When the DTM was revived in 2000 after the collapse of the expensive ITC series, Opel returned as a factory entrant using a concept car that had been displayed publicly on several occasions, including at the 1999 24 Hours Nürburgring where the manufacturer celebrated its centenary. The series adopted a silhouette format where the racing cars resembled production models on the outside but were actually purpose-built racing machines underneath, with barely any parts carried over from the road car except for the lights and door handles.
The Astra G series Coupé provided the body template. A distinctive feature of the DTM racing cars was their gull-wing doors, each supported by two gas struts — a visual signature that distinguished the competition vehicles from the standard Bertone-designed coupé. The car was powered by a 4.0-litre V8 engine, a significant departure from any engine Opel offered in its road car range.
Opel's DTM programme with the Astra V8 Coupé ran from the inaugural revival season in 2000 through to the end of 2005, when the manufacturer withdrew from the series as part of a large cost-cutting operation within General Motors' European division.
The car's competitive record was mixed. In the inaugural 2000 season, Manuel Reuter finished second in the overall championship, giving Opel its strongest result of the entire campaign. After that opening year, however, no Opel driver was able to place in the top three of the overall standings, with the Mercedes-Benz and later Audi entries proving more consistent. The Astra V8 Coupé scored few outright victories in the DTM despite several seasons of effort.
Away from the championship itself, Opel achieved notable success at the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2003, where the Astra V8 Coupé won outright against factory competition from Audi, who also ran a DTM-specification car in the race, and BMW.
The Astra V8 Coupé was constructed around a roll cage space frame, covered by carbon fibre crash elements and the production-derived metallic bodywork. The 4.0-litre V8 engine was developed with Spiess and supplied exclusively for the Opel DTM programme, with power output close to 500 hp. The cars ran on rear-wheel drive — a significant departure from the all-wheel drive layout that Opel had used with the Calibra in the old ITC formula — and used a sequential gearbox along with Dunlop tyres during the early years of the revived series.
The Astra V8 Coupé's DTM campaign coincided with a period of financial strain within the General Motors group in Europe. When Opel withdrew at the end of 2005, the series was left with only two manufacturers — Audi and Mercedes-Benz — competing for the title. The gap that Opel had occupied was not immediately filled, and the two-marque format persisted until BMW's return in 2012.
An indication of the Astra V8 Coupé's visual impact was the Astra Xtreme concept car presented at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show, which was a single-production road-going version of the DTM racer. Like the competition car it was derived from, it featured the 4.0-litre V8 engine, gull-wing doors supported by gas struts, carbon fibre body panels, and a race-specification interior with five-point seatbelts.