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The last-chance saloon of Germany's forgotten tin-top champions

The Opel Vectra GTS was the last in the line of the marque's DTM challengers, but failed to hit the lofty heights of its predecessors when financial constraints hit

When the DTM resumed amid much fanfare in 2000, it wasn't Audi that took the fight to that year's dominant manufacturer, Mercedes. And it certainly wasn't BMW - the only marque left in the DTM as it stands next year following Audi's decision to withdraw - as it wasn't until 2012 that it made its long-awaited return.

Rather, it was Opel, which had won the last edition of the DTM under class one rules in 1996 with Manuel Reuter, that posed the biggest threat to Mercedes dominance. Reuter won four times in 2000 - only two less than runaway champion Bernd Schneider - to finish the season as runner-up, while fellow Astra Coupe drivers Joachim Winkelhock and Uwe Alzen added a further four between them, amounting to exactly a 50/50 split with Mercedes over the 16 races.

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