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Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
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The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a touring car racing series based in Germany, but also with rounds elsewhere in Europe.
From 2000 onwards, this new DTM continued the former Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German Touring Car Championship) and ITC (International Touring Car Championship) which had been discontinued after 1996 due to high costs.
ng the ITC era, a large proportion of the revenue generated by the championship went to the FIA, with the result that less went to the teams who subsequently complained of little return on their increasingly large investment in the high-tech series.
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Encyclopedia
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a touring car racing series based in Germany, but also with rounds elsewhere in Europe.
From 2000 onwards, this new DTM continued the former Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (German Touring Car Championship) and ITC (International Touring Car Championship) which had been discontinued after 1996 due to high costs.
History
The new DTM 2000
During the ITC era, a large proportion of the revenue generated by the championship went to the FIA, with the result that less went to the teams who subsequently complained of little return on their increasingly large investment in the high-tech series. Since 1997, many ideas were discussed in order to find a compromise for rules of a new DTM. Opel put the primary emphasis on cost control, Mercedes supported expensive competitiveness in development, BMW wanted an international series rather than one focussed on Germany only, while Audi insisted on allowing their trademark quattro four-wheel drive (despite running the rear wheel drive Audi R8 in sports car racing).
The DTM returned in 2000 as Mercedes and Opel had agreed to use cars that were based on the concept car that was shown by Opel on various occasions, eg. the 1999 24 Hours Nürburgring where Opel celebrated its 100th anniversary. The series adopted the format of the 1995 championship, with most rounds held in Germany with occasional rounds throughout Europe, but having learnt the lessons of the ITC disaster, the ITR constantly strived to keep costs in the series from exploding to unreasonable levels, and to keep the championship firmly tied to its German roots. As too many races were planned outside Germany, no Championship (Meisterschaft) status was granted by the DMSB, and the DTM initials now stand for (German Touring Car Masters).
The cars are supposed to be fast and spectacular, while still rather cheap to build and run. All DTM race cars have RWD and 4.0 L V8 engines which are air-restricted to 470 hp, no matter if similar layouts or engines are available in the road cars. Instead of the road car bodies, unrelated purpose-built chassis are used, which are closer to prototype racing. Many drivers have in fact described the handling of the cars as closer to single seater racing cars than road cars. Only the roof sections of the road cars are put on top of the roll cages, and lights and other distinctive design features are used in order to provide a resemblance to the road cars. Also, in order to save money and provide close racing, many common parts from third party specialist are used, like transmission (from Hewland and Xtrac), brakes and Dunlop Tyres. The all-important aerodynamic configurations are tested in wind tunnels before the season, brought to an equal level, and kept that way throughout the season.
Alfa Romeo, who at the time were mounting successful campaigns in the European Touring Car Championship, did not return to the series. BMW was also involved in the ETCC and was not satisfied with a championship only for Germany. Audi did not enter as they insisted on using their signature quattro 4WD.
Unlike the previous incarnation which primarily used sedan models like the Mercedes-Benz W201, the new DTM featured only 2-door coupés. Opel used the upcoming Coupé version of the Astra as in the concept car, and Mercedes the CLK model which already was used as a pattern for the Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR.
Attempts of Zakspeed to enter with a car looking like a Volvo C70 were not approved, but the motorsport arm of the Bavarian tuning company Abt Sportsline was allowed to enter on short notice. The 1999 STW-Supertouring-champion Christian Abt could not defend his STW title as this series was also discontinued, with Opel moving into DTM. Abt used the Audi TT as a basis, as Audi had no suitable 2-door coupé, even though the dimensions of this car did not fit into the rules.
DTM 2000-2003
In May 2000, the new DTM started with the traditional Hockenheimring short track version. Some cars still had no or few sponsorship decals. While Opel could match the speed of most Mercedes in the 2000 season, the hastily developed Abt-Audis were mainly outclassed. As the TT shape had rather poor aerodynamic properties, Abt was allowed to use a stretched form later. Further benefits like a higher rear wing helped the Abt-Audi TT-R win the DTM championship in 2002 with Laurent Aïello.
Ups and downs for Opel
In 2000, Manuel Reuter came second in the championship. After that year, no Opel driver was among the top three, with few podium finishes and no victory for the disappointing "lightnings". On the other hand, it was Opel team boss Volker Strycek who brought a new highlight to the fans, by racing a modified DTM car on the traditional old version of the Nürburgring in 2002, 20 years after the top classes had moved to the modern Grand Prix track, and 10 years after the old DTM stopped racing there. The Opels did not win in most of their entries in the VLN endurance races as they were mainly testing, but the speed was impressive, and the fans loved it.
Audi joins DTM in 2004
After their successes with the Audi R8 and the official support of the Abt-TTRs at the Nürburgring, Audi finally joined the DTM as a factory entry in 2004. The three constructors involved decided to switch to saloon bodies. The road models used as patterns since 2004 are the Audi A4, Opel Vectra GTS and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class. All dimensions, like wheelbase, are identical in order to provide equal opportunities without the actual design of the road cars having any influence.
DTM in 2005-2007
The championship suffered a setback in 2004 when long-time also-ran Opel decided to pull out of the series at the end of the 2005 season, as part of a large cost-cutting operation in General Motors' European division. Initially the gap looked set to be filled by MG Rover, however their plans to enter the series were cancelled after the company collapsed in April 2005. Audi and Mercedes fielded 10 cars each in 2006, but the important television deal required three marques in 2007. It had been rumored that the Gumpert Apollo would take Opel's place, but the 2007 season began with Audi and Mercedes once again entering 10 cars each.
Rumours surfaced that Alfa Romeo would return to the DTM in 2007. These rumors were helped by Alfa Romeo Sport boss Claudio Berro being seen in the Barcelona paddock. It was also thought that Alfa's possible return could be the reason why the 2007 DTM calendar started one month later than normal, to give Alfa Romeo extra time to make a DTM car. However, this did not happen. DTM continues on Motor Sports TV.
Race format
When the series returned, it used similar format to 1996: two races of 100 kilometres, with short break between them. In 2001 and 2002 there was short race of 35 kilometres as well as long race of 100 kilometres, which included one pit stop and gave points for top 10 as in earlier seasons. Since 2003 there has been only one race, which has distance of about 170 kilometres.
DTM drivers
The drivers have been and are a mixture of young and older drivers, including well known former Formula One drivers Bernd Schneider, Allan McNish, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, JJ Lehto, Johnny Herbert, Pedro Lamy, Alexander Wurz, Karl Wendlinger, Emanuele Pirro, Stefano Modena and former two-time F1 world champion Mika Häkkinen. Others, such as Laurent Aïello, Tom Kristensen, Dindo Capello, Frank Biela, Dirk Müller, Jörg Bergmeister, Marco Werner, Marc Lieb, Lucas Luhr, Alexandre Prémat, Jaroslav Janiš, and Alain Menu have made their career racing sports cars and touring cars.
However increasingly the DTM is being used by young guns such as the newly-crowned champion Mattias Ekström or Gary Paffett to jump-start their racing career in single-seaters. One driver this strategy appears to have worked for is Christijan Albers, who built a reputation by finishing 2nd and 3rd in the 2003 and 2004 championships with Mercedes-Benz and then graduated to Formula One in 2005. He came back in 2008, but this time driving for Audi.
Gary Paffett has also used his championship win to gain a test with McLaren, and they signed him as permanent test driver for 2006. This prevented Paffett from defending his title in 2006, however he thought that it will be a springboard for a race seat during the 2007 Formula One season. The plan failed however, and Paffett returned to DTM in 2007, but in a 2006 specification car.
Since 2006, two female drivers have taken part in the championship, Vanina Ickx for Audi and Susie Stoddart for Mercedes. In 2008 Ickx was replaced by Katherine Legge.
Point systems
2000: 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 for both races
2001: 3-2-1 for short race, 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 for long race
2002: 3-2-1 for short race, 10-6-4-3-2-1 for long race
2003 to date: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1
Manufacturer Representation
Mercedes-Benz
- Mercedes CLK: 2000-2003
- Mercedes C-Class: 2004-present
Audi
Opel
DTM results
| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|
| 2008 | Timo Scheider
Audi A4 | Paul di Resta
Mercedes-Benz C-Class | Mattias Ekström
Audi A4 | | 2007 | Mattias Ekström
Audi A4 | Bruno Spengler
Mercedes-Benz C-Class | Martin Tomczyk
Audi A4 | | 2006 | Bernd Schneider
Mercedes-Benz C-Class | Bruno Spengler
Mercedes-Benz C-Class | Tom Kristensen
Audi A4 | | 2005 | Gary Paffett
Mercedes-Benz C-Class | Mattias Ekström
Audi A4 | Tom Kristensen
Audi A4 | | 2004 | Mattias Ekström
Audi A4 | Gary Paffett
Mercedes-Benz C-Class | Christijan Albers
Mercedes-Benz C-Class | | 2003 | Bernd Schneider
Mercedes-Benz CLK | Christijan Albers
Mercedes-Benz CLK | Mercedes-Benz CLK | | 2002 | Laurent Aïello
Audi TT | Bernd Schneider
Mercedes-Benz CLK | Mattias Ekström
Audi TT | | 2001 | Bernd Schneider
Mercedes-Benz CLK | Uwe Alzen
Mercedes-Benz CLK | Peter Dumbreck
Mercedes-Benz CLK | | 2000 | Bernd Schneider
Mercedes-Benz CLK | Manuel Reuter
Opel Astra | Klaus Ludwig
Mercedes-Benz CLK |
The car types indicate which silhouettes of existing road cars were used.
For the winners of the original DTM from 1984 to 1996, see Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft.
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