Having switched to sports and touring car racing, he has also won the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2012 with team-mate Marc Basseng.

[2] On 24 January 2006, Winkelhock was confirmed as a test and reserve driver for the Midland F1 team (formerly Jordan Grand Prix) for the 2006 Formula One season.

[3] He participated in Friday test sessions for the team at the Bahrain, Australian, German and Hungarian Grands Prix.

[7] According to Bob Varsha of the Speed Channel commentary team, Winkelhock is the only driver in Formula One history to start last on the grid and lead the race in his first Grand Prix, and due to the red flag and restart, is also the only driver in Formula One history to start both last and first on the grid in the same Grand Prix.

Despite his performance in the race, the Spyker team opted against giving Winkelhock a drive for the remainder of the 2007 season for sponsorship reasons.

[citation needed] Winkelhock returned to the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after he lost his Spyker seat, and has remained in the series, driving for Team Rosberg, for 2008 (12th), 2009 (10th) and 2010 (12th).

Winkelhock was to move with Münnich Motorsport to the World Touring Car Championship for 2013,[8] however he left the team before the start of the season in order to focus on his GT racing commitments, and was replaced by defending champion Robert Huff.

[10] He also made a brief DTM comeback midway through the 2021 season with Abt Sportsline, where he replaced Sophia Flörsch for the Nürburgring round due to her Le Mans commitments.