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 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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