Edoardo Mortara is poised for a return to the DTM in 2025, six years after his last season in the category, Autosport understands.
The Swiss driver looks set to partner reigning DTM champion Mirko Bortolotti at Abt this year following the squad’s switch from Audi to Lamborghini machinery over the winter.
It follows confirmation from the Italian manufacturer that Mortara will "join a GT3 programme with Lamborghini in the remaining year of 2025”.
Mortara joined Lamborghini as a factory driver in 2024 to race its new SC63 LMDh prototype in the World Endurance Championship, but the marque’s participation in the Hypercar class ended after just one season, leaving him without a full-time prototype seat.
Although Mortara was entered for last weekend’s Daytona 24 Hours, he is not included in Lamborghini’s line-up for the rest of its campaign in the endurance leg of the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The GT3 programme that Lamborghini alluded to for Mortara now appears to be in the DTM, where fellow works driver Bortolotti won the 2024 title in a factory-supported SSR Performance entry.
SSR is not expected to continue in the DTM in 2025, making Abt the likely choice for Mortara’s series comeback.
The 38-year-old has a previous relationship with Abt, having spent three seasons with the then Audi factory squad between 2014-16 and finished runner-up in the championship in his third attempt.
Another driver in frame for the vacant seat at Abt is Jordan Pepper, who made his DTM debut at the Sachsenring last year as a replacement for Grasser driver Christian Engelhart.
However, it is understood that Mortara, not Pepper, will end up racing for the five-time championship-winning outfit.
Mortara spent a total of eight seasons in the DTM, initially with Audi squads Rosberg and Abt before moving to Mercedes for the final two years of its participation with the Class One-spec C63 AMG in 2017-18.
During that time, he claimed 10 wins, 27 podiums and five pole positions.
