Gallery: 34 years of amazing DTM-winning cars

As you'll have read, Aston is joining DTM. We're very excited by this, so we thought it a fine time to look back over the championship-winning cars that have graced the racetracks of DTM circuits over the years. The original DTM formula stretches all the way back to 1984, don’t forget, and the history of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters includes some properly cool machinery...

We’ve dug out every winner, so sit back, take a moment and choose your favourite.

Photography courtesy of dtm.com

The gorgeous 6-Series was the first ever car to win in the DTM. Volker Strycek was the man behind the wheel, taking the title despite not winning a single race in the entire season. Consistency then, was his friend.

Turbos found their way into the DTM in 1985, and, accordingly, a turbocharged car won. Only it wasn’t German. It was Swedish, thanks to the DTM’s international participation. Step forward, then, the Volvo 240, and the winning driver Per Stureson.

This is one of the reasons why touring cars are great. It’s a racing Rover Vitesse, sideways, which helped Kurt Thiim to the ’86 drivers’ title.

Ah yes, the M3. No touring car list would be complete without it. This, the E30, was the champion car with Belgian Eric van de Poele in 1987, in the year of its birth. As you are no doubt aware, the M3 would go on to win many, many more international touring car races...

While BMW and Mercedes-Benz were swapping blows with the M3 and 190E 2.3 16s, Ford – the only turbocharged car on the ’88 grid – came along with its Sierra Cosworth and took the title, with Klaus Ludwig at the helm.

BMW notched up another win for its E30 M3, this time with Italian Roberto Ravaglia behind the wheel. Ravaglia won the World and European Touring Car Championship two years earlier in the M3, but called this 1989 DTM win the greatest of his career.

Ford didn’t contest the DTM in 1990, so Audi stepped in. And won in its first ever attempt. Not so very surprising, especially considering the Audi V8 had more power than the Beemer and Merc four-pots...

Though Mercedes still had a shot at the title going into the last race at Hockenheim, it was Audi who emerged victorious in ‘91. Driver Frank Biela made sure Audi became the first manufacturer in the history of the DTM to successfully defend its title.

The boxy, lovely 190E took a total of 16 race wins throughout the year, dominating the season. It helped Klaus Ludwig take his second DTM title, making Ludwig the first man with two drivers’ championships to his name.

To Italy, and Alfa Romeo, who took the title in 1993 following a series of regulation changes (engine size was set to 2.5-litres, cylinder count went to a maximum of six). Nicola Larini took his first DTM win in the 155, too.

It’s Ludwig again, this time in the next generation of Merc’s baby saloon – the C-Class. Klaus and his new Merc beat defending champion Larini and his 4WD Alfa 155 by a total of 72 points in the drivers’ championship.

And thus begins the era of Bernd Schneider. The German whooped everyone in 1995 in the Benz, totting up 155 points (second-placed Jan Magnussen managed 83) and dominating the season.

It wouldn’t be his only DTM title, either...

Hands up who remembers the Calibra? Not the greatest exponent of Nineties motoring, sure, but transformed into a touring car and in the hands of Manuel Reuter, a champion. Looked great in racing trim, too.

This year however, was a watershed for the DTM: it was replaced by the ‘ITC’, with six races in Germany and the rest across Europe and overseas. With rising costs, Alfa and Opel withdrew, and the DTM temporarily came to a halt.

After a three-year break, DTM returned: Merc’s CLK took on Opel’s Astra V8 Coupe and Abt-Audi’s TT-R. The Merc, in the hands of Bernd Schneider, was the winning car, Schneider becoming the first champion of this new DTM formula.

Six winners over ten races meant the ‘01 season was open, but it was – surprise – Schneider who emerged victorious, taking his third DTM title and tying him, at this point, with Ludwig as the driver with the most titles under his belt. CLK looked the business, too.

Audi came good with its hot TT, going toe-to-toe with Schneider’s CLK. Frenchman Laurent Aiello took four wins in five races, which was enough of a foundation to counter Bernd’s recovery in the second half of the season.

A new CLK, but a similar story. Schneider might have wrapped up victories in nine races out of ten, but his team-mate Albers gave him a good run for his money. The CLK, then, helped Schneider to his fourth DTM title.

Though a TT had been campaigned previously, 2004 marked the first ‘factory’ Audi DTM effort, using the A4 saloon. The monster A4 helped Audi to a clean sweep of the drivers’, manufacturers’ and teams’ championships.

Brit driver Gary Paffett took victory in his Benz, and was so moved by his maiden DTM title that, um, he immediately switched to Formula One and signed on as a test driver.

Five. 2006 marked a milestone in DTM history, as Bernd claimed his fifth drivers’ title behind the wheel of the all-conquering C-Class. Nobody in DTM has equaled his tally of titles yet.

Though the battle between Audi and Merc would go right to the last race, the title returned to Audi in ‘07, and another notch for Mattias Ekstrom. The A4 DTM was the winner.

Though Paul di Resta gave Timo Scheider a run for his money, it was Scheider in his new A4 that nicked the championship by just four points.

Scheider won his second title, in his A4, making him the second driver in DTM history to successfully defend his crown.

The new Merc helped crown a new champion: none other than our very own Paul di Resta. No doubt the monster flared arches of the DTM-spec Merc helped put a smile on his face.

While all the other Audi drivers were running 2009-spec A4s, Martin Tomczyk was running a 2008 spec car. And guess who won? Yep, Tomczyk.

Noticed a name missing from the past, oh, twenty years? Yep, in 2012, two decades after it left the DTM, BMW returned with the monster M3. A clean sweep of drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ titles meant a thoroughly triumphant return for the Munich brand.

With loads of shared components between the big three (BMW, Audi, Mercedes), competition in the DTM was tighter than ever. But Audi and Mike Rockenfeller emerged victorious in the ludicrously arched RS5.

Another win for the new M3 DTM, with youngster Marco Wittmann taking the drivers’ title. Audi secured the manufacturers’ crown.

Wehrlein. The monster Benz. Victory. That makes three different manufacturers taking the title in the last three years.

Marco Wittmann takes his second championship for BMW, with the Red Bull-branded M4.

In his first, full season in F1, René Rast takes the crown at the last race of the season. Oof.