Thomas Dietrich

Thomas Sebastien Dietrich (born January 26, 1979 in Nuremberg, Germany) is a German racing driver, currently competing full-time for his part self-owned team, D&S Automotive, in the Dash Cup series. Dietrich is most famous for his career in the European Touring Car Tour, where from 2003 to 2012 he won 15 races and 2 championships.

European Touring Car Tour
Dietrich first came to attention in motorsports when he made his debut in the ETCT in 2003 for Spediel Merck Racing Team, where he attracted the detraction of his competitors for his brash and sometimes overly aggressive driving style. This culminated the following season with the season-opening race at the Hockenheimring, where he turned the popular veteran Klaus Johannsen on the final lap to win the race. Gradually, as his driving became more refined, Dietrich was able to win the support of the paddock and the fans, and after moving to the more well funded Equest Autosports, won the championship in 2007 and 2011. Dutchman Michael van der Schmidt joined the series in 2008, and Deitrich and van der Schmidt's frequent on- and off-track altercations became infamous in the paddock.

Not long after the beginning of the 2012 season, Dietrich surprised many by announcing his intention to move to stock cars for the 2013 season, with a team co-owned by himself and van der Schmidt. While many were pleased by the repairing of Dietrich and van der Schmidt's relationship, others were critical of the deal, which moved Equest to the new operation and left the ETCT team with considerably less funding for 2013. Dietrich was dismissive of this concern, stating that stock car racing was "where the real money is."

Dash Cup
Dietrich and his team's foray into stock cars began on a low note, after all three D&S cars- Dietrich, van der Schmidt, and one-off Peter Garrett failed to qualify for the Eurospeedway GP.. The #39 and #89 cars fared little better at Norisring, with Dietrich being collected in an accident early in his home race, and van der Schmidt being a rather uncourteous backmarker in the race's climax, holding up the leaders and drawing the ire of his competitors and Todd Benetar. Dietrich, however, showed gradual improvement, getting a surprise top 10 at Mallory Park, showing his capability on ovals in addition to road courses.