Grasser Racing Team will head to Oschersleben with its DTM weekend already compromised.
Two weeks after Maximilian Paul’s heavy Norisring crash, the Austrian team will run only one Lamborghini Temerario GT3 at the fifth round of the 2026 season. That leaves Mirko Bortolotti as Grasser’s sole entry, with the DTM grid dropping to 20 cars for the first weekend after the accident.
The decision changes the sporting picture for Grasser immediately. Instead of using Oschersleben to rebuild momentum with two cars, the team now faces a damage-limitation weekend while Paul begins a longer recovery from the injuries he sustained at the Norisring.
Parts delay ends Grasser’s two-car hopes
Speaking to Motorsport-Total.com, team principal Gottfried Grasser explained that the team had looked at ways to keep its second entry on the grid. The problem was not finding someone to drive the car. It was getting the damaged Lamborghini repaired in time.
“We would certainly have found a driver, but it is down to the delivery of the parts that we cannot repair the car in time,” Grasser said.
“That is not logistically feasible.”
Paul’s car did not suffer terminal chassis damage. The main impact came at the front when his Lamborghini hit Kelvin van der Linde’s BMW M4 GT3 Evo during Race 1 at the Norisring. In theory, the replaceable front-end components meant Grasser could have rebuilt the car. In practice, the parts did not arrive quickly enough for Oschersleben.
That leaves Bortolotti carrying Grasser’s hopes alone at a circuit where every point could matter. For a team trying to stay in the fight across a tightly packed DTM season, losing one car also means losing data, strategic flexibility and a second opportunity to score.
No spare car available after Temerario rollout
A replacement car would have offered another route back to a two-car entry, but that was not straightforward either.
The Lamborghini Temerario GT3 is still new for 2026, Lamborghini already faced a major effort before the season to supply all teams with the new car. That wider context made a short-notice spare car an unrealistic solution for Grasser.
As a result, the team will have to absorb the immediate sporting loss and focus on getting the second car back later in the season.
Nürburgring return remains the target
Grasser does not expect the one-car situation to last beyond the DTM Oschersleben round.
The team has set its sights on the Nürburgring, which hosts the sixth DTM weekend of the season in one month. Grasser said discussions with Lamborghini are ongoing and that a return to two cars appears achievable.
“We are in talk with Lamborghini on this and consider it realistic.”
That gives the team a clear short-term target. Oschersleben will be about limiting the damage with Bortolotti, while the Nürburgring should offer the first realistic chance to restore the full Grasser line-up.
Van der Linde cleared while Paul faces longer recovery
The contrast between the two drivers involved in the Norisring accident is stark.
Van der Linde, who suffered bruising in the crash, will start at Oschersleben for Schubert Motorsport’s home round. The South African returned to the cockpit on Wednesday, 11 days after the accident, and completed around 70 laps in a newly built BMW M4 GT3 Evo.
“I am fit,” van der Linde said.
Before returning to DTM action, van der Linde will also compete in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Misano alongside Charles Weerts.
Paul’s recovery will take far longer. The German driver sustained a fractured tibia and fibula, as well as a lumbar vertebra fracture, in the Norisring crash. After leaving hospital in Nuremberg, he now faces an extended rehabilitation period. The severity of the injuries makes a months-long absence likely.
Grasser forced into survival mode
For Grasser, Oschersleben now becomes a DTM weekend of survival rather than attack.
The team avoided the worst-case scenario with Paul’s chassis, but the timing of the parts supply removed any realistic chance of repairing the Lamborghini before the next round. A replacement driver could have been found. A race-ready car could not.
That leaves Bortolotti alone in the garage, Paul beginning his recovery, and Grasser working with Lamborghini to make sure the setback lasts one weekend rather than becoming a longer-term blow to its 2026 DTM campaign.
