[chernaudi]

Would you say the same for Daimler/Mercedes-Benz, who left for basically the same reasons Audi did? Not to mention that paying out the nose is IMO a big part of the reason why only German makes had anything to do with DTM aside from the single season Aston Martin project.

That's what happens when you pander to OEM factory teams (look at how LMP1 imploded, and before that, LMGTP and LMP900 about 20 years ago, though that was because BMW (ironically) and Toyota wanted to use LM as a springboard to get into F1), and you basically had Audi, BMW and Mercedes there mostly because of German nationalistic motorsport pride. Which is why Audi didn't dump DTM when they dumped the WEC instead.

Not to mention IMO that BMW has room to talk, given how they left M-Tek high and dry with how they handed their WEC pull out and how the IMSA program probably wouldn't exist without BMW North America.

And at least Audi Sport are offering to support privateer teams next year to keep DTM afloat until new rules take effect, unlike what BMW did in WEC GTE. IMO, I do sadly think it's time to put the current iteration of DTM down. Honestly, I don't think that DTM understood what it wanted to be. German/European NASCAR? German/European JGTC/Super GT? GT/touring cars on steroids? Marketing and a saturated market in Europe of customer driven GT and touring car racing (where companies like Audi, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz/Mercedes-AMG have made a significant sum of money) have a lot to answer for.