The Mainz Finthen airfield in Rhineland-Palatinate opened as a Luftwaffe military airfield in 1989, and at the end of the Second World War it was taken over by the United States Army.

For more than half a century the Americans maintained a presence here, and during that time the facility also began to be utilised for motor racing – with the first event held in 1964.

By 1972, the circuit had attracted the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft – the predecessor of the DTM – for sportscar racing.

The DTM, then known as the DPM for Production cars, itself first visited in its maiden season in 1984, and maintained a visit to the airbase ever year until 1990, when it made its last visit. Whilst there was a variant of the track which omitted the northern hairpin, evidence suggests the DTM likely always included this corner.

At the end of the Cold War, with continued use of the base unjustifiable, the Americans withdrew and the base was handed back to the German government. Today it operates as a small commercial airport.