Saving DTM

During the upheaval of the covid-19 pandemic, we have had some motorsports news and some of it isn't helping during this difficult time. Audi announcing its withdrawal from the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters after the 2020 season (if we have a 2020 season) was not what the sinking German series needed.

Audi's announcement comes one year after a dismal one-and-done year from Aston Martin and two years after Mercedes-Benz pulled out of the series. BMW is the lone manufacture left in the series and the series finds itself in a deeper hole than you would wish on your worst enemy.

The identity crisis stems from a very specific set of expensive regulations that have diverted from anything else happening on the planet. DTM positioned itself as a national series but its reach has been greater than the German borders. Six of ten rounds scheduled for the 2020 season take place outside of Germany. The series has been regular trips to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Italy. The last time every DTM round was held in Germany was 2000, the first season of the revived series.

It is more than a national touring car championship but it is not a world series nor has it entirely embraced its status as a continental championship.

While being the launchpad for the careers of Dario Franchitti, Giancarlo Fisichella, Jan Magnussen, Paul di Resta, Robert Wickens and Pascal Wehrlein, it was a home for the talents of Bernd Schneider, Mattias Ekström, Mike Rockenfeller, Marco Wittmann and René Rast and a sanctuary for the post-Formula One careers of Mika Häkkinen, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher and Keke Rosberg.

How can we keep this historic series alive?

There have been plenty of options tossed out in recent days and here are five of them, why they work and what flaws exist.

Privateer-Run DTM/Expansion of Class One Entries
This is the most basic one: Instead of factory run programs, privateer teams could run the Audi cars while the BMW teams continue and to make up for the loss of Mercedes-Benz and now Aston Martin the Class One cars used in Super GT expand to full-time programs in Germany and we see Honda, Toyota and Nissan all eligible for the full-time DTM grid.

The cars already exist and the regulations are already in place. Instead of running the Japanese cars in one-off events, a handful are regulars on the grids and with five eligible manufactures instead of two, the grid could boom and easily have 20-25 entries at each race.

The problem?

None of the Audi teams want to run privateer programs, it is too expensive in general to run privateer cars in DTM and none of the Japanese manufactures are interested in full-time entries in a European-based championship.

Convert to GTE Regulations
Former DTM race winner Altfrid Heger heralded this road in recent days and, funny enough, I suggested this a little over two years ago!

There was a caveat to a GTE idea when I proposed it back in 2018: DTM would need support from the ACO to make this happen and it would mean moving the GTE class out of the European Le Mans Series.

ELMS had nine GTE entries in 2019. ELMS would be fine without GTE. It had 19 full-time LMP2 entries and 15 full-time LMP3 entries last year. The prototype classes carries that series. You can take out GTE and hardly anyone would notice.

Nine entrants would not be enough for a full series but if the DTM became a GTE-only series and if it awarded invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, we could see a boom or at least a strong grid of at least 16-20 entries. It would have to become a pro-am series or have a pro class along with a pro-am class and the race format would have to be altered a bit.

A ten-round series with a pair of 50-minute sprint races would likely not meet the demand of the entrants. At the same time, I am not sure a ten endurance races would be financially optimal either. There would have to be some middle ground, something similar to an IMSA schedule. We could keep sprint races, maybe three or four two-hour races or two-hour and 30-minute races for places like Norisring, Brands Hatch and Lausitz but then have three or four endurance races with a four-hour length at Nürburgring, Hockenheim and Monza.

The issue with GTE is it has taken a big step back in the last two years. BMW and Ford are out of World Endurance Championship. BMW still has an IMSA program and Corvette has one program, the factory IMSA program. That leaves Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin. You can fill a grid nicely with customer run Ferraris and Porsches but it will feel a little stale and I question how much factory interest would be in this series, especially with WEC programs and IMSA programs already in existence.

Two years ago, I was hoping for a wave of manufactures to enter GTE with the class at five full-time WEC participants and then Corvette. That is not going to happen and kind of leaves this idea dead in the water.

Convert to GT3 Regulations
Hans-Joachim Stuck promoted this option after Audi announced its plans to leave the championship.

The only issue is Germany already has a strong GT3 series in ADAC GT Masters and I do not see that series losing entrants because DTM now accepts GT3 cars.

However, I do think DTM could be a GT3 sprint series, similar to what Pirelli World Challenge was and that could have some legs. I am not talking about the SRO sprint series format but a single-driver professional series with a pair of 50-minute races each weekend. The cars and teams are out there but I struggle with finding why this series would be more appealing than the handful of GT3 options that already exist in Europe.

The DTM might have the better television deal. That could be a selling point. The only issue is if it is reliant on privateer teams and money that would mean more amateur participants while professionals would struggle for rides. DTM cannot copy what ADAC GT Masters does with co-drivers and a range of all-professional lineups with some pro-am teams.

The GT3 pool is diluted and the one thing DTM could do to stand out has a weak business model.

Convert to TCR Regulations
Similar to the GT3 option, there is already a TCR option in Germany but the TCR class is still in its infancy.

The ADAC TCR German Series does not have the same social capital as ADAC GT Masters does with GT3 racing. ADAC TCR German Series had about 15-17 cars at every race last year but it is a lower level compared to the quality of the DTM grid. I am sure the DTM drivers would take whatever job they can get and if TCR is the option they will be happy but some will move on and you will have some TCR German drivers move into the series and it won't feel like the DTM.

The closest comparison I can think of is the Indy Racing League when you had Billy Boat, Greg Ray, Donnie Beechler, Jeret Schroeder and Rick Treadway on the grid. These guys aren't that great, don't try and convince me they are that great, the only reason they have these seats is because someone had a vision, created a series and lowered the bar so low about 15 C-level driver could become IndyCar drivers while there were 24 drivers in CART that could school all of them. People will see it is an inferior product and more will lose interest.

That is what DTM risks becoming if it adopts TCR regulations, the German IRL.

Evolve into Something Else
This is the most expensive option but it might payoff the most for DTM.

I could get intrigued if DTM became the electric GT series. I think this has been an avenue that has been woefully under-pursued but if BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz all have strong interests in electric automobiles this is something DTM should have maybe been on top of five years ago.

If these manufactures are trying to sell more electric cars on the road than perhaps showcasing them on the racetrack will help generate interests. It could become a place not just for the three German manufactures to display this product but it could see Jaguar, Renault and other electric interested manufactures join as well.

There will be challenges, for starters we are in the middle of a pandemic, economies are cratering and I doubt any manufacture can get the millions of dollars necessary to get this off the ground. Current events aside, the audience might not embrace it but if we already have plenty of GT3 series, if GTE isn't that enticing and if TCR isn't that sexy, DTM might have to completely reinvent what it puts on track and be something that does not exist anywhere else on this planet to turn some heads.

It can still be DTM. It can still go to Hockenheim and the Norisring. It can still make trips to Brands Hatch, Monza and Anderstorp. It can be a pair of 50-minute sprint races, with one show on Saturday and the next on Sunday. It should do all of that. It doesn't have to completely shed its history but evolve its present and near future.

It doesn't have to be Formula E smug and condescending. Nobody wants that. It can still be the fun DTM. It can bridge the divide between the existing motorsports culture and the new electric automobile market, which has not always done a great job attracting those who are already in motorsports and drawing in people with no motorsports interest whatsoever.

It is a pipe dream but it could be what the series needs to survive.

There is always a sixth option: Death. Nobody wants that.

Evolving, especially into an electric series, requires a lot of work but the clock is ticking. Something needs to be done otherwise DTM will die and it will not have the pandemic to blame.