A DTM weekend is built around two stand-alone sprint races — one on Saturday, one on Sunday — so every event produces two winners and two full sets of championship points.
Each race is short and flat-out: about 55 minutes plus a lap, with no long-distance element. Strategy centres on mandatory pit stops — one in the Saturday race, two on Sunday — each taken inside a set window, so getting the timing right can swing track position.
Starting order comes from qualifying, which is itself worth points: the three fastest cars earn a 3-2-1 bonus on top of whatever they score in the race. Race points then go to the top fifteen finishers in each sprint.
Across the calendar there are eight weekends and therefore sixteen races in a season, run mostly on permanent circuits plus the Norisring street track in Nuremberg.