DTM driver Clemens Schmid is parting ways with the Grasser team after four years: what strategic coup he has pulled off and what his future looks like
What’s next for Clemens Schmid in 2024? The 33-year-old Austrian and Lamborghini Team Grasser Racing will go their separate ways in 2024 after two years together in the DTM. Schmid made the official announcement shortly before the turn of the year
“We’ve had an incredible journey and I don’t want to miss a second of it, but now it’s time to move on and look for a new challenge,” the Tyrolean wrote on Instagram – and thanked the Grasser team for their “great support over the past four years”.
While the Grasser team has already presented Christian Engelhart as one of two drivers for the upcoming DTM season, Schmid promises that there will soon be “more news” about what will happen to him in 2024
Pechvogel Schmid: Also deprived of a possible podium finish in 2023
The man from Gries am Brenner, who drove for Gottfried Grasser’s team in the ADAC GT Masters, the DTM, the GT World Challenge Europe and the Intercontinental GT Challenge from 2020 to 2023, finished 19th in the last DTM season. His highlight was a fifth place in the second race at Oschersleben.
As in 2022, when Schmid was on course for a podium finish at the season finale in Hockenheim until he suffered a puncture, he was also dogged by bad luck in 2023 when brand colleague Franck Perera shot him down at the Lausitzring – also in third place – and robbed him of a top result.
However, things went better in the GT World Challenge Europe, where he won the overall standings in the Silver Cup with the Grasser team and his Chilean team-mate Benjamin Hites. They also celebrated a class victory at the 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
Despite Grasser separation: good chances for DTM future
And Schmid scored yet another success: By lodging an appeal, which he backed up with data, he ensured that the FIA would not classify him in the gold driver category for 2024 after all, but would continue to have silver status. This is an advantage when looking for a cockpit, as strong Silver drivers are attractive in the Pro-Am sector – and also in the ADAC GT Masters thanks to the new criteria.
But what will Schmid’s program look like in the upcoming season? That has not yet been finalized, but according to information from , the GT3 rookie has a good chance of continuing to compete in the DTM despite leaving the Grasser team. It would be his third consecutive DTM season
