Tim Heinemann: From Sim to DTM - and the Top of the Standings

Tim Heinemann DTM Oschersleben 2023 Toksport WRT.jpg
When the DTM held its season opener in Oschersleben this past weekend, not many would have bet on Tim Heinemann emerging as the championship leader from the two races - but two second places on his series debut put the 25-year old on top of the standings. It is a high point of a career saved by sim racing.

Image credit: Porsche Newsroom

Making his first appearance in Germany's premier sprint racing series, Heinemann immediately made his mark in the first of two races at Oschersleben, starting in seventh but gaining two positions at the start already. Even after having to hand back fourth to Jack Aitken after his overtake on the Brit was deemed too aggressive, Heinemann continued his upward trajectory and finished on the podium on his debut. The manoeuver on Aitken "was definitely not the smartest move, but if you want to play with the big boys, you simply have to take risks."

Tim Heinemann Christian Engelhart Toksport WRT DTM Oschersleben.jpg

Heinemann (l.) and Engelhart celebrated a 1-2 for Toksport WRT and a podium sweep for Porsche in race 2 of the DTM season opener in Oschersleben. Image credit: Porsche Newsroom

Just a day later, Heinemann proved that his result was not a fluke by putting his Porsche 911 GT3 R on the second step of the podium again - and unlike in race 1, which was won by Franck Perrera in his Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2, this meant a 1-2 for not just Porsche, but Toksport WRT as well as Christian Engelhart crossed the line first. Thomas Preining and Dennis Olsen even made it a quadruple victory for the legendary manufacturer. "What a brilliant Sunday for Porsche and a great race for Toksport WRT", rejoiced the 2020 ADAC GT Masters champion.

"Still a bit surreal"​

Meanwhile, Heinemann could hardly believe his successful debut. "We couldn't have imagined that it would work so well. I'm super happy with my performance and that I'm leaving Oschersleben as the championship leader - that still sounds a bit surreal to me." Considering the career path of the two-time DTM Trophy champion (2020 & 2022), this is hardly surprising.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1663159581550190597

Heinemann did show promise in his karting days, winning the 2009 Rotax Max Junior Club championship - but as is often the case in racing, money is the decisive factor for progressing to the next step. Instead, Heinemann took to virtual racing, which would prove to be an important decision a few years down the road.

The list of successes on virtual racing tracks grew quickly: Following his 2011 RaceRoom Challenge victory, Heinemann continued to be one of the best sim racers in RaceRoom, winning the ADAC SimRacing Trophy in 2014 and 2015, taking the DTM Virtual title in 2015, and taking successive titles in the AMG eRacing Competition. Additionally, Heinemann is the 2021 European Digital Motorsport Cup champion as well as the 2020 German RaceRoom Championship winner.

Sim racing success revives real career​

These successes led to testing days in real GT4 and GT3 cars, where Heinemann impressed a certain Bernd Schneider on one occasion, being very close to the five-time DTM champion's lap times. Aided by Schneider, Heinemann found his way back to real motorsport, entering the GT4 European Sprint Cup in 2018, ADAC GT4 Germany in 2019 and then the DTM Trophy in 2020. He moved up to GT3 vehicles in 2021 and has raced in the Nürburgring 24 Hour Race in a KTM X-Box GTX and GT2, also competing in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie since 2022.

Tim Heinemann DTM Oschersleben 2023 Finish Toksport WRT Porsche (3).jpg

For 2023, Heinemann signed with Toksport WRT to drive a Porsche 911 GT3 R in the DTM. Image credit: Porsche Newsroom

His 2023 DTM Porsche as well as his race suit bears "From Sim to DTM" branding, highlighting the long way Heinemann has come to fulfill his dream of becoming a racing driver. A big achievement - but leading the DTM standings after the first weekend of the season probably would not have been on anyone's mind when the series headed to Oschersleben. Is Heinemann's victory just a matter of time? It could be - considering that without the penalty in the first race, he might have already gotten it.

Your Thoughts​

Have you watched the DTM season opener? What do you think about Heinemann's impressive journey and debut weekend in the series? Let us know in the comments below!
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About author
Yannik Haustein
Yannik Haustein
Lifelong motorsport enthusiast and sim racing aficionado, walking racing history encyclopedia.

Sim racing editor, streamer and one half of the SimRacing Buddies podcast (warning, German!).

Heel & Toe Gang 4 life :D

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Comments

GT-Alex
LoreGT said:
Been following the conversation for a while, and my general impression is that either you have zero understanding of how real life racing works, or you're simply blindly advocating for simracing.
Organizations choosing simracers over seasoned karting/feeder series talents because they're cheaper?
GT teams going for 50 year old dentists due to their experience and not their pocket money?
Drivers not wanting to settle for anything other than a top seat because "they tasted greatness"?
Dude.
I really hope it's the second case I mentioned earlier, and you're just some simracing event PR who's shilling for a living, because your takes feel completely disconnected from reality.
Click to expand...
You very obviously didn't get what I'm talking about. Please reread, it's all about how top orgs who support drivers from a younger age / feeder series could support talents more effectively through simracing by using it as a talent detection platform - and we've had several instances proving it is the case over the last decade. It's not necessarily a matter of end cost, one could still throw in the same amount of money, but get more out of that because you don't have to deal with freaking "travel the world all the time" logistics, you can have your protégé practice more, do more physical training, and to me the most crucial point: you have a much bigger pool of people to choose from, which statistically means you have much more chances to stumble upon pure raw talent.

You'd also know if you read correctly my posts I'm well aware most dentists are in by paying for their seats. You'd also know there are other cases where this doesn't apply (and to add up on that, GT racing still has some drivers that are being paid to drive, it's not the majority, but they do exist).

You'd also realize I KNOW some of these drivers, and the "I don't want to drive for a backmarker team after having fought for championship titles" is something ACTUAL DRIVERS told me. Some took years to eat their pride. Some never did and chose to stop altogether.

And even without that, there's many examples publicly known of drivers refusing contracts because the team wasn't good enough for their taste, in environments where all teams are fully professional.
 
Richard Wilks
GT-Alex said:
You very obviously didn't get what I'm talking about. Please reread, it's all about how top orgs who support drivers from a younger age / feeder series could support talents more effectively through simracing by using it as a talent detection platform - and we've had several instances proving it is the case over the last decade. It's not necessarily a matter of end cost, one could still throw in the same amount of money, but get more out of that because you don't have to deal with freaking "travel the world all the time" logistics, you can have your protégé practice more, do more physical training, and to me the most crucial point: you have a much bigger pool of people to choose from, which statistically means you have much more chances to stumble upon pure raw talent.

You'd also know if you read correctly my posts I'm well aware most dentists are in by paying for their seats. You'd also know there are other cases where this doesn't apply (and to add up on that, GT racing still has some drivers that are being paid to drive, it's not the majority, but they do exist).

You'd also realize I KNOW some of these drivers, and the "I don't want to drive for a backmarker team after having fought for championship titles" is something ACTUAL DRIVERS told me. Some took years to eat their pride. Some never did and chose to stop altogether.

And even without that, there's many examples publicly known of drivers refusing contracts because the team wasn't good enough for their taste, in environments where all teams are fully professional.
Click to expand...
Get something into your head:

These are video games.

Just because you are good in racing video games, doesn't mean you will be good in a real car.

For every "success" story you can come up with i can point out that they had extensive experience in either go karts or cars, like Tim here, or that there are many more than made it.

I know this, most people know this, and specially, teams know this.

You can recruit people out of any real feeder series, or real amateur series much more successfully than from simracing.

You will still need money, even if you would theoterically be recruited from simracing, so people who think simracing is going to open the doors to a career, if they dont have the money or the backing, they are wasting their time.
 
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McClutch
I won several real regional championships in sport pistol shooting, but im still very bad in first person shooters. What can I learn out of that?
 
Maddin71287
I am really wondering that on a sim racing platform there is so much negative about Tim and his development. Make me realize once more, what a toxic enviroment sim racing is.
Most i see this in developers forums when updates came out, what a bunch of unhappy guys.
I don´t know what is wrong with all of these grumpy people, but for me personally, i am very happy with all the possibilities what simracing can give us today and very proud especially about Tim and his development, and i will for everybody else who made the step from sim to real racing.

Maybe Tim should put another slogan on his car next to the "from sim to DTM"
it should say "Your hate, is my pride!"

One little note to the guys with the ridiculous comparison, like tennis and shooting...

I hear so many racingdrivers saying, that all the movements in a professional simrig are the same like in a real car, the pedalwork, the steeringwork - everything. Sure you are missing the g forces, the heat, the danger of getting killed. But you learn exact the same movements, which u can use in a real car. Can you adapt it in a real car? Who knows, obviously some can do, but all what you do with your hand and feet is the same.

So how can you compare playing a shooter with keyboard and mouse or gamepad with real shooting and simracing and real racing?! Come on, you can´t be serious!
 
Pete Conway
Premium
Before Jim Clark ever raced he'd only driven on the road and Farm... but he had a natural talent and love of the machine, sometimes people simply have a natural talent and find their path, others like or even love 'something' but never excel at it... we're all different.

So really sim racing wouldn't really provide us with an opening into Formula 1, it would allow us to play at it though without a natural talent, and those with a natural talent might also sim race.
 
shenron67
LoreGT said:
Been following the conversation for a while, and my general impression is that either you have zero understanding of how real life racing works, or you're simply blindly advocating for simracing.
Organizations choosing simracers over seasoned karting/feeder series talents because they're cheaper?
GT teams going for 50 year old dentists due to their experience and not their pocket money?
Drivers not wanting to settle for anything other than a top seat because "they tasted greatness"?
Dude.
I really hope it's the second case I mentioned earlier, and you're just some simracing event PR who's shilling for a living, because your takes feel completely disconnected from reality.
Click to expand...
I would add that, if as a simracer you want to become a real racer. One week race are not that expansive and you can race in one for about 5000€. Maybe less if you go for a feeder serie like the 208 Cup.
 
McClutch
What I really dislike about the whole topic is how "e-sports" turned the whole hobby into a toxic scene. But the same happened to a lot of RL racing series. Lost a friend decades ago on the Nordschleife during a 24h event once meant for amateur teams, But then pro slipped in with a lot of money and took it over. It is to this day covered who was the other participant in the accident. All that is know that it was a driver with an ALIAS name in a Works team BMW M3.
 
GT-Alex
Maddin71287 said:
I am really wondering that on a sim racing platform there is so much negative about Tim and his development. Make me realize once more, what a toxic enviroment sim racing is.
Most i see this in developers forums when updates came out, what a bunch of unhappy guys.
I don´t know what is wrong with all of these grumpy people, but for me personally, i am very happy with all the possibilities what simracing can give us today and very proud especially about Tim and his development, and i will for everybody else who made the step from sim to real racing.

Maybe Tim should put another slogan on his car next to the "from sim to DTM"
it should say "Your hate, is my pride!"

One little note to the guys with the ridiculous comparison, like tennis and shooting...

I hear so many racingdrivers saying, that all the movements in a professional simrig are the same like in a real car, the pedalwork, the steeringwork - everything. Sure you are missing the g forces, the heat, the danger of getting killed. But you learn exact the same movements, which u can use in a real car. Can you adapt it in a real car? Who knows, obviously some can do, but all what you do with your hand and feet is the same.

So how can you compare playing a shooter with keyboard and mouse or gamepad with real shooting and simracing and real racing?! Come on, you can´t be serious!
Click to expand...
Thank you. You saved me a bit of typing there :roflmao:

But seriously, simracing platforms are unique in the video game genre as it's by far the thing that can replicate real life the best. Is it 100% faithful to real life ? No. Is it good enough ? Definitely, especially at allowing you to try things and experiment techniques and tactics, but more importantly, at building muscle memory, which is the single most important thing in pretty much every competitive sport. EVERY athlete in any discipline learns by practicing the exact same thing over and over and over. Those who are considered to have incredible talent are generally those who are physiologically naturally enclined to build that muscle memory faster. Simracing can help detect that, and its accessibility compared to real life motorsports means you're looking through a much bigger pool of competitors. Do most simracers fail to transition ? Maybe, but so does most kids trying to progress from karting to something else.

On a sidenote, even more arcadey racing games require some talent to be extremely good at. Even if the physics are fictional, if it's not too dumb, it can still build some proper techniques and reflexes. Some people in iRacing and rFactor top splits come from those games, I know someone (Tom Lartilleux) who initially came from Forza, then did some PCars and won high profile events, went on GT Sport and won high profile events, and is now being very competitive with Race Clutch on PC sims.
 
Maddin71287
GT-Alex said:
Thank you. You saved me a bit of typing there :roflmao:

But seriously, simracing platforms are unique in the video game genre as it's by far the thing that can replicate real life the best. Is it 100% faithful to real life ? No. Is it good enough ? Definitely, especially at allowing you to try things and experiment techniques and tactics, but more importantly, at building muscle memory, which is the single most important thing in pretty much every competitive sport. EVERY athlete in any discipline learns by practicing the exact same thing over and over and over. Those who are considered to have incredible talent are generally those who are physiologically naturally enclined to build that muscle memory faster. Simracing can help detect that, and its accessibility compared to real life motorsports means you're looking through a much bigger pool of competitors. Do most simracers fail to transition ? Maybe, but so does most kids trying to progress from karting to something else.
Click to expand...
In a recent interview, Tim Heinemann said, he learned 90% of his skills in the simulator! Well to be clear, he only can speak for himself yes, and it is not a rule of thumb. But in his case, it is what it is! So, i don´t care what "fellow" simracers here, or anybody else says, like ...it is just a videogame and so on. He won the DTM Trophy twice and is actually leading the high competitve DTM Championship!

For my opinion making, his words have far more weight, than people in forums i don´t know. Even if they raced him back in the days, and remembering him as a cheater or what else.
I mean come on, i don´t know how old you all are, but for me with my 46 years, he is still a young boy!
At that time, when guys from here raced him, he still was becoming an adult. You don´t want to know what bad and dumb things i did back in my younger days...
So, it would be nice (especially the older guys here) when the "white knights" of simracing could dismount their shiny big horse and just recognize a little bit his successes so far.

He is one of us, and right now, he is showing a bunch of professional factory drivers what he is capable of!
 
GT-Alex
Thing is sim practice has some drawbacks, but nothing you can't compensate for with at most a few months getting used to a real car. But the advantages are massive, even distegarding costs. It teaches you much more than just being fast if you're racing the right leagues.
 
Richard Wilks
GT-Alex said:
Thank you. You saved me a bit of typing there :roflmao:

But seriously, simracing platforms are unique in the video game genre as it's by far the thing that can replicate real life the best. Is it 100% faithful to real life ? No. Is it good enough ? Definitely, especially at allowing you to try things and experiment techniques and tactics, but more importantly, at building muscle memory, which is the single most important thing in pretty much every competitive sport. EVERY athlete in any discipline learns by practicing the exact same thing over and over and over. Those who are considered to have incredible talent are generally those who are physiologically naturally enclined to build that muscle memory faster. Simracing can help detect that, and its accessibility compared to real life motorsports means you're looking through a much bigger pool of competitors. Do most simracers fail to transition ? Maybe, but so does most kids trying to progress from karting to something else.

On a sidenote, even more arcadey racing games require some talent to be extremely good at. Even if the physics are fictional, if it's not too dumb, it can still build some proper techniques and reflexes. Some people in iRacing and rFactor top splits come from those games, I know someone (Tom Lartilleux) who initially came from Forza, then did some PCars and won high profile events, went on GT Sport and won high profile events, and is now being very competitive with Race Clutch on PC sims.
Click to expand...
"Muscle memory" is useless if your body doesn't know the context of when to trigger it. Unless you are sitting in a real car, you won't learn this.

I reiterate what i said, Tim can say whatever he wants to appease his followers, for me, he is a go Kart racer that used simracing (and cheated even) to get back on the racing horse when he ran out of money for a while.
 
GT-Alex
Richard Wilks said:
"Muscle memory" is useless if your body doesn't know the context of when to trigger it. Unless you are sitting in a real car, you won't learn this.
Click to expand...
The first part is nonsense and the second part is factually wrong.

There's been people who didn't have a driving license and never touched a real car before in GT Academy camp who managed to drive competently and progress to later stages of the competition.
 
Richard Wilks
GT-Alex said:
The first part is nonsense and the second part is factually wrong.

There's been people who didn't have a driving license and never touched a real car before in GT Academy camp who managed to drive competently and progress to later stages of the competition.
Click to expand...
I don't see any of them replacing Max Verstappen any time soon.
 

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