How a DTM failure became an unlikely Nurburgring conqueror
Opel's fortunes in the DTM had taken a turn for the worst by 2003 - hardly the pedigree that suggested it could take on the toughest 24-hour race of them all. But that's exactly what it did
"When the idea came up to do it with a DTM car, it was like a silence in the room," remembers Timo Scheider. "It was like, 'Are you serious?' We were thinking, 'That will be a challenge.' In the beginning there was a feeling of, 'Let's try it. If we quit after three laps, we quit after three laps.' It was a bit like this."
"Everybody was laughing because to get a DTM car reliable for 24 hours at the Nordschleife, it's a big project!" adds Manuel Reuter. "But in the end, we showed it was worth it."
Share Or Save This Story
James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.
In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.
After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.
A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.
He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.
More from James Newbold
What could have been: When Villeneuve’s shock return thwarted an F1 rookie
Prema determined 'not to be just a number' on IndyCar switch
Friday favourite: The “perfect” F1 test venue with a little bit of “magic”
How to be an ace engineer: Single-seater performance guru Peter Wyss de Araujo
Why the new British GT season is too tough to call
BMW works driver Harper to defend British GT title after late change at Century
Formula E champion Dennis makes GTWCE Endurance return with Century BMW
How motorsport is embracing the opportunities of AI
Latest news
Hyundai enacts contingency plan after WRC Kenya fuel issue
Vanwall working on 2025 WEC comeback with heavily-revised Hypercar
Russell: Mercedes locked in F1 "battle of fine margins"
Acosta: MotoGP paddock 'needs more people like Kevin Schwantz'
Autosport Plus
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The plug in and play stand-ins who got their timing just right
The longest-serving Red Bull driver revealing F1’s true brutality
How the DTM has come back stronger from its Norisring nadir
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.