The decision has been made: Christian Engelhart will celebrate his DTM comeback with the Grasser team at the Nurburgring. The 39-year-old German will drive the Lamborghini Temerario with start number 19 as a replacement for the injured Maximilian Paul, which initially could not be fielded in Oschersleben after the horror crash at the Norisring.
But the Grasser team has bought a new chassis, which means Mirko Bortolotti will have a teammate again and Engelhart returns to the DTM after two years. "We made this choice together with Lamborghini, and I am very pleased that Christian is back with us in the DTM cockpit," says team principal Gottfried Grasser.
The decision, which was made late last week, is quite surprising, as candidates such as Franck Perera and Patric Niederhauser have significantly more experience in the new Temerario GT3. However, Engelhart also knows the car from numerous test drives and claimed a DTM victory in Oschersleben in 2023 - in the Toksport WRT Porsche.
"Feels a bit like coming home"
And he has also already celebrated major successes with the Grasser team, including the endurance title in the Blancpain GT Series (now GT World Challenge Europe) in 2017 and victory in the GTD class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2019, as well as second place in the ADAC GT Masters, when he shared the Grasser Lamborghini with Bortolotti, with whom he gets on well.
In 2024, he started the DTM season as a regular Grasser driver, but during the season he had to undergo surgery because of a knee injury and give up his cockpit - now the 2021 GT Masters champion returns after 17 DTM starts to date, of all reasons, because of a leg injury to a colleague.
"I’m hugely looking forward to starting in the DTM again - together with GRT and Lamborghini. I associate many successful career moments with this team and this brand," says Engelhart, who drove for the Konrad team this year in the 24h race at the Nurburgring and in the NLS championship.
"It feels a bit like coming home. At the same time, I wish Max a speedy recovery. I will do everything I can to represent him well and support Lamborghini and the Grasser Racing Team at the Nurburgring as well as possible."
Paul back in the Grasser Lamborghini in just 13 days?
It cannot be ruled out that this will be a brief comeback. According to team principal Grasser, Maximilian Paul, who broke his left tibia and fibula and suffered a lumbar vertebra fracture a little over a month ago, is making remarkable progress, and it cannot be ruled out that he will make his racing comeback as early as the Sachsenring weekend (September 11-13).
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"Max is on a good recovery path, and I believe and hope that we will see Max back in the car at the next test," Grasser announces. He is referring to the official DTM test at the Sachsenring, which takes place on August 23.
That would mean Paul returning to the Grasser Lamborghini just 50 days after the accident in Nuremberg, which would be a major surprise given the serious injuries.
Will Paul still contest four DTM races this year?
"In this situation, a test is very important," explains Grasser. "You only see in the car how you’re really doing." Apart from that, it is "also very important for the mind" to get back in the car quickly, says the team principal, who himself recently sat in a racing car in the ADAC GT Masters. If the test goes as hoped, a race outing at the Sachsenring is even conceivable.
Grasser is also impressed by his driver’s rapid recovery progress. "It’s incredible how he is going through this recovery process," he says. Originally, the hope was that Paul could return to the Grasser Lamborghini at the season finale in Hockenheim, but the progress in rehab is greater than expected.
The biggest challenge is that the drivers apply more than 100 kilograms of force to the pedal when braking - with the left foot, the one Paul injured.
