Audi quits DTM. https://www.autosport.com/dtm/news/149182/audi-to-quit-dtm-at-the-end-of-2020 Surely that's the end of the series now? A real shame - I saw them at Brands Hatch the last two years, and they're a great spectacle.
Gerhard Berger was the last person who always said that DTM will survive. Now, he has stopped doing so. This is the most worrying thing that I've heard the past 10 years for the German Motorsport.
Motorsport has become too expensive. Looking at where DTM had begun and where it is now gives a good overview of the reasons, why manufacturers leave these expensive series like DTM or LMP1. Make a new start with simple available technical concepts, hybrid or not. But i want to hear engines roar and backfires bang and no electrical wheeeeeee. Give the drivers back control over the car and don't let them be operators in an overly technical system. Let them trade paint and fight like early DTM or BTCC door to door. Teams not manufacturers should fight for the championship with fixed budget and a minimum of bop or we will have the same lobby chased, political junk.
Even when compared to GT3, DTM looked horrifically expensive.. In the Brands Hatch paddocks, GT3 had a kinda down-to-earth feeling to it with racks of tools, and people bashing shit with hammers.. By comparison, the DTM lot fully kitted out the paddocks to an almost lab-like specification with more PCs and laptops than anything else.
They really back themself in the corner by trying to be the most technologically advanced touring car series. And while they were able to fill grandstands, it was obviously not enough. And as the cars have little relevance outside DTM, it is only logical they will be the first to be sacked. Alse the area DTM started at is now filled with other classes. And motorsport in general is in a very rough spot. If you watch the Blancpain GT 3 series, or the WEC (outside LeMans), you often see empty grandstands. Like, the last WEC race at COTA had like only 1/3 accessible to the spectators, because there were so little of them. :-/
Problem is that DTM was a Manufacturer series. And the Brand wants high tech, especially in these times to profile themselves. If DTM survive, I really hope they go back to th privateers, they want down to earth racing. Berger tried to accomplish high tech and good racing, but the money was way too high. Greetings
That is a new series that rivals with the GT4 Germany of GT Masters. Doubt that the ITR can hold this series if the big fish is no longer in the pond to attract spectators :/ Greetings
DTM may reach its third disappearance. No new DTM will come to the R3E. There will be no DTM as Class1. sad
This might be a slightly unpopular opinion but I don't think DTM has ever been able to rediscover the magic of the Group A based years or the 90s STW Cup. Sure it was good to follow when it first came back with Mercedes, Audi and Opel and there was good mix of successful drivers (Schneider, Winkelhock etc) and up and coming drivers (Paffet, Ekstrom etc). It then seemed to get a bit stale for a few years before BMW came back in 2012 adding to the grid and competition. Since then the series has gone back into decline to the point where we are now. I think the problem is that the DTM currently sits in a place nobody wants be. Manufacturers want to be seen as future thinking so Formula E is more attractive to invest a large budget and technology into. Independent teams would rather go into BTCC or one of the TCR series as costs are much more reasonable and there are better measures to achieve performance parity. And as a big fan of touring car racing, I much prefer BTCC, WTCR, any of the TCR series or Australian Supercars as the racing is much closer and more exciting.
I agree. I'm German and like motorsports but DTM was always a little bit..... Last few years were better but they tried to adopt to much from formula 1 with DRS, very different tyre compounds, so that pitting after 1 lap made sense etc. about a half decade ago, and that was a very bad idea.. Also maybe due to the fact that F1 was very popular in Germany when Vettel won championships. For me, I do not even watch F1 anymore. BTCC, TCR even GT4, formula 4, so everything where there isn't so much downforce, the races are spectacular without any helping-option to make them more dramatic. BTCC is the very very best (even though they use some tricks with reversed orders, different tyre compounds, success balast) to make the races more dramatic. V8 australia... I still think about paying for watching it....
If it is to be the last season of dtm at least it looks like were still getting plenty of races this year
No luck for racing series when Raceroom joins in as a new partner? First DTM, then IMSA's GTLM? OMG, what's the next car to be released?
Following that logic they are trying to kill ADAC GT Masters for some years now. No success so far...