2005 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

Changes for 2005

• The cars built to 00-03 specs were banned from competition. Instead the whole field would be made up of cars built to the new 04 specs.
• Italy and Portugal lost their respective events. They were replaced by Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps) and Turkey (Istanbul Park).
• Opel scaled down from six to four cars, while Audi and Mercedes fielded eight each instead of the six they had run in 2004.
• Opel announced that they would leave the series shortly after the 2005 season ended.
• BP's German brand Aral AG would become the official fuel retailer and convenience store partner of the series starting from round 7 at Nürburgring in mid-2005, taking over Shell's fuel partner contract. The Aral Ultimate brand would provide 100 RON unleaded gasolines and displayed in the pit gantries, trackside sponsorships and all driver's race overalls on the sleeves.

Teams and drivers

The following manufacturers, teams and drivers competed in the 2005 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Dunlop.

Team changes

MG Rover announced that they would join the DTM in 2005 running a pair of Zytek prepared MG ZT’s. The project would fail to materialize due to MG Rover falling into administration.

Team Holzer and Team Phoenix both downscaled to 2 Opel’s each due to Opel’s reduced budget while Euroteam left the DTM after being part of Opel’s squad since 2000.

Team Joest expanded from two to four cars.

Mücke Motorsport replaced Team Rosberg as part of Mercedes’ DTM program.

Driver changes

Two time Formula One World Champion Mika Häkkinen joined the DTM with HWA Team.

Christijan Albers left the DTM to join Formula 1 the Minardi F1 Team.

Stefan Mücke left Persson Motorsport to join his Fathers team, Mücke Motorsport.

Mercedes promoted three Formula 3 Euro Series drivers to the DTM. 2004 Champion Jamie Green and Bruno Spengler joined Persson Motorsport while Alexandros Margaritis joined Mücke Motorsport.

Markus Winkelhock left the DTM to join the Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Draco Racing.

Jarek Janiš and Bernd Mayländer were left without drives for 2005 after Team Rosberg withdrew.

1998 Le Mans winner Allan McNish joined the DTM with Abt Sportsline.

Christian Abt switched from Abt Sportsline to Team Joest.

Audi works drivers Pierre Kaffer and Frank Stippler joined the DTM with Team Joest.

2003 and 2004 Le Mans winner Rinaldo Capello joined the DTM with Team Joest.

Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro left the DTM to focus on Endurance racing.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Laurent Aïello swapped seats at Opel’s two teams.

Peter Dumbreck, Timo Scheider and Jeroen Bleekemolen were left without seats in the DTM due to Opel downscaling their program.

Race calendar and winners

Championship standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top 8 classified finishers.

Drivers' championship

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• † — Driver retired, but was classified as they completed 90% of the winner's race distance.

Teams' championship

Manufacturers' championship

References

References

1. "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Summary". Motorsport Stats.
2. "DTM (German Touringcar Masters) – 2005: Entrylist". Speedsport Magazine.
3. "Two MG ZT's in the DTM".
4. "MG Rover goes into administration".
5. "Opel racing for its future".
6. "DTM champion Audi is setting the course for the new season".
7. "Mücke confirms privateer entry".
8. "Hakkinen signs DTM deal".
9. "Albers to race for Minardi in 2005".
10. "Mercedes confirms 2005 line up".
11. "McNish gets DTM Audi".
12. "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Results 2005". Motorsport Stats.
13. "DTM (German Touringcar Masters) – 2005: Point standings". Speedsport Magazine.
14. "Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Standings 2005". Motorsport Stats.
15. "2005 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Drivers' Standings". TouringCars.net.
16. "DTM (German Touringcar Masters) - Season 2005: Results". Speedsport Magazine.