DTM 2023

[GusGasfuss]

I believe there will be more than 24 entries.

Of course it is now more expensive, but to be honest - we speak about the smallest part of the budget (entry fee and tyres), so this might not be a big problem.
Also sponsorship should work, as all people around know, that this might be the most seen GT3 championship around Europe, maybe the world (as GTWC coverage is not that good).


Of course, in the moment the teams can't announce much, as they may have to wait for ADAC to decide. We know in the moment only the official BMW entries, with their works drivers.
All others have to wait.


Problem with teams is, that not all might be ready for DTM. Because of the sprint character of the races, you need to be absolutely professional and well-budgeted.
So ADAC needs to find these teams, who are ready for this. Others should stay/switch to endurance like GTWC or other race formats with 2 or more drivers in one car.


Only concern might be GT Masters...i don't see there much progress :-(

[Matt K]

Well, with current realignment of ADAC's championships DTM could, theoretically, get much stronger than it was the last two years under shaky ITR and Berger's leadership. Lack of fights between DTM, ADAC and SRO should also prove beneficial for the DTM.
As for GT Masters, well, at least for now, it'll probably become a much weaker second league although let's wait and see how the grids compare - both in terms of quantity but also (maybe most importantly) quality.

[GusGasfuss]

Originally Posted by Matt K

Well, with current realignment of ADAC's championships DTM could, theoretically, get much stronger than it was the last two years under shaky ITR and Berger's leadership. Lack of fights between DTM, ADAC and SRO should also prove beneficial for the DTM.
As for GT Masters, well, at least for now, it'll probably become a much weaker second league although let's wait and see how the grids compare - both in terms of quantity but also (maybe most importantly) quality.

I believe, that some GT Masters teams will try to reach within DTM, others might go to GTWC and some will head to other lower series, where you can run GT3 machinery.
GT Masters might only have some small grid.

[tux]

Im so glad they destroyed GT Masters, really awful that championship, cant believe it survived for so long...

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by tux

Im so glad they destroyed GT Masters, really awful that championship, cant believe it survived for so long...

Why?

[fergus_r]

I get the feeling that was sarcasm…

[tux]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Why?

Yeah sarcasm.

[FIRE]

okay

[Bcarr6]

Apparently ABT have sold one of their Audi's to Team Engstler, but are keeping the other two and have applied for spots in the DTM again

This is unaffected by the Lamborghini NLs entry

[Matt K]

Yes, they've pretty much confirmed they're staying with Audi for the DTM and will field two cars. It's expected that Kelvin van der Linde and Ricardo Feller will remain their drivers.

[NaBUru38]

Last year the DTM and ADAC GT Masters had good grids. I can't see why it wouldn't be the case this year, now that the prototype mixture has been dropped for the latter.

If I understand correctly, the ADAC GT Master will no longer allow pro-pro pairings, correct? This rule shouldn't be a problem to have full grids.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Apparently ABT have sold one of their Audi's to Team Engstler, but are keeping the other two and have applied for spots in the DTM again

This is unaffected by the Lamborghini NLs entry

Abt will run a Lambo in NLS?

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

If I understand correctly, the ADAC GT Master will no longer allow pro-pro pairings, correct?

Correct

[Matt K]

The problem GT Masters might encounter is that it can happen that many teams will have difficulties with getting sponsors on board since they'll be playing second fiddle to the DTM. This can already be seen with RTL (Nitro) withdrawing from showing the GT Masters. The reason is said to be that the GT Masters will no longer be the 'top show.'

However, there'll probably be still some pretty well-funded teams faithful to GTM as well as pro-amateur pairings in which the pro stands for quality and the amateur provides sponsorship package. Still expect a decent GT Masters grid in terms of the quantity. We'll see about the quality.

[Juntos]

Why is Mercedes-AMG taking so long to announce its drivers?

[Matt K]

Basically the teams are not allowed to announce its drivers before ADAC announces the teams and cars. BMW's done it but that was down to miscommunication and ADAC wasn't happy about it.
According to GT Place, on Wednesday there's a DTM Kick-Off Day when all of the teams will be announced and only afterwards the teams will be allowed to present their drivers and so on.
Seems a bit strange but probably that's down to the registration process.

[Matt K]

Kelvin van der Linde is no longer a factory Audi driver despite remaining affiliated with ABT. Makes me wonder, will he be still driving an Audi for ABT in the DTM despite no longer being a factory driver or will he move somewhere else?

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by Matt K

Basically the teams are not allowed to announce its drivers before ADAC announces the teams and cars. BMW's done it but that was down to miscommunication and ADAC wasn't happy about it.
According to GT Place, on Wednesday there's a DTM Kick-Off Day when all of the teams will be announced and only afterwards the teams will be allowed to present their drivers and so on.
Seems a bit strange but probably that's down to the registration process.

I dont mind the approach. British GT do it, although I imagine they do it in a more friendly way with the teams, sounds like ADAC are being a bit heavy handed.

I like the idea to build a bit of excitement

[Matt K]

Yeah, tomorrow's going to be an exciting day. What we know for sure is there's no Team Rosberg there and allegedly there are 14 teams and 6 manufacturers.

Guess we have Abt and Engstler for Audi, Schubert and Project 1 for BMW, Winward and HRT for Mercedes, Bernhard and Manthey for Porsche, Grasser and SSR for Lamborghini and Emil Frey for Ferrari. That gives us 11. I'd say the remaining ones are Landgraf (Mercedes), Toksport (Porsche) and Attempto (Audi).

Again there were plans for Aston Martin but again they fell through, allegedly. Who knows, maybe next year.

[NaBUru38]

Abt switched to Lamborghini, didn't they?

[Matt K]

Not for DTM. For DTM they keep two Audis but yeah, will do some races with Lamborghini this year.
Honestly saying I think this is the beginning of the end of Audi in GT despite what was said last year.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by Matt K

Not for DTM. For DTM they keep two Audis but yeah, will do some races with Lamborghini this year.
Honestly saying I think this is the beginning of the end of Audi in GT despite what was said last year.

Its the start of a slow decline thats for sure.

Kelvin van der Linde has announced hes departing Audi. Joining Weerts, Vanthoor, Rast, Muller over the off season.

Thats some big hits.

Simon Gachet and Max Hofer join, some good young talent but nothing to make up for the loses theyve had.

[Bcarr6]

13 Teams announced, cars and drivers announced from tomorrow ONWARDS:

Porsche: Toksport WRT, Manthey EMA, KUS Team 75 Bernhard
Mercedes: Landgraf, Winward, Haupt
Audi: Team Engstler, ABT Sportsline
Ferrari: Emil Frey
Lamborghini: SSR Performance, Grasser GRT
BMW: Schubert, Project 1

Project 1, Engstler, Landgraf, and Manthey are newbies...

Nothing entirely surprising here, most pleasant surprise is a Ferrari on the grid. After the Rosberg withdrawal 2 Audi teams is no shocker.

If everyone enters 2 cars thats 26 cars on the grid. 24+ would be a good result i'd say

[FIRE]

21 FEB DTM 2023 WITHOUT TEAM ROSBERG
Posted at 13:21h in DTM, Uncategorized by Rosberg
This year, the DTM will take place without Team Rosberg. Since its formation back in 1994, the team from Neustadt an der Weinstraße has been, except for the 2005 season, a part of the DTM or ITC, which was the official international successor to the DTM in 1996. But now the team led by team principal Kimmo Liimatainen sees no chance of being able to compete in the DTM in a competitively and economically reasonable way and has had to refrain from enrolling with a heavy heart.

“We do not just want to participate, we want to win races and titles. That is and remains our ambition,” says Kimmo Liimatainen clearly. “But for that, you need support that unfortunately we were not able to generate by the registration deadline at the beginning of February. Therefore, entering did not make sense to us. I really do regret that, since I believe we would have had a good chance for top positions. Our development in recent years and our work over the winter had certainly made me very optimistic.”

Team Rosberg looks back on 24 years in the DTM, including 17 DTM seasons with Audi Sport, which were filled with lots of success. The DTM driver’s title went to Neustadt three times and the team was team champions twice. The total of 36 race victories with Audi race cars also shows that Team Rosberg has always been a strong and reliable partner of Audi Sport, delivering top-level performances at a high sporting level. In addition to working with established drivers such as René Rast or Nico Müller, the team has also been able to quickly bring inexperienced drivers up to a higher level. This was also proven by the second place of American Dev Gore at the DTM race in Imola 2022.

And what’s next? “We are exploring possible new fields of activity in GT sports for this season; a return to the DTM is also not ruled out,” says Liimatainen. “Furthermore, we are continuing our involvement in Extreme E and want to reclaim the title there. And TRE GmbH, one of the leading companies in the field of chassis development for production cars, will continue to be an important business area for us.”

Will be interesting to see if they return to the track this season. I have the impression teams who were so long connected to a manufactuerer struggle without.

[Matt K]

Well, quite a nice day of excitement although it was all more or less expected. Really nice to see Porsche's increased involvement as well as Lamborhini having now two strong teams as opposed to just Grasser. Especially as, let's face it, last year Grasser was all about Bortolotti, the rest pretty much non-existent. Although it's pretty mysterious why SSR had the 'supported by Lamborghini' under their logo whereas Grasser didn't.
Also good to see Ferrari will be retained, I'm pretty curious about Emil Frey Racing's performance.
Audi's camp is shrinking, that's sad but well expected unfortunately.

Now it will be exciting to see all the drivers confirmed. I'll have a guess about that based on the rumours:

BMW
Schubert - S. van der Linde|R. Rast/D.Vanthoor
Project 1 - M. Wittmann| TBA - no clues there, although would be great to see a young and talented driver here, like Ben Green for instance. Would also love to see Leon Kohler being given a chance.

AUDI
ABT - K. van der Linde|R. Feller
Engstler - L. Engstler (second car unlikely)

MERCEDES
HRT - L. Stolz|A. Maini
Winward - L. Auer|D. Schumacher (third car unlikely)
Landgraf - M. Engel|J. Owega

PORSCHE
Bernhard - L. Heinrich|A. Guven
Manthey - T. Preining|D. Olsen
Toksport - M. Dienst|?? no idea there to be honest

LAMBORGHINI
Grasser - C. Schmid|R. Ineichen? Although would expect someone much stronger if they want to remain in the sharp end of the field
SSR - F. Perera|C. Engelhart

FERRARI
Frey - T. Vermeulen|A. Costa


What's interesting is that it seems Maximilian Gotz will not be back. Can't help but feel his controversial title win in 2021 hampered his reputation. First Haupt didn't want to retain him for 2022 despite winning the title and now he's removed from the DTM altogether. Would be a bit sad if that was the case - you can say whatever you want about a way he grabbed the title but it was Mercedes who orchestrated all of that, not Gotz himself. Yes, he had a nightmarish season last year but personally I'd rather see him in the DTM than Maini or Schumacher.