Maximilian Paul

Maximilian Paul, born on 14 February 2000 in Dresden, grew up in the family’s own racing outfit: his father Tobias Paul was himself a racing driver and worked on cars together with friends, with his son looking over his shoulder and pitching in from an early age. After early karting, Paul began racing in ADAC GT Masters from 2019, initially for T3-HRT-Motorsport. Following that team’s insolvency, father and son founded their own team, Paul Motorsport, to drive the young racer’s career forward themselves.

In 2021 Paul made his DTM debut as a guest entrant in T3 Motorsport’s Lamborghini at the Red Bull Ring. His first regular DTM season followed in 2023 with Grasser Racing Team, brought in on short notice as a replacement for Mick Wishofer: already in his second race weekend he won his first DTM race on a rain-soaked Nürburgring, one of the biggest surprises of the season. In parallel he contested the International GT Open championship for Team Oregon.

In 2024 and 2025 Paul raced in the DTM with his own team, Paul Motorsport, taking his first pole position at Zandvoort in 2024 and a third-place finish there in 2025, building a reputation as a technically skilled driver who works on his own car. In early 2026 Lamborghini promoted him to its factory driver roster, after which Paul Motorsport paused its DTM programme and Paul himself returned to Grasser Racing Team, the place where he had celebrated his first win back in 2023, now as teammate to Mirko Bortolotti.

The start of the 2026 season looked promising at first, until a heavy crash in the opening DTM race at the Norisring in July threw Paul off course: following contact with Kelvin van der Linde’s BMW, he suffered a fractured lower leg and a fracture to a lumbar vertebra and had to undergo surgery. He has been recovering since and has announced plans for a swift return to the cockpit.