The STW had a completely different look in 1999 due to the fact that the two main protagonist over the last few season were no more. Both Peugeot and BMW pulled out of the championship at the end of 1998, leaving only works teams from Honda and Opel. They would be supported by a number of privateer teams but there would be only 20 cars on average at each race, much less than had been seen in recent seasons.

German Audi Privateer Christian Abt was the driver with the early form, taking both races in the first two rounds. It would then be the turn of top Opel drive, Uwe Alzen, to take a series of wins before the season settled down and victories were shared between the Opel, Honda and Audi teams. Although a total of eight different drivers took wins, only Abt and Alzen were ever in serious contention for the title, which was not decided till the final race. Unfortunately by this time the competition between the two teams had become a little heated, with a series of protest and counter protest being fought between them, one of which would see Abt disqualified from one of the races.

The season was to end in more controversy when Opel driver, Roland Asch, knocked the Audi of Abt off the track at the end of the very last round. What made it worse was that Asch had already been disqualified from the race for failing to complete a stop-go penalty following a jumped start, but his actions gave fellow Opel driver Alzen the title.

Further protests from the Abt team meant the final decision on the results was left to a tribunal, who decided the declare the results of the final round at the end of the previous lap, therefore giving Abt the title.