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Well, quite a nice day of excitement although it was all more or less expected. Really nice to see Porsche's increased involvement as well as Lamborhini having now two strong teams as opposed to just Grasser. Especially as, let's face it, last year Grasser was all about Bortolotti, the rest pretty much non-existent. Although it's pretty mysterious why SSR had the 'supported by Lamborghini' under their logo whereas Grasser didn't.
Also good to see Ferrari will be retained, I'm pretty curious about Emil Frey Racing's performance.
Audi's camp is shrinking, that's sad but well expected unfortunately.
Now it will be exciting to see all the drivers confirmed. I'll have a guess about that based on the rumours:
BMW
Schubert - S. van der Linde|R. Rast/D.Vanthoor
Project 1 - M. Wittmann| TBA - no clues there, although would be great to see a young and talented driver here, like Ben Green for instance. Would also love to see Leon Kohler being given a chance.
AUDI
ABT - K. van der Linde|R. Feller
Engstler - L. Engstler (second car unlikely)
MERCEDES
HRT - L. Stolz|A. Maini
Winward - L. Auer|D. Schumacher (third car unlikely)
Landgraf - M. Engel|J. Owega
PORSCHE
Bernhard - L. Heinrich|A. Guven
Manthey - T. Preining|D. Olsen
Toksport - M. Dienst|?? no idea there to be honest
LAMBORGHINI
Grasser - C. Schmid|R. Ineichen? Although would expect someone much stronger if they want to remain in the sharp end of the field
SSR - F. Perera|C. Engelhart
FERRARI
Frey - T. Vermeulen|A. Costa
What's interesting is that it seems Maximilian Gotz will not be back. Can't help but feel his controversial title win in 2021 hampered his reputation. First Haupt didn't want to retain him for 2022 despite winning the title and now he's removed from the DTM altogether. Would be a bit sad if that was the case - you can say whatever you want about a way he grabbed the title but it was Mercedes who orchestrated all of that, not Gotz himself. Yes, he had a nightmarish season last year but personally I'd rather see him in the DTM than Maini or Schumacher.
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