ONLY three manufacturers are taking part in the German touring car series this year: Alfa Romeo, who won it two years ago; Opel, who are still trying; and Mercedes - who not only took the championship in 1994 but are numerically superior in their efforts to win the prestigious title again.
Last year's winner, Klaus Ludwig, a dour, seemingly always complaining German, has dumped Mercedes in favour of Opel and his old friend and team owner, Keke Rosberg, the 1982 Formula One world champion.
A new challenge, says Ludwig. To date they are still struggling.
Over at Alfa - British touring car champions last year with the fiery Gabriele Tarquini who is now relegated to the Italian series - the team has a number of quick drivers, including Ferrari test driver Nicola Larini and Sandro Nannini, the ex-Grand Prix driver whose arm was severed in a helicopter accident a couple of years ago, but who has made a miraculous recovery to become a serious front-runner.
But it is undoubtedly Mercedes which has the star drivers, including Scotland's Dario Franchitti and last year's top Formula Three driver, Jan Magnussen from Denmark.
Franchitti, just 22, stole an amazing pole position first time out and then went on to win one round of the inaugural International Touring Car championship at Mugello in May. Magnussen has so far not shone but feels his forte is more in single-seater racing cars than in these rapid but heavy saloons. Mercedes' racer is based on its ultra-successful C-class executive saloon. Executive it may be to the rest of the world, it is a taxi to the Germans! Staid, boring and almost anonymous, the C-class has outsold anything else in its class, but stick on a set of slicks, lower the suspension, update that magnificent engine and it is almost unbeatable.