Why Rast is leaving the DTM

We’ve been here before. After winning his third DTM title, the last of the manufacturer/Class 1 era in 2020, Rene Rast was absent for the first year of the DTM’s reboot in 2021 as a GT3 series for customer teams. The German is clear that it wasn’t his choice back then, but a function of calendar clashes with Formula E in Audi’s swansong season.

But when the DTM 2026 kicks off next April at the Red Bull Ring, the emotions will be very different for the most successful driver of the championship’s past decade. And the 39-year-old is at peace with that, “because the decision wasn’t taken for me”.

“I just wanted a bit more time for myself and my family next year,” he tells Autosport. “I’ve done so many double programmes over the last couple of years that at one point you don't really have an off-season and you don’t know how a normal life actually feels.

“I was missing it a bit, now with having two kids and a lot of private commitments as well. I would like to see also my kids growing up and be part of their lives. So I said, ‘I want to take that opportunity to see how it feels next year’. Maybe it isn’t for me, so maybe I come back at one point. Let’s see.”

Rast will remain a key player in BMW’s assault on the World Endurance Championship in 2026. It promises to be a significant year for the Dallara-based M Hybrid V8 LMDh programme, victorious just three times in as many full seasons of IMSA competition and yet to get off the mark after two seasons in the WEC with WRT. Vincent Vosse’s team will take over the running of the IMSA programme from RLL in 2026, coinciding with a major aerodynamic update that constitutes the second ‘Evo’ upgrade joker of the car’s lifecycle. It is hoped that increased cohesion across both championships “will accelerate our learning curve and also our performance next year”, Rast offers.

It’s perhaps only natural that he is focusing priorities now. Rast has nothing to prove in the DTM, a category where his tally of 31 wins is comfortably the most of anybody since 2000, its revival after a four-year hiatus in which super touring ruled the roost. Through the DTM’s esteemed history, his record is bettered only by Bernd Schneider and Klaus Ludwig.

Rast made a surprise DTM debut at Zandvoort in 2016 wearing Mortara's spare overalls

Photo by: Motorsport Images

“I would love to win a DTM championship in GT3, but it doesn’t feel like I’m missing out or I missed out on that one,” he reflects. “I'm happy the way it is. I’ve achieved more in DTM than I’ve ever dreamed about.”

The journey began with a bang. After being granted an unexpected debut at Zandvoort in 2016, wearing Edoardo Mortara’s spare overalls when a hand injury sidelined Adrien Tambay, Rast joined Team Rosberg full-time for 2017. As a rookie, he beat fellow Audi aces Mattias Ekstrom and Jamie Green to the title with a gutsy drive to second at the tense Hockenheim finale. It doesn’t take him long to pick it as his DTM career highlight.

“I became champion without knowing that I was champion, because we had the radio ban back in the days… That was obviously the most exciting one,” he remembers. “But then also the title hunt in 2019, where we won six races in a row, was quite exciting and put myself to the limit mentally. These two are outstanding, I would say.”

“The DTM is more unpredictable, because we have different characteristics of cars. Some cars have more top speed, therefore other cars have an edge in cornering and to equal that out over the season is not easy. It’s similar in terms of competitiveness” Rene Rast

It says much about Rast’s perfectionism that he was “in a bad mood” when he clinched his second crown in 2018, one meeting early at the Nurburgring, after finishing third to Green and Robin Frijns. “I wasn’t happy with that race when I became champion,” he admits.

That he fell just four points shy of denying Gary Paffett in 2019 is remarkable given his sluggish start. He was 109 points behind the British veteran after nine races, before a storming end of season run (with a little help from compliant Audi stablemates at the Red Bull Ring) threatened to spoil Mercedes’ farewell party. Rast had mentally conceded in 2020 too.

“We were so far behind two Abt cars [Nico Muller and Frijns] that we said, ‘We cannot win the championship anymore’,” he says. “And all of a sudden we turned it around.” From 47 points behind Muller, sweeping all four races at Zolder transformed the complexion of that disrupted year.

Rast was taken out of the 2025 DTM finale to deny him the chance to fight for the title

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Rast was back in 2022 and led Audi’s challenge, now with Abt, taking the title battle to the final round and ultimately placing third. As ramifications of Audi’s decision to end its support for non-F1 motorsport activities took hold, a switch to BMW was entirely logical. His adaption to an all-new environment at Schubert Motorsport (although the simultaneous arrival of his long-time Team Rosberg engineer Florian Rinkes eased that somewhat) and style of car – from the edgy, mid-engine R8 LMS to BMW’s long wheelbase and front-engine M4 GT3 – was impressive.

In 2023 he was only beaten by defending champion Sheldon van der Linde to the honour of being the top BMW driver by 11 points – despite missing both Zandvoort races to a prior clash with his prior McLaren Formula E commitments. Rast improved from fifth to fourth in 2024, a year he led the BMW contingent and won twice. “We were always kind of there, but not fast enough to win the title on our own merit,” he says.

Three wins helped Rast to enter the 2025 finale just six points off the championship lead and four ahead of ultimate champion Ayhancan Guven. Being taken out on the first lap proved a frustrating anticlimax that initially stoked thoughts of calling off his hiatus.

“Our season wasn't great,” remarks Rast frankly. “I did actually make a lot of mistakes this year.”

Such self-criticism is a Rast hallmark that contributed hugely to his success. The DTM’s single-driver format is fairly unique among sportscar categories, and puts a premium on nailing the set-up. Rinkes and Rast’s former data engineer Davide Maino told Autosport in 2022 how Rast set new standards for work rate at Team Rosberg, so it’s no surprise when Rast raises his love of details as a factor in his successful tenure. But it’s a credit to the man that, when asked how he became so effective in DTM, Rast first cites the team around him.

“To win the championship it needs a lot of things to go right, it’s not only one thing,” he replies. “The team I had around me played a big part obviously in all that success. My engineer was always the same, except in 2022 with Abt, and also the mechanics were all very good, committed guys. Then we just needed to put it together.

“It’s all about the details. You need to figure out a lot of small things, which I like. Obviously the tracks are the same for 20 years or more, so I know every little trick as well. Lots of things were coming together.”

The DTM Rast leaves is a very different series to the one he joined

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

Clearly, the DTM Rast leaves behind is very different to the one he entered. ITR sold up at the end of 2022, with current custodians ADAC reigning in its international travel. Grid sizes are healthy; the 24 cars that finished 2025 compares to just 18 at the equivalent event in 2017, and comprised of more manufacturers than ever. As Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Ford,
Porsche and Aston Martin have entered the fray, along with the ever-controversial Balance of Performance that makes it harder to be competitive at every track, the number of variables have increased exponentially. Asked to compare the two eras in terms of his personal enjoyment and competition level, Rast agrees that “in terms of difficulty, it's very similar”.

“The DTM is more unpredictable, because we have different characteristics of cars,” Rast opines. “Some cars have more top speed, therefore other cars have an edge in cornering and to equal that out over the season is not easy. It’s similar in terms of competitiveness.”

But Rast doesn’t hesitate in identifying Class 1 DTM cars as the “more interesting” to race.
“It was like proper prototype cars; lots of downforce, lots of power, no driving aids, so it was mainly down to the driver how to deal with front wheel locking or wheel slip on traction side and those kind of things,” he enthuses. “It was a bit more demanding; in current DTM races you just smash the brakes and trust the ABS. Same for the acceleration; you just jump on the throttle and let the TC do the job.”

“When you do so many years with double programmes, you go from one weekend to the next, to the next, to the next, there's almost no time to really prepare yourself because you have no time to process the last weekend” Rene Rast

That need for nuance is a core part of the WEC’s appeal, along with the remaining challenges of scoring its first WEC win and ending BMW’s wait for a first Le Mans triumph since 1999. And so, to the key question; will there be a tangible benefit to Rast concentrating fully on the WEC?

“When you do so many years with double programmes, you go from one weekend to the next, to the next, to the next, there's almost no time to really prepare yourself because you have no time to process the last weekend,” he muses. “I'm looking forward to calming down a little bit, get some time off and actually prepare myself mentally more for the next event and just start way fresher into a race weekend. I imagine I will be at least better prepared and maybe even more motivated.”

That could well be a point of concern for BMW’s WEC rivals in 2025…

Most prolific venues for Rast in DTM

6 wins: Red Bull Ring
5 wins: Zolder, Hockenheim
4 wins: Nurburgring
3 wins: Lausitzring
2 wins: Zandvoort, Norisring
1 win: Hungaroring, Moscow, Brands Hatch, Imola

Rast leaves the DTM to fully focus on the WEC with BMW

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz