2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

The 2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the twentieth season of premier German touring car championship and also seventh season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series was resumed in 2000. The number of race weekends was reduced, from eleven in 2005, to ten for the 2006 season. Each track hosted one race, with the exception of Hockenheim, which hosted two. As in 2005, each event consisted of one race of approximately one hour, with two compulsory pit stops for each car. The Championship was won by Bernd Schneider driving an AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 for the HWA Team. Team Rosberg returned to the series after one-year absence and thus switched to Audi Sport machinery.

2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

Drivers' Champion:
Bernd Schneider
Teams' Champion:
HWA Team I

Previous

2005

Next

2007

Support series:
Formula 3 Euro Series

Bernd Schneider (left) won his fourth Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Drivers' Championship while Bruno Spengler (right) finished second in the championship.

Changes for 2006

• Opel exited the series, leaving Audi and Mercedes as remaining manufacturers. Audi and Mercedes respectively increased their number of entries from eight to ten cars each to fill up the four empty spots left by Opel.
• Older 2004 models became cheaper, allowing privateer teams to buy them.
• The rounds in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps and Turkey at Istanbul Park were dropped in favour of Le Mans in France and Barcelona in Spain.
• The round in Czech Republic at Brno were removed from the schedule.

Teams and drivers

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Dunlop.

Manufacturer	Car	Team	No.	Drivers	Rounds
Audi	Audi A4 DTM 2006	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	4	Martin Tomczyk	All
			5	Mattias Ekström	All
			6	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	All
			7	Tom Kristensen	All
	Audi A4 DTM 2005	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	12	Christian Abt	All
			14	Pierre Kaffer	All
		Audi Sport Team Rosberg	15	Frank Stippler	All
			16	Timo Scheider	All
	Audi A4 DTM 2004	Futurecom TME	19	Olivier Tielemans	1–3*
				Jeroen Bleekemolen	4–5**
				Nicolas Kiesa	6–8***
				Thed Björk	9–10
			20	Vanina Ickx	All
Mercedes-Benz	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006	HWA Team	2	Bernd Schneider	All
			3	Jamie Green	All
			8	Mika Häkkinen	All
			9	Bruno Spengler	All
	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005	Persson Motorsport	10	Jean Alesi	All
			11	Alexandros Margaritis	All
	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004		21	Mathias Lauda	All
	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2005	Mücke Motorsport	17	Stefan Mücke	All
			18	Daniel la Rosa	All
	AMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2004		22	Susie Stoddart	All
Sources:[1][2]

Team changes

Opel left the series after the 2005 season due to budget cuts at General Motors in Europe. Team Holzer would also leave after being part of Opel's squad since 2000.^[3]

Team Joest left the series so they could concentrate on the development of the Audi R10 diesel sports car. They were replaced by Team Phoenix, who had run Opel's the previous season, and Team Rosberg who returned to the series after a one year absence. Both teams would run one year old cars.^[4]

F1 team boss Colin Kolles would enter the championship with two two year old Audi A4s run under the Futurecom TME banner.^[4]

Mercedes teams Mücke Motorsport and Persson Motorsport expanded to three cars each  with each running two one year old cars and one two year old cars each.

Driver changes

Reigning champion Gary Paffett left the DTM to focus on his F1 test driver role at McLaren Mercedes with hopes of a race seat in 2007.^[5]

Bruno Spengler and Jamie Green were promoted from Persson Motorsport to HWA Team while Jean Alesi was demoted from HWA Team to Persson Motorsport.^[5]

Heinz-Harald Frentzen switched from Opel to Audi to replace Allan McNish who left the series to focus on Endurance racing.^[6]

Laurent Aïello and Manuel Reuter retired from motorsport after Opel left the series.

Marcel Fässler left the DTM to join Swiss Spirit in the Le Mans Series.

Rinaldo Capello left the DTM to focus on Endurance racing.

Alexandros Margaritis moved from Mücke Motorsport to Persson Motorsport.^[5]

GP2 driver Mathias Lauda joined the DTM with Persson Motorsport.^[5]

Daniel la Rosa and Susie Stoddart joined the DTM with Mücke Motorsport after spending the previous year in Formula Renault 3.5 Series and British Formula 3 respectively.^[5]

Vanina Ickx and Olivier Tielemans joined the DTM with Futurecom TME after spending the previous year in BELCAR and 3000 Pro Series respectively.

Mid season changes

Olivier Tielemans was replaced by Jeroen Bleekemolen after the second round of the season.

Jeroen Bleekemolen was replaced by Nicolas Kiesa after sponsorship troubles after the fifth round.

Nicolas Kiesa was replaced by Thed Björk for the final two races after Kiesa was injured in a motocross accident.

Race calendar and winners

Round	Circuit	Date	Pole position	Fastest Lap	Winning driver	Winning team	Winning manufacturer	TV
	Präsentation Düsseldorf	26 March
1	Hockenheimring	9 April	Jamie Green	Bruno Spengler	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone AMG Mercedes	Mercedes	ARD
2	EuroSpeedway	30 April	Jamie Green	Bruno Spengler	Bernd Schneider	Vodafone AMG Mercedes	Mercedes	ARD
3	Oschersleben	21 May	Tom Kristensen	Tom Kristensen	Tom Kristensen	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	ARD
4	Brands Hatch	2 July	Tom Kristensen	Bernd Schneider	Mattias Ekström	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	ARD
5	Norisring	23 July	Jamie Green	Bruno Spengler	Bruno Spengler	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes	Mercedes	ARD
6	Nürburgring	20 August	Bruno Spengler	Bruno Spengler	Bruno Spengler	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes	Mercedes	ARD
7	Zandvoort	3 September	Jamie Green	Mika Häkkinen	Tom Kristensen	Audi Sport Team Abt	Audi	ARD
8	Barcelona	24 September	Martin Tomczyk	Bernd Schneider	Martin Tomczyk	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	Audi	ARD
9	Le Mans	15 October	Bruno Spengler	Mika Häkkinen	Bruno Spengler	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes	Mercedes	ARD
10	Hockenheimring	29 October	Heinz-Harald Frentzen	Jamie Green	Bruno Spengler	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes	Mercedes	ARD
Source:[7]

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers.^[8]

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th
Points	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Drivers' championship

Pos Driver HOC LAU OSC BRH NOR NÜR ZAN CAT BUG HOC Pts 1 Bernd Schneider 1 1 5 3 2 2 2 2 5 4 71 2 Bruno Spengler 9 5 2 7 1 1 4 5 1 1 63 3 Tom Kristensen 2 2 1 18† 5 5 1 9 3 3 56 4 Martin Tomczyk 7 8 6 4 16† 3 3 1 4 5 42 5 Jamie Green Ret 4 3 2 Ret 9 8 Ret 6 2 31 6 Mika Häkkinen 4 3 9 11 3 12 11 11 2 Ret 25 7 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 3 13 4 17† 11 6 5 3 10 14† 24 8 Mattias Ekström Ret DSQ 7 1 6 8 13 4 Ret 12† 21 9 Jean Alesi 6 7 8 6 Ret 4 Ret 14 11 8 15 10 Timo Scheider 8 9 14 10 7 7 6 Ret 8 6 12 11 Alexandros Margaritis 5 6 20† 8 Ret 15 Ret 8 7 13† 11 12 Stefan Mücke Ret 12 12 13 4 11 7 12 15 Ret 7 13 Christian Abt Ret Ret 17 5 10 10 Ret 10 9 7 6 14 Frank Stippler 12 11 13 Ret 9 Ret 14 6 Ret Ret 3 15 Daniel la Rosa 14 Ret 11 12 15† 16 10 7 Ret Ret 2 16 Pierre Kaffer Ret 10 10 9 8 14 9 Ret 12 NC 1 17 Susie Stoddart 10 15 15 16 14† Ret 12 15 13 9 0 18 Mathias Lauda 11 14 16 15 Ret 13 15 13 Ret 10 0 19 Vanina Ickx 15 16 18 Ret 13 18 Ret Ret 16 11 0 20 Jeroen Bleekemolen 14 12 0 21 Olivier Tielemans 13 17 19 0 22 Thed Björk 14 15† 0 23 Nicolas Kiesa 17 16 Ret 0 Pos Driver HOC LAU OSC BRH NOR NÜR ZAN CAT BUG HOC Pts Sources:[9][10]

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

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

Teams' championship

Pos.	Team	No.	HOC	LAU	OSC	BRH	NOR	NÜR	ZAN	CAT	BUG	HOC	Points
1	Vodafone / Salzgitter AMG Mercedes	2	1	1	5	3	2	2	2	2	5	4	102
		3	Ret	4	3	2	Ret	9	8	Ret	6	2
2	DaimlerChrysler Bank AMG Mercedes	8	4	3	9	11	3	12	11	11	2	Ret	88
		9	9	5	2	7	1	1	4	5	1	1
3	Audi Sport Team Abt	6	3	13	4	17†	11	6	5	3	10	14†	80
		7	2	2	1	18†	5	5	1	9	3	3
4	Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline	4	7	8	6	4	16†	3	3	1	4	5	63
		5	Ret	DSQ	7	1	6	8	13	4	Ret	12†
5	stern / Easy Rent AMG Mercedes	10	6	7	8	6	Ret	4	Ret	14	11	8	26
		11	5	6	20†	8	Ret	15	Ret	8	7	13†
6	Audi Sport Team Rosberg	15	8	9	14	10	7	7	6	Ret	8	6	15
		16	12	11	13	Ret	9	Ret	14	6	Ret	Ret
7	TV-Spielfilm / TrekStor AMG Mercedes	17	Ret	12	12	13	4	11	7	12	15	Ret	9
		18	14	Ret	11	12	15†	16	10	7	Ret	Ret
8	Audi Sport Team Phoenix	12	Ret	Ret	17	5	10	10	Ret	10	9	7	7
		14	Ret	10	10	9	8	14	9	Ret	12	NC
9	AutoScout24 / Junge Gebrauchte AMG Mercedes	21	11	14	16	15	Ret	13	15	13	Ret	10	0
		22	10	15	15	16	14†	Ret	12	15	13	9
10	Futurecom TME	19	13	17	19	14	12	17	16	Ret	14	15†	0
		20	15	16	18	Ret	13	18	Ret	Ret	16	11
Pos.	Team	No.	HOC	LAU	OSC	BRH	NOR	NÜR	ZAN	CAT	BUG	HOC	Points
Sources:[8][9]