Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (German Racing Championship) or DRM as it was known as, the precessor of modern DTM, began as a touring car and GT race for A2 (BMW 2002) and A4 (BMW CSL) cars in 1972 in addition to the Rundstreckenmeisterschaft (German endurance saloon car championship), races were ran separately as Division 1 (for 2 to 5 liter) and Division 2 (under 2 liter) in a sprint format. In 1977 Group 5 cars were admitted into the series, making the series better supported than the World Championship of Makes. In 1979 the Rennsport Trophäe (Racing Trophy) was introduced for the original series protagonists, the Group 2 and 4 cars. In 1982 Group C cars (along with Group 6) were brought in to fill in the void left by many of the disappearing Group 5 entrants. By now only one division ran alongside the Rennsport Trophäe who would have the swansong season the following year, replaced by DTM the following season, by now it was known as IDRM (International Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft). DTM is an abbreviaton of: Turing machine Demographic transition model Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters Digital terrain model, see also gravity anomaly Dortmund Airport (IATA-Code) Device Type Manager. ... Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct automobile racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars. ... See also BMW 2002tii The BMW New Class was a line of compact sedans launched with the 1962 1500. ... The BMW New Sixes were a line of luxury six-cylinder automobiles produced from 1968 to 1977. ... A Group 5 element is an element in periodic table group 5 (IUPAC style) in the periodic table, which consists of: vanadium (23) niobium (41) tantalum (73) dubnium (105) All of these elements are classed in Group 5 because their valence shell holds four electrons. ... The group 6 in the periodic table consists of the elements chromium (24) molybdenum (42) tungsten (74) seaborgium (106) Group 6 is the new IUPAC name for this group, the old style name was group VIA in the old European system or group VIB in the old US system. ...

In 1984 with just three races held, organisers used three WEC (World Endurance Championship) races as a IDRM point races.

1985 was its final year, now called DSM (Deutsche Sportwagen Meisterschaft), with just one race was held at Norisring, the rest of them held in conjunction with the popular Interserie. This meant Can-Am entered from the latter series, as it had always had been, had to be counted for points Cover of Car and Driver magazine, showing transparent diagram of CanAm racer The Canadian-American Challenge Cup or Can Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1974. ...

The series would be replaced by the Group C only Supercup in 1986

List of Championship winners