands in check, but it meant consistency was a precious commodity.
Through it all came Sheldon van der Linde, who delivered BMW a first title since 2016 as his Schubert Motorsport team and the BMW M4 GT3 made a memorable introduction to the series.
But which of the drivers shone the brightest during the closely-fought campaign? Here we assess the year’s top performers.
10. Nico Muller – Team Rosberg Audi
Muller started the year on a high in Portugal, but couldn’t replicate the feat
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Championship: 7th, 105 points
Total podiums: 2
Wins: 1 (Portimao II)
Pole Positions: 1
After a trying 2021 as Team Rosberg adapted to GT3 rules, Nico Muller ended a year-long victory drought with a dominant win in Portugal. But it was to prove a false dawn for Kimmo Liimatainen’s ultra-professional team, the DTM’s dominant force towards the end of the Class 1 era, in Muller’s final year with Audi before joining Peugeot’s Hypercar roster. Thereafter, whenever the four rings were on song it was Abt’s three-car stable that had the upper-hand.
Imola was Muller’s only other podium, where the Swiss ran old rival Rene Rast close throughout the race before settling for the runner-up spot. He was a regular fixture in the lower top-10, but never again came close to hitting the heights of Portimao.
Still, a podium might have been on the cards in the first Nurburgring race before he was clipped by Rast and picked up a race-ending puncture, while his best qualifying performance from the second half of the season at the Red Bull Ring, second, turned into an afternoon of disappointment as he repeatedly clashed with Thomas Prening’s Porsche at Turn 3.
Muller’s higher peak means he makes our top 10 ahead of Abt Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde – runner-up to his brother at the Nurburgring and polewinner at Norisring – and GruppeM Mercedes man Maro Engel, who enjoyed spurring drives to podiums at the Lausitzring and Red Bull Ring. Ricardo Feller (Imola race two) and the generally luckless Felipe Fraga (Norisring race two) also won races, Feller’s triumph all the more impressive after a BoP change which rendered his marque stablemates largely uncompetitive, but neither were as consistent as Muller.
9. Marco Wittmann – Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW
Wittmann saved his best for last as he came out on top in battle with Rast at Hockenheim
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Championship: 8th, 98 points
Total podiums: 3
Wins: 1 (Hockenheim II)
Pole Positions: 0
Marco Wittmann was the best BMW in qualifying more often than champion Sheldon van der Linde, but the 2014 and 2016 title-winner’s highlights weren’t as great. A lack of testing, he believes, “was our main issue”. Whereas the Schubert team was meticulously prepared for the season, van der Linde estimating “we did 10 or 12 private days before the season even started” to understand the new M4, Walkenhorst “didn’t go testing enough” according to Wittmann at Hockenheim.
On the level playing field of Portimao, it was Wittmann who had the best finish of fourth, but he could never get back on terms with van der Linde after the South African’s Lausitzring double.
Wittmann scored the best results of any BMW driver at Imola – peaking with third in…
Read More: Ranking the top 10 drivers of DTM 2022