The CLK DTM entered the revived DTM series in 2000, when the championship was reconstituted after a years-long absence and again attracted full works efforts from major German manufacturers. Mercedes-Benz aligned its program around HWA, which had already built a strong record in touring car racing during the 1990s. The car competed against rival machinery from Audi and Opel, reflecting the intensely nationalistic character of German touring car racing in that era.
The original C208-based version of the car wore the familiar CLK coupé silhouette, with the aerodynamic body clothed over a full racing spaceframe. Like all DTM cars of the period, the CLK DTM used a high-revving normally aspirated V8 engine, purpose-built to the class regulations, and featured a full roll cage, racing suspension, slick tyres, and significant aerodynamic downforce relative to road-going equivalents.
For the 2000 season, Mercedes-Benz entered eight cars distributed across three outfits. The works HWA team operated four cars divided into two parallel sub-squads. The first HWA squad ran two cars sponsored by D2 Telekom, driven by Bernd Schneider and Thomas Jäger. The second HWA squad fielded two Warsteiner-liveried cars for Klaus Ludwig and Marcel Fässler. The remaining four cars were split between two semi-works partners: the Persson Motorsport team and the Rosberg team (operated by Keke Rosberg), each campaigning two CLK DTM entries.
This multi-team structure was characteristic of how major manufacturers distributed DTM entries to maximise grid presence while retaining works oversight through the primary HWA program.
In March 2002, Mercedes-Benz unveiled a revised version of the CLK DTM at the Geneva Motor Show. The updated car was based on the then-new CLK-Class (C209), which had just entered production as a road car, updating the racing machine's visual identity to match the current showroom model. Bernd Schneider and Jean Alesi were presented as drivers at the Geneva reveal, reflecting the continued investment in the program at the highest level.
The CLK DTM achieved its defining result in 2003, when the car claimed the DTM season championship. Bernd Schneider, who had been one of the defining figures of the Mercedes DTM program across the late 1990s and into the 2000s, was central to the car's competitive identity throughout its lifespan.
The CLK DTM competed across four DTM seasons — 2000 through 2003 — marking a significant phase in Mercedes-Benz's touring car motorsport history. After 2003, the DTM regulations underwent further evolution, and the CLK DTM gave way to successor machinery. The car represented the synthesis of HWA's engineering expertise and Mercedes-Benz's commitment to front-line factory motorsport participation in Germany's most prestigious domestic racing series.
The CLK DTM also lent its name to a limited-production road car, the Mercedes-Benz CLK DTM, released in 2003 as a celebratory model acknowledging the racing program, though the road car and the racing machine were mechanically distinct.