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Old 30 Apr 2020, 16:28 (Ref:3973827)   #3
DS"
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Germany
Germany
Posts: 824
DS" should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Good essay and I generally agree with what you said. DTM is really between a rock and a hard place right now, especially since the automotive industry is changing more and more. By 2030, cars solely with combustion engines are unlikely to be produced, unless synthetic fuels make enough progress to be economically viable.

Therefore, factory-backed racing with ICEs is on its way out. The only areas with some sort of factory backing are World Championships and even then, only Formula One is sort of safe right now. In general, my perception is that big business will come out of this crisis unharmed, while small businesses may go under. But that's another topic.

But even regulations geared towards privateers are in crisis. TCR series suffer from a low number of entrants. GT3 series are suffering from expensive cars. But for now, there are still plenty of series to run these cars and enough gentlemen drivers to fund these cars racing. But how long until the GT bubble bursts?

Where does that leave DTM? The current DTM cars are more expensive than GT3 cars and probably on par with GTE, though DTM cars can't be run at Le Mans or Daytona. WRT is the only independent team in DTM and even they receive some help from Audi. Only few privateers were ever interested in DTM. R-Motorsport quit after a year, probably because their input stood in no relation to their meager output. Fach Racing wanted to run DTM, but BMW were very hesitant to supply them with cars. It only took Robert Kubica and his backers for BMW to reconsider their stance.

In short, DTM is not very attractive for independents. Too expensive and too limited in their reach. So one solution could be a set of regulations that has enough international reach. However, the only possible solutions are TCR, GT3, GTE and potentially DPi/LMPh. The latter is probably out of question, as they're prototypes and won't fit a touring car series. GTE is also pretty expensive. What team will fund a DTM program on top of races at Daytona, Le Mans and so on? GT3 and TCR series are aplenty all over the world, so DTM won't stand out.

Another alternative could be NGTC. BMW's 3-Series does like kinda nice IMO and could show the way DTM could go with these regs. BMW, Audi, Mercedes and Opel could run customers programs, while others like Honda could run programs via their importers. Some BTCC teams could also happily sell their old cars to potential customers in Germany. In short, the market for these regs could increase, profiting both series.

But for a manufacterer-based series, only an all-electric series is a serious solution. But are BMW, Audi and Mercedes ready to develop expensive power units, just to race in Europe? I don't think so. In fact, one could think the manufacturers have already given up on their home market. Because if they wanted an electric DTM, they could have gotten that long ago. All it would have taken was a phone call to Gerhard Berger.

It'd be a shame if DTM was no more, especially since electric racing isn't my cup of tea. I need sound in racing and electric racing just sounds too bad for my ears. But TCR and GT3, while decent on their own, also don't quite do it for me. I guess it's because no series really stands out on its own. They're all pretty much the same. DTM IMO needs to stay somewhat unique, though doing so is rather difficult these days.
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