DTM | R-Motorsport Aston Martin Withdraw From Series

[azaralamouri]

I always wondered,

Why are racing series getting poorer year after year? Less people who care? Bad car manufacrurers economy? Bad national economies? Why was it better before in the first place?

Why aren't there normal races for the normal production cars? Simply the fastest, safest and most durable car wins.

Who, comments in racing forums like racedepartment? Is the majority people who work in cars, racing or journalism who are forced to know about their work? Or the majority are real car entusiasts?

 

[Will Mazeo]

I always wondered,

Why are racing series getting poorer year after year? Less people who care? Bad car manufacrurers economy? Bad national economies? Why was it better before in the first place?

Why aren't there normal races for the normal production cars? Simply the fastest, safest and most durable car wins.

Who, comments in racing forums like racedepartment? Is the majority people who work in cars, racing or journalism who are forced to know about their work? Or the majority are real car entusiasts?

Well there is a cycle of decline from time to time, especially sports cars. Seems like GT3 was the only one that brought enough stability but then prices are rising which will make this fall again if 2022 rules dont make them cheap
Problem with DTM (and GT500) is that every team there is semi factory so manufacturers are spending a lot to develop the car and sustain these teams for something that is mostly seen locally. Even in international series being so dependent on factory teams is not good let alone national championships

 

[KittX]

Errr... Doesn't the "D" stands for "Deutsche"?

If you are against non-D manufacturers in DTM, then keep your D championship on deutche tracks. You don't seem to bother about tracks though. Double standard?

 

[Majuh]

"DTM" doesn't stand for anything anymore. Back in 2005 already, they dropped the name "Deutsche Tourenwagen-Masters" and started using "DTM" as a brand name. It wouldn't make sense anyway since modern DTM is neither Deutsch nor uses Tourenwagen anymore.

 

[Jonny Austin]

I always wondered,

Why are racing series getting poorer year after year? Less people who care? Bad car manufacrurers economy? Bad national economies? Why was it better before in the first place?

Why aren't there normal races for the normal production cars? Simply the fastest, safest and most durable car wins.

Who, comments in racing forums like racedepartment? Is the majority people who work in cars, racing or journalism who are forced to know about their work? Or the majority are real car entusiasts?

I dont think race series are getting poorer.The amount of money manufacturers & wealthy drivers spend is just being stretched across to many series.The series often go in cycles up & down because the more money you spend the faster you go & then it breaks at a certain point.Series like Aus Supercar,BTCC & SRO GT3 have controlled costs very tightly,used BOP & have had many years without the bust.

If you are a race fan there is no time better than now.When I started watching racing in the 1970s the Le Mans field was filled out with modified street 911s & it was barely a contest.Richard Petty would win Nascar races by 3 laps & pole in F1 qualifying was 10 secs faster than the car on the last row!The cars were great then but the racing was nowhere near as close or competitive as now across all series.

 

[ivanalesi]

They didn't BoPed properly and Audi dominated... Aston's record against BMW isn't too bad at all! But the Audis were just uber fast.
The racing has been incredible, absolutely amazing racing... but now they should lower down costs, so that privateer teams can join OR they should offer some help to the Japanese, in terms of performance, to join. The joint race in Japan was pretty good. If there are 5 brands... it will be amazing. Super GT+ in Europe

 

[azaralamouri]

I dont think race series are getting poorer.The amount of money manufacturers & wealthy drivers spend is just being stretched across to many series.The series often go in cycles up & down because the more money you spend the faster you go & then it breaks at a certain point.Series like Aus Supercar,BTCC & SRO GT3 have controlled costs very tightly,used BOP & have had many years without the bust.

If you are a race fan there is no time better than now.When I started watching racing in the 1970s the Le Mans field was filled out with modified street 911s & it was barely a contest.Richard Petty would win Nascar races by 3 laps & pole in F1 qualifying was 10 secs faster than the car on the last row!The cars were great then but the racing was nowhere near as close or competitive as now across all series.

If there is one conclusion I learned from following racing since the 90's, it will be the following: "the more sufisticated the cars are, the more boring the racing is". One ace example is Moto3. With their 250cc (plenty) they do Epic races with hundreds of over takes, unlike MotoGP or Formula 1.

 

[Zuffenhausen Weiss]

To be honest; AM, a brand of grand tourer, looks out of place in a pseudo 'touring car' spec series - they shouldn't give up their day job, which is GT racing.

BMW is also better off pulling the plug and focus on their endurance racing effort and so do Audi.

DTM is already a joke looking to having it's life support machine switched off.

If DTM was to be revived again, they should look at the old Superstars Series and keep it production bodies with engines like those in production - nobody want Frankenstein cars that look nothing like the real thing and spec formula is capitalism dressed up as cost cutting

The decision to run 2 liter I4 turbo cars sums it all up - it's not working and they look out of place in it's road equivalent and it's not Group 5 anymore. If people want a 2 liter touring car series, theres TCR for them.

TLDR - better off switching off it's life support machine and join the motorsport graveyard (that includes the old Class 1) than to linger through a miserable end

 

[KittX]

nobody want Frankenstein cars that look nothing like the real thing and spec formula is capitalism dressed up as cost cutting

Problem is the real equivalent of those cars are terrible, at least for racing. I like the idea of those cars being silhouette-body stock cars, but IMO they could be simplified, like Stock Car Brazil for example.
Even as they are now, they provide very good racing, and i'm not sure the stripped our production behemots would provide any acceptable racing, especially minding half of those are FWD.
Beemers E30, Merc 190 were brilliant nimble cars with great structure integrity. Modern production cars just aren't like that.

 

[TPGRacing75]

Problem is the real equivalent of those cars are terrible, at least for racing. I like the idea of those cars being silhouette-body stock cars, but IMO they could be simplified, like Stock Car Brazil for example.
Even as they are now, they provide very good racing, and i'm not sure the stripped our production behemots would provide any acceptable racing, especially minding half of those are FWD.
Beemers E30, Merc 190 were brilliant nimble cars with great structure integrity. Modern production cars just aren't like that.

That sort of thinking is the same reason I don't really care that NASCAR is a silhouette series and not true "stock cars". Like modern German street cars, most street cars of the late 90's/early 2000's in America would have produced terrible racing.

stock cars only work in racing if the stock vehicle is any good for racing to begin with.

 

[M-Bimmer]

Will miss that sexy Aston.

wondered why the Astons did not appear in the super gt vs dtm but never cared to find out.

 

[michelforest]

If you are against non-D manufacturers in DTM, then keep your D championship on deutche tracks. You don't seem to bother about tracks though. Double standard?

Not at all, I was just asking a question. It seems to me like DTM was mostly a German racing series with a few foreign drivers, a bit like NASCAR is mostly American. Most of the tracks are in Germany and the cars were German too, until Aston joined.

Here in Canada, we got DTM tv coverage for a couple of years, when Bruno Spengler was one of the leading drivers. It was dropped eventually, due to low ratings I guess.

 

[michelforest]

I always wondered,

Why are racing series getting poorer year after year? Less people who care? Bad car manufacrurers economy? Bad national economies? Why was it better before in the first place?

Why aren't there normal races for the normal production cars? Simply the fastest, safest and most durable car wins.

Who, comments in racing forums like racedepartment? Is the majority people who work in cars, racing or journalism who are forced to know about their work? Or the majority are real car entusiasts?

One thing that sort of worries me is that there seems to be less and less enthusiasm for motor racing among teenagers and young adults. I am a teacher at a college and my students are 17-20 years old. I don’t hear them talking about motor racing among themselves at all. I wonder if old geezers like me (I am 53) are part of a dying breed of racing enthusiasts? I hope not...

 

[Riblo]

Sorry to say that but now that the regulations are the same for DTM and GT500 cars they should pull te plug from the joke that DTM become and go to race all in Japan where Super GT is still a believable racing series

 

[ZeldaACFan17]

I would love to have an MK4 Supra or a Skyline... and I'm American...

 

[cmtr]

Deutsche Trüb Meisterschaf, thank god for BTCC and Oz Supercars.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

No surprise at all - was always a private effort & then they started having a dispute with their engine supplier, not entirely sure why R-MS entered in the first place to be honest ( unless it was a twice removed Mercedes effort after all ). As far as Grand Tourers vs Saloon cars, they're all the same body in DTM, so who cares what the roots are. Made little sense for marketing, would have made a bit more sense in SuperGT but that would have needed actual AMR involvement. If DTM keels over that leaves SuperGT to go back to 2-door bodies, yes please. Everyone asking VW to join, who are Audi then?

Back to roots, DTM - how about NGTC rules ( ala BTCC ) with larger cars & larger engines - say 2.5L hybrid & BMW 5 series size.

 

[Slowdive]

Sorry to say that but now that the regulations are the same for DTM and GT500 cars they should pull te plug from the joke that DTM become and go to race all in Japan where Super GT is still a believable racing series

I take it you haven't watched any DTM recently? It's actually one of the better series out there. So I have no clue what you're talking about.

 

[Maxstrong01]

The DTM field has dropped to just 14 cars following the surprise withdrawal of R-Motorsport and their four car Aston Martin outfit.

Making a debut in the German based DTM series last year, R-Motorsport certainly turned plenty of heads with their all new Aston Martin Vantage DTM machine, a car developed in record time as the squad looked to pick up the slack following Mercedes withdrawal from the championship at the end of 2018.

Despite having very little time to put together the four car programme ahead of the season start, R-Motorsport would enjoy an encouraging if character building campaign in 2019, going the year without a podium finish to their name in spite of showing flashes of speed with the attractively designed Aston Martin machines.

Heading into the close of last year, the squad would fail to take part in the DTM / SuperGT crossover event at Fuji Speedway, citing a desire to both monitor costs and continue preparations for 2020, casting the first doubts on continued participation in the category beyond the close of the previous season.

Further concerns were raised following an announcement that the outfit have parted ways with engine build HWA, the company partly responsible for much of Mercedes success in recent years, and now the nail has finally been hammered into the coffin of the squad as they confirm their departure from DTM racing - just one year on from making a high profile debut in the category.

Dr. Florian Kamelger, R-Motorsport DTM Team Principal had the following to say of Friday's announcement:

”The reassessment of our motorsport program showed that we want to set new priorities for the future and that the DTM engagement would not be appropriate for us anymore. What we have decided regarding our 2020 motorsport program we will announce at a later stage. However, I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you particularly to Gerhard Berger and the ITR, to Dieter Gass and to Jens Marquardt for the common engagement in DTM during our debut season. Especially BMW has been an extraordinary helpful partner for us.” ​

​

With Aston Martin now absent from the grid, the DTM looks set to field just 14 cars at the season opening round in April - the lowest since the championship returned to competition in 2000. Both BMW and Audi remain committed to the category, and both German brands have confirmed they will assess the situation alongside promoters ITR as they look to find solutions for increasing the grid size ahead of the opening round at Hockenheim.

One option is thought to be the addition of additional customer teams for both squads, with BMW already strongly rumoured to be considering options to find a seat for Williams outcast Robert Kubica, potentially as a two-car works supported team.

With R-Motorsport out of the series with immediate effect, 2019 drivers Paul di Resta, Ferdinand Habsberg, Jake Dennis and Daniel Juncadella are all looking for alternative employment in the year ahead - providing some tempting driving talents should BMW and Audi find the resources to put together additional customer programmes in the short space between now and the season opener on April 24th.

Original Source: R-Motorsport

Talking is fun - head over to the Motorsport sub forum and start a thread today!

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It is difficult to understand the decision of AM to go out from DTM just after one year that they entered into the competition investing time end money for this program. It does not give a good feeling about as AM is managed. A real medium term planning seems to be not in place.

 

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R-Motorsport has not much in common with Aston Martin Racing. It is a private team using the old Mercedes cars with a new badge. AMG was preparing and providing engines from Mercedes and changed the car's appearance.