RNW Staff

A little less than one hundred days prior to the first test session at Hockenheim, the DTM schedule for the year 2022 has been finalised. The event so far listed as ‘TBA’ on the calendar for 3-5 June 2022 will not be held. As a result, the 2022 DTM season will run from May until October in five different countries and at eight different race tracks in Germany and other European countries, including six Formula 1 tracks.

The pressure was felt in the Thunderhill Raceway Park paddock for K-PAX Racing, but it was not crushing as some would expect under similar conditions. K-PAX Racing had two weeks to prepare its newly assembled program with Lamborghini Squadra Corse, ahead of its full-time return to the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS Championship. Time was ticking.

The 15th season of the ADAC GT Masters was not only one of the most dramatic in the history of the series, but also provided some fascinating facts and figures. A glance at the statistics reveals exactly why this year’s title went to German GT Champions Ricardo Feller (21/CH) and Christopher Mies (32/Düsseldorf).

The greatest pleasure lies in the anticipation – and not just when it comes to Christmas. It is four months until the 2022 German GT Championship gets underway at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (22nd to 24th April 2022). It is already worth looking ahead to what promises to be an impressive new season. Ten reasons to look forward to the 2022 ADAC GT Masters:

Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) is pleased to announce both their 2022 Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup calendar and that the Australian one-make Championship will again be the primary support category at major Repco Supercar Championship events throughout next year.

2022’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS calendar is now confirmed following the addition of three new circuits: the recently completed Mandalika in Indonesia, as well as Japanese venues Sugo and Okayama.

Era Motorsport, winners of the 2021 Rolex 24 At Daytona, will return to competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the 2022 race season, again racing the Oreca LMP2 07 car. Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel will race together as the full-season drivers, reuniting the race-winning pair while team owner Kyle Tilley will act as the endurance driver in the calendar’s four endurance races.

The test phase for the BMW M4 GT3 drew to a close in December with the final tests in Daytona (USA). The new GT flagship is now ready for its first races in the hands of BMW M Motorsport teams. First up are the endurance highlights in Dubai (UAE) and Daytona in January 2022. BMW Team RLL, Turner Motorsport, Schubert Motorsport and ST Racing have already received their cars ahead of their starts in the two 24-hour races. Meanwhile, delivery of the BMW M4 GT3 continues.

Porsche is set to start the 2022 motorsport season with ambitious goals and extensive programmes. The prime focus will be on the two works entries in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship. The expansion of customer sport activities and intensive preparation for the new LMDh programme have now been added to the schedule of activities. “Motorsports have always had a special role to play in Porsche’s corporate strategy, and for more than 70 years now we have used the racing stage as the testing grounds for our latest technologies. We face great challenges today – in both sporting and organisational terms. We are determined to play an active role in shaping the future, while ensuring we retain our motorsports DNA,” said Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG at the digital Porsche Night of Champions.

The International German GT Championship will again feature a strong field when the 2022 season gets underway. By mid-December, 18 teams had already taken the opportunity to secure a starting place for 30 super sports cars in the 2022 ADAC GT Masters. The field is both high quality and diverse, with cars from six manufacturers registered so far: Audi, BMW, Corvette, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Mercedes-AMG. More manufacturers could yet join the field between now and the season-opener at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben from 21st to 24th April 2022. 

Another spectacular new entry for DTM: the team run by two-time world endurance champion and Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard is entering a Porsche 911 GT3 R for the long-standing series in the 2022 DTM. With 23-year-old Porsche works driver Thomas Preining from Austria, the driver has already been confirmed as well. Moreover, KÜS Team Bernhard that has its base in Landstuhl in the German Palatinate region, will also be campaigning a pair of Porsche Cayman RS Clubsports in the young talent series DTM Trophy.

Audi Sport customer racing is celebrating an exceptional season: while the customer teams have clinched 58 titles worldwide, the brand has set several milestones in production in the program’s 13th year.

United Autosports are pleased to confirm that Alex Lynn will join their FIA World Endurance Championship team for the 2022 season.

After ten years together, BMW M Motorsport and Martin Tomczyk (GER) are heading in different directions at the end of the season. The current BMW M works driver will be taking on new challenges next year. He joined BMW M Motorsport as reigning DTM champion in late 2011, played a leading role in BMW’s DTM comeback in 2012, and went on to become an influential character and a brilliant representative of the BMW brand in the years that followed.

United Autosports are pleased to confirm that Oliver Jarvis will join their FIA World Endurance Championship team for the 2022 season. 

B-Quik Absolute Racing returns to Chang International Circuit next weekend (23-26 December) for the final round of Thailand Super Series 2021 with the fight for the Super Car GT3 Drivers’ and Teams’ titles in the balance and with all to play for.

2022’s Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS campaign will incorporate the Japan Cup, a new ‘championship within a championship’ for Japanese teams and drivers.

Lamborghini has ended the motorsport season with seven GT championship titles, reaching 42 since the first generation of the Huracán GT3 made its debut in 2015. In 2021, Lamborghini Squadra Corse won a historic triple (drivers’, teams’, and constructors’ titles) in the GT World Challenge America, dominated both the drivers’ and teams’ standings in the International GT Open, and won both British GT titles for the second year running. 24 victories, 60 podium finishes, 29 pole positions and 35 fastest laps thanks to the commitment of 89 drivers (8 of whom are Lamborghini Factory Drivers), who raced over 120,000 km on some of the most prestigious circuits in the world.

Another new addition to the German GT Championship: The Allied-Racing team is set to enter the ADAC GT Masters with a Porsche 911 GT3 R in 2022. Allied-Racing has primarily caught the eye in ADAC GT4 Germany to this point, with the team from Upper Bavaria winning both the Driver and Team titles in 2020. As well as the German GT Championship, Allied will also continue to run four Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 in ADAC GT4 Germany. The outfit’s continued involvement in the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland sees Allied-Racing take full advantage of the diverse and attractive platform that is the ADAC GT Masters. In total, the team will run seven Porsche race cars across the three series.

Having achieved the title treble this year, the championship-winning team Montaplast by Land-Motorsport is upgrading for 2022 in the German GT Championship: This year, the team from the Westerwald region will defend its title with no fewer than three Audi R8 LMS evo II. Newcomer Tim Zimmermann (25/Lochau), the winner of the Pirelli Junior competition in 2020, has already been confirmed as the first Land-Motorsport driver for the German GT Championship. The team revealed its plans exclusively in the online show PS on Air – The Ravenol ADAC GT Masters Talk. The new season of the International German GT Championship kicks off from 22nd to 24th April 2022 at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.