Ford returns to the DTM: Why the US brand has long been a DTM legend and how the ex-juniors Schneider, Reuter and Biela drove the Ford bosses crazy
Ford will return to the DTM in 2025 with the spectacular Mustang GT3, which is already making fans’ hearts beat faster. However, the US manufacturer is also a traditional brand from the old DTM, has won a total of 30 races and even became champion in 1988 with Klaus Ludwig, who later became a Mercedes legend.
Depending on whether you count the Mustang twice or not, five or six Ford models were used in DTM history. Spectacular drivers also sat in the usually powerful cars: in addition to Ludwig, Ford relied on a junior team in the 1980s with the later legends Bernd Schneider, Manuel Reuter and Frank Biela.
“I don’t think the Ford people made a bad choice back then,” grins ‘Mr. DTM’. He became champion five times and is the most successful driver in DTM history. Biela became champion with Audi in 1991, Reuter won the ITC in 1996, and both are Le Mans legends. Nevertheless, keeping the “young and wild” under control was not always easy, as was demonstrated at the Eifel race in 1987.
“I was really annoyed at the time,”
“They were easy to handle, except for one instance, when I was really annoyed,” says Rainer Braun, who accompanied the juniors on behalf of Ford and coached them in dealing with the media, referring to the third weekend of the 1987 season at the Nürburgring. Even back then, if the cars were too powerful, they were slowed down with weight in the next race – and Ford had an ace up its sleeve with the turbo engine.
“We discussed with Ford’s race director Lothar Pinske in the motorhome: ‘Guys, do us a favor: you have turbo power without end. The stewards are just waiting for you to pull away at the front. You get 50 kilos, every single one! And you’ve got enough already. Don’t do it, drive in the middle of the field, attack at the end, win by a narrow margin – and say, ‘What do you actually want? We only won by a narrow margin,’” recalls Braun, who became a legend himself as a TV commentator for the DTM.
But the Ford bluff didn’t work out because the drivers didn’t follow the instructions, as Braun explained at the 40th anniversary of the DTM at the Norisring. “What are the gentlemen doing? The race is started. We stand there and watch eagerly as the cars turn into the home stretch. We count through: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven Ford Sierra, the three gentlemen of course in the lead, as it should be. Then a long pause, then the rest comes.”
Why Schneider & Co. did not stick to the Ford agreement
The breakneck pace of the Ford turbos had consequences. “The stewards meet immediately during the second round and just shout: 50 kilos!” Braun recalls that the 350-hp Ford Sierra XR4 Ti had to start the next race with ballast.
But why didn’t the Ford juniors follow the instructions? “Our manager Werner Heinz said to Frank and me: ‘Show Reuter what’s what! Manuel is competing for the championship, you can’t win!’” says Schneider, who was competing for the title in German Formula 3 at the time. “We had overlaps and couldn’t drive three races. So we said: Okay, let’s step on it!”
Ford hopeful Reuter lost the title fight by a hair’s breadth
In the end, Reuter won with a lead of less than a second over his Ford colleague Schneider. Third place went to Harald Grohs, the best BMW driver, Biela came in sixth. The fact that more Ford cars did not finish at the front of the field was also due to Joachim Winkelhock and Walter Mertes retiring.
Although Reuter lost out to BMW driver Eric van de Poele by three points in the title race, Schneider does not believe that the Ford racing director had any negative memories of the memorable race. “Lothar Pinske had this photo, which was printed out really big, in his office and was proud that the cars were at the front, even though we didn’t win the championships,” he says.
For Schneider, who drove for the Grab team in the 1987 DTM and won the German Formula 3 title before making history at Mercedes, the Ford era was also a “great time”. Which was Ford’s most successful DTM car and which race car became the absolute darling of the audience for which reason,