[DTM] 2014 DTM speculation, rumours and news

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by DS"

To be fair, I think that Hans-Werner Aufrecht is really trying hard to make the DTM work. After all, he brought the Super GT-DTM cooperation forward. Speaking of: http://www.motorsport-total.com/dtm/...-14093002.html

Hopefully this class 1 fares better than the last one. Now for an added bonus, why not restart the ITC, with "best of" races from DTM, SuperGT or IMSA?

This could give DTM a big boost, although I am afraid costs wil rise quickly.

[FIRE]

Mercedes could come under fire from rival DTM manufacturers Audi and BMW if it fails to field an eighth car in the 2015 season.
While there is a standing agreement in the DTM that each manufacturer should enter eight cars, there still has not been a full grid of 24 cars since BMW rejoined the series in 2012.
In its first year back, BMW was given a concession to run just six cars.
When BMW increased to eight cars in 2013, the same concession was given to Mercedes, which scaled back to six cars after parting ways with Persson Motorsport.
Mercedes then added just one extra car for the 2014 season, with five HWA entries running alongside the two Mucke Motorsport cars.
While the addition of an eighth car for 2015 was until now widely expected, Mercedes DTM spokesman Wolfgang Schattling revealed at Zandvoort that it could well be that there are still only seven C-Coupes on the grid next season.
"I see us being closer to seven cars than to eight," he said.
"The goal is eight cars, but I can't guarantee it will be like that.
"Regardless, seven cars is enough for every manufacturer. With 21 cars we would have a good field."


'NO MORE EXCEPTIONS'
Audi's DTM boss Dieter Gass made it clear that he expected 24 cars on the grid next season, and that exceptions would not be tolerated.
"I will go as far as to say that Mercedes will bring eight cars," said Gass.
"I was expecting there to be eight this year, but they just have seven.
"There will certainly be more discussion on this topic. There are agreements.
"We always talked about eight cars, and there was an exception for BMW in its first year.


"Since then, there were no further exceptions. But a manufacturer still has less cars - NIO [Ed: 'Nicht in Ordnung' - not in order]. That's how I see it.
"When you commit to something, you should honour that commitment. I assume that everyone will have eight cars. I can't say anything else at the moment."
BMW's motorsport chief Jens Marquardt echoed Gass's thoughts on the matter.
"It believe it's relatively clear what was decided between the manufacturers: that everyone has eight cars," he said.
"We made it clear again for this season. And I'm going with the assumption that everyone will adhere to this. I cannot, and don't want to, comment further.
"For next year there is a clear aim that everyone starts with eight cars, as was agreed.
"In 2012 we agreed to a situation where we would start with six cars, and the increase to eight straight afterwards. We delivered on that.
"I think that should be the expectation for everyone who is taking part."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116088

[DS"]

This is old news in Germany .

Anyway, I wonder why Mercedes doesn't just sell two of their cars to private teams (that can afford them). This way, they'd only pay for six cars, yet we'd still have eight Mercedes on the grid. For an added bonus, we'd have privateers that deserve that name again.

[Speed-King]

The question is: Are there privateers that are willing and (financially) able to race in DTM?

[FIRE]

What does a) a DTM car cost b) what's the budget for a season?

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by FIRE

What does a) a DTM car cost b) what's the budget for a season?

I seem to remember something around 750k budget for the season (not including any development work) for the previous generation of cars... new gen was intended to be cheaper, but who knows if that actually worked out.

GT-Masters and Euro-F3 are actually not much cheaper, though in GTs you can of course split the budget or hire an ace co-driver to make yourelf look good.

Car price is the production cost plus however much of their development budget the manufacturers want to dump on their potential clients... so that could vary greatly .

[DS"]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

The question is: Are there privateers that are willing and (financially) able to race in DTM?

I don't know to be honest. HTP or any other team from GTs maybe. Maybe something utopian like a F1 team opening up a DTM squad...but as it has been mentioned on this thread, the commercial value of DTM isn't simply high enough to warrant something like that.

Originally Posted by Speed-King

I seem to remember something around 750k budget for the season (not including any development work) for the previous generation of cars... new gen was intended to be cheaper, but who knows if that actually worked out.

I once heard that the current DTM cars were supposed to be 40% cheaper than the previous generation. Well, 40% of 750k would be 450k then, which I think is on the same level as what single-seaters like FR3.5 or even IndyCar cost. Then again, all manufacturers continued to develop their cars, so I guess that costs have risen again.

[MagVanisher]

BTW, since DTM and Super GT have manufacturers constantly developing their silhouette cars, I wonder if the former spends more money on improving their touring cars than the latter?

[Speed-King]

DTM actually is under a development freeze this year. Cars had to be homologated by the third round or so... Mercedes got a bit more time since they were very much uncompetitive back then, but in general there isn't the kind of in-season development that we see in Super GT.

[MagVanisher]

Okay, but what about the cost of running DTM cars? I hope it's not like Formula One...

[NaBUru38]

The Argentina Super TC2000 has a full grid. Those aren't cheap, like US$ 1 million per entry per season.

[MagVanisher]

A million dollars to run a DTM car? No wonder the privateers are scared at running it.

Thanks for the clarification!

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

The Argentina Super TC2000 has a full grid. Those aren't cheap, like US$ 1 million per entry per season.

That's a lot of money for a spec engine powered car.

[DS"]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

See this photo:



None of the drivers has a blue Red Bull firesuit. They all look like AUdi, BMW or Mercedes drivers.

They look more like Bundesliga teams that wear racing suits to me

Anyway, last DTM weekend of the year at Hockenheim. Molina is on pole, Ekström 2nd and Mortara is 3rd. Other than that, it's just the same old, same old. Hardly any news about 2015 have surfaced. No schedule, no rule changes no new drivers...it'll be a long off-season

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Full qualifying results here

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Petrov managed to finish in all races...without points :P

[JoestForEver]

From this season, I really believe the Audi camp should drop Molina and Tambay for better young talents. Poor performance from such a competitive car all the season.

[Metzo]

Bruno Spengler penalised after braking incident

Bruno Spengler (BMW Team Schnitzer) has received a penalty after an incident during the race, which saw Daniel Juncadella colliding with him after the Canadian braked heavily. As a result, the Spaniard sustained damages that led to a later accident and his retirement from the race.

The pair were battling for thirteenth place, with Juncadella fancing his chances of gaining positions after a very strong first stint in the race. Bruno Spengler hit the brakes in his BMW M4 DTM earlier and heavier than expected, causing the Mercedes driver to tangle with him. After that, Juncadella suffered damages that led to him spinning off and hitting the barrier in the entrance to the Motodrom, having to retire and provoking the only appearance of the Safety Car.

After examining video evidence, the Stewards found Spengler responsible for the collision, and gave him a penalty to do three hours work of public interest, in accordance to Article 12.3.1c of the International Sporting Code. The Decision also states that, should this penalty be appealed, it will be suspended under the provision of Article 12.2.3b of the same regulatory document.

dtm at its best

[werner]

Originally Posted by TheNo1F1Fan

Petrov managed to finish in all races...without points :P

Althought he might have been classified, he definitely did not finish today...

BTW, I don't'understand why anybody would drive the soft tyres first, you are always f#cked if you get a safetycar exept for the small part of the race between the opening of the pit-window and the half-waypoint.

[divxx]

Most of the winners this year have started on the softs. Better to make passes when cars are bunched up at the start and pull away early, than have to fight through traffic later.

Also, that's a hilarious penalty Spengler got. Is that what they actually have written in the DTM rules?

[iceman-1987]

accordint to touringcartimes option tyres shold be eliminated. imho its a good idea.

honestly i also would like to see two races of 90/100 km each one rather than one only race of 190 km!! in this way there would be more show and the fight for the championship could be more interesting.

[DS"]

Originally Posted by Metzo

dtm at its best

So would that mean that Pastor Maldonado would have to go to jail one day, for his F1 shenanigans? However, I wouldn't necessarily put the blame on the DTM, but rather on the FIA, whose rules they were following. But it's obviously rubbish.

It would have made for a great BILD headline, though. After all, any publicity...

[Andrew Abbott]

Originally Posted by divxx

Also, that's a hilarious penalty Spengler got. Is that what they actually have written in the DTM rules?

No. It is written into the international sporting code by the FIA.

http://www.touringcars.net/2014/10/d...ervice-penalty

[TimRTC]

Originally Posted by iceman-1987

honestly i also would like to see two races of 90/100 km each one rather than one only race of 190 km!! in this way there would be more show and the fight for the championship could be more interesting.

Not going to happen sadly because it won't fit the packaged television format. Not to mention DTM's desperate attempts to mimic F1 (even down to having dull races every week this season) and having two races just wouldn't fit with that.

[Go_For_Pole]

You couldn't possibly call Hockenheim dull though