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.
The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2006 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Dunlop.
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.
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.
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.
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.
GP2 driver Mathias Lauda joined the DTM with Persson Motorsport.
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.
Vanina Ickx and Olivier Tielemans joined the DTM with Futurecom TME after spending the previous year in BELCAR and 3000 Pro Series respectively.
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.
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 |
| Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | 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 | ||||
| Team | HOC | LAU | OSC | BRH | NOR | NÜR | ZAN | CAT | BUG | HOC | Points | |||
| Sources: | ||||||||||||||
