As Motorsport.com reports, promoter ADAC is completely overhauling its junior support structure to combat declining grid sizes in the DTM support series, drastically increasing funding through the Road-to-DTM program starting in 2027. Previously, the top junior was rewarded only with an entry fee waiver for the next step up, but the new funding aims to make the leap into the DTM far more accessible.
In the ADAC GT Masters, which sits directly below the DTM, the overall prize-money fund for next season will reach 775,000 euros, an amount the ADAC describes as being bigger than ever before. Within that series, the winner of the Road-to-DTM classification will claim 620,000 euros in support. For comparison, the 2026 winner Finn Wiebelhaus received an entry fee waiver of 109,000 euros plus VAT alongside tire prizes, creating an overall package worth around 150,000 euros—a tiny fraction of a roughly 1.5 million-euro annual DTM car budget.
With the upcoming 620,000-euro package, the promoter will cover over a third of a driver's annual DTM budget. This massive injection includes the DTM entry fee, a full season of tires for testing and racing for the first time in the program's fourth year, and direct cash prizes toward a cockpit. To be eligible, the winner must be under 25 years old, classified by the FIA in the Silver category, and score well in qualifying within the ADAC GT Masters, which saw between 12 and 16 cars participating per event this year.
The ADAC GT Masters format is also changing for next season to better prepare drivers, scrapping the endurance races introduced in 2025 in favor of straightforward one-hour races matching the DTM format. Mandatory pit stops with minimum stationary times will teach young drivers how to manage cold tires after a stop. Meanwhile, support is expanding across other feeder categories as well, with ADAC GT4 Germany introducing its own Road-to-DTM classification to guarantee the funding targets genuine young talent rather than older competitors like 40-year-old Michael Schrey, who nearly won the championship in 2024.
The GT4 Road-to-DTM winner will collect 235,000 euros covering entry fees, tire prizes, and a contribution toward moving up to the ADAC GT Masters, where a cockpit costs around 350,000 euros. The total GT4 prize-money fund will hit roughly 330,000 euros. Similarly, the newly launched BMW M2 Cup will boost its fund to 305,000 euros, giving its Road-to-DTM winner 170,000 euros to help finance an entire season in ADAC GT4 Germany.
To fund these massive increases, the ADAC is shifting away from its previous broad distribution approach—which spread tire prizes and traditional top-15 race prize money across various drivers and teams—and is instead funneling those resources directly into the Road-to-DTM winner packages.
