The2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the twentieth season of premier German touring car championship and also seventh season under the moniker ofDeutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series was resumed in 2000. The number of race weekends was reduced, from eleven in2005, to ten for the 2006 season. Each track hosted one race, with the exception ofHockenheim, 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 byBernd Schneider driving anAMG-Mercedes C-Klasse 2006 for theHWA Team.Team Rosberg returned to the series after one-year absence and thus switched to Audi Sport machinery.
The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied byDunlop.
Opel left the series after the2005 season due to budget cuts atGeneral Motors in Europe. Team Holzer would also leave after being part of Opel's squad since2000.[3]
Team Joest left the series so they could concentrate on the development of theAudi R10 diesel sports car. They were replaced byTeam Phoenix, who had run Opel's the previous season, andTeam Rosberg who returned to the series after a one year absence. Both teams would run one year old cars.[4]
F1 team bossColin Kolles would enter the championship with two two year old Audi A4s run under theFuturecom TME banner.[4]
Mercedes teamsMücke Motorsport andPersson Motorsport expanded to three cars each with each running two one year old cars and one two year old cars each.
Reigning championGary Paffett left the DTM to focus on his F1 test driver role atMcLaren Mercedes with hopes of a race seat in 2007.[5]
Bruno Spengler andJamie Green were promoted fromPersson Motorsport toHWA Team whileJean Alesi was demoted from HWA Team to Persson Motorsport.[5]
Heinz-Harald Frentzen switched from Opel to Audi to replaceAllan McNish who left the series to focus on Endurance racing.[6]
Laurent Aïello andManuel Reuter retired from motorsport after Opel left the series.
Marcel Fässler left the DTM to join Swiss Spirit in theLe Mans Series.
Rinaldo Capello left the DTM to focus on Endurance racing.
Alexandros Margaritis moved from Mücke Motorsport to Persson Motorsport.[5]
GP2 driverMathias Lauda joined the DTM with Persson Motorsport.[5]
Daniel la Rosa andSusie Stoddart joined the DTM with Mücke Motorsport after spending the previous year inFormula Renault 3.5 Series andBritish Formula 3 respectively.[5]
Vanina Ickx andOlivier Tielemans joined the DTM withFuturecom TME after spending the previous year inBELCAR and3000 Pro Series respectively.
Olivier Tielemans was replaced byJeroen Bleekemolen after the second round of the season.
Jeroen Bleekemolen was replaced byNicolas Kiesa after sponsorship troubles after the fifth round.
Nicolas Kiesa was replaced byThed Björk for the final two races after Kiesa was injured in a motocross accident.
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 |
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| 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] | |||||||||||||
