Gotz clinched his maiden crown in the DTM on his return to the series last year, beating Red Bull junior Liam Lawson and Audi star Kelvin van der Linde in a controversial season finale at the Norisring.
The German driver carried #4 on his Haupt Racing-run Mercedes in 2021, but has elected to race with #1 on his car this year after switching to Winward Racing during the off-season.
He will only become the second reigning champion after Marco Wittmann to contest a DTM season with #1 on their car since the DTM allowed drivers to pick their own car numbers in 2015, a year after F1 introduced a similar numbering system.
Gotz, who has also won titles in Formula BMW, ADAC GT Masters and the Blancpain GT Sprint Series, said he had to seize the opportunity to place the #1 sticker on his Mercedes this year as he is aware that he may not get another chance to do so in the near future.
“#4 was the team number; HRT has always been driving with #4 in different series so this was like the base…
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