Mercedes set to add ninth car for Nurburgring DTM races

The Stuttgart-based brand already has the biggest fleet of any manufacturer in the DTM, with seven factory-supported cars entered for the full season.

This number was set to rise to eight at the Nurburgring after HRT announced that it would enter an additional entry for team owner Hubert Haupt, who previously raced for Audi in 1991-92 and then again for Open in 2001 following the revival of the DTM.

Now, according to Motorsport.com's sister title Motorsport-Total.com, German outfit Toksport will make its debut in the DTM next weekend with Stolz behind the wheel of its sole Mercedes-AMG GT3.

The 26-year-old has won titles in both the Endurance and Sprint legs of GT World Challenge Europe and currently drives for Toksport in GT Masters alongside another Mercedes driver Maro Engel.

The addition of Toksport’s entry will expand the grid at the Nurburgring to 22 cars, closer to the figure last witnessed in 2016, when Mercedes, BMW and Audi all fielded eight factory cars each.

In addition to the one-off entries for Haupt and Stolz, ex-Formula 1 driver Christian Klien will also be present at the Nurburgring as part of his part-season programme with McLaren squad JP Motorsport.

GetSpeed’s second entry delayed

Another Mercedes team, GetSpeed, was planning to field a second car at the Nurburgring for 24-year-old Fabian Schiller, who drove for the team in the 24-hour race at the Nordschleife in June.

However, with the field already so skewed towards Mercedes, the DTM has asked GetSpeed to postpone its planned outing for Schiller until later in the season.

Currently, Assen and Hockenheim are the only rounds that do not clash with Schiller’s GT World Challenge commitments with Mercedes team RAM.

With Schiller’s outing delayed, GetSpeed will continue to field a single car for GT3 rookie Arjun Maini, who has backed out of his plans to race at the Le Mans 24 Hours on the same weekend due to travel restrictions for teammate Narain Karthikeyan.