DTM Drivers
The drivers have been and are a mixture of young and older drivers, including well known former Formula One drivers David Coulthard, Bernd Schneider, Allan McNish, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, JJ Lehto, Pedro Lamy, Karl Wendlinger, Emanuele Pirro, Stefano Modena and two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen. Others, such as Laurent Aïello, Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello, Frank Biela, Marco Werner, Lucas Luhr, Alexandre Prémat, Jaroslav Janiš, and Alain Menu have made their career racing in sports cars and touring cars.
However increasingly the DTM is being used by young guns such as Paul di Resta, Robert Wickens and Gary Paffett to jump-start their racing career in single-seaters. Wickens is in the 2012 Mercedes young driver program and in his first year of DTM. One driver this strategy appears to have worked for is Christijan Albers, who built a reputation by finishing second and third in the 2003 and 2004 championships with Mercedes-Benz and then graduated to Formula One in 2005. He came back in 2008, but this time driving for Audi. Paul di Resta currently (2012) races for Mercedes-engined Formula One team Force India, after winning the championship in 2010.
Gary Paffett has also used his championship win to gain a test with McLaren, and they signed him as permanent test driver for 2006. This prevented Paffett from defending his title in 2006, however he thought that it will be a springboard for a race seat during the 2007 Formula One season. The plan failed however, and Paffett returned to DTM in 2007, but in a 2006 specification car.
Four female drivers have taken part in the championship. In 2006 Vanina Ickx started racing for Audi and Susie Wolff for Mercedes. In 2008 Ickx was replaced by Katherine Legge, who was subsequently replaced for the 2011 season by Rahel Frey.
Read more about this topic: Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters