2013 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisters (DTM)

  • Thread starter MatskiMonk
  • 185 comments
  • 14,929 views
Terrible luck for Farfus. 18 points crucial points gone because of a bad gearbox. :(

Good job from Wehrlein, made up for a poor qualifying session to get into the points for the first time. 👍

Mercedes making it known they have Paffett driving for them, with 5 hired pawns to help him out. It's only race two. The Audi and BMW drivers are racing against 21 other drivers, Paffett is only racing against 16. 👎
 
Tired Tyres
Audi and BMW do exactly the same thing so don't pretend they don't. 👎
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At the end of the season, sure. Right now? I don't think so. Farfus, Tomczyk and Spengler look to be free to race each other on track. As are Rocky and Scheider. Of course they let teammates through who are on different strategies, but they don't completely favour one driver like Mercedes does.
 
That's because Mercedes only have one championship contender driving for them.

Audi and BMW have many more possible champions so they have to wait until a clear favourite to emerge before backing him.

Blame Mercedes for not having enough really good drivers fair enough, but don't blame them for doing exactly what Audi or BMW would do under the same circumstances.
 
GOTMAXPOWER
That was dumb, the leaders are at the fastest part of the track and come across a BMW X5 towing a DTM car from one side of the track to the other. Not even under the safety car 👎
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Yeah, that was seriously dumb. I almost thought that the cars are going to hit them. Sure, the yellow flag does remind the drivers of something but safety car was definitely needed in that situation. Very poor decision by the race control...

The race was fine, still gutted on what happened to Farfus. His pace had been consistent throughout the race and definitely a chance to be on the top was there. At least Bruno on the podium keeps me happy. Roll on the next race!
 
Well done Dallara, your GP2 chassis with a BMW body is 1-2-3. :)

Seriously, It's good to see Glock on the podium. 👍
 
Tired Tyres
Well done Dallara, your GP2 chassis with a BMW body is 1-2-3. :)

Seriously, It's good to see Glock on the podium. 👍
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That M3 bodywork must be kickass then! Since BMW drivers now occupy 5 of the top 10 slots in the drivers championship, the top 3 teams in the teams championship, and have more manufacturers points than Audi and Mercedes put together!! :D :D

Seriously though, I'm obviously glad that the results are going the way they are, but you have to wonder how long Mercedes and Audi will put up with it. I understand that Audi have been busy outspending everyone at Le Mans, and Mercedes are now funding their own F1 team, but given it is a spec series, can it really just be that BMW are outspending the others? It's not great for the sport if the new guy comes in and does dominate (although I'm enjoying it!). Also, I'm sure a lot of the money they are spending is not on the cars.... did you see the size of the hospitality suite at Brands!!!

What is the performance differentiator that Audi and Mercedes need to focus on? Is it just their drivers? Or is there something about the cars that isn't as uniform as a 'spec' series would suggest?

Either way, although I've not watched the Brands Hatch round yet (and didn't really see much 'racing' at the track), the DRS and Soft tyres this season do seem to have spiced up the racing.

Edit:

Also wanted to add, after observing all the drivers interactions with their fans up close at Brands, Timo and certainly Marco are NOT my preferred drivers at BMW.. I'll take the results, but 100 times out of 100 I'd prefer to see Farfus, Hand and Priaulx on the podium.
 
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Hello Mr DTM, I'm the tea boy for Audi & Mercedes, they've asked me to ask you if we can have as many horses under the bonnet as them nasty BMW badboys.

I know you probably had to let them have more ponies to entice them back into the series to start with but do we have to still have to put up with that? /joke. :sly:
 
Tired Tyres
I know you probably had to let them have more ponies to entice them back into the series to start with but do we have to still have to put up with that? /joke. :sly:
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Yeah, like I say, I'll take the results but it's my fear that this isn't too far from the truth.
 
MatskiMonk
Yeah, like I say, I'll take the results but it's my fear that this isn't too far from the truth.
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Nah, but I bet if you looked at the budgets BMW spend more than Audi and Mercedes combined. I must say after watching the last couple races I'm still baffled by the tire strategy, and that 2 stop rule certainly screwed over Molina, he was looking good for a top 10.
 
aarror
Nah, but I bet if you looked at the budgets BMW spend more than Audi and Mercedes combined. I must say after watching the last couple races I'm still baffled by the tire strategy, and that 2 stop rule certainly screwed over Molina, he was looking good for a top 10.
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Which brings me back to my earlier question, if all the cars are the same aside from the bodywork... where do you spend the money to find the pace?
 
Aero, Engines, Aero,suspension, Aero, drivers and Aero I'd say

Them wind tunnels don't pay for themselves you know.
 
MatskiMonk
Which brings me back to my earlier question, if all the cars are the same aside from the bodywork... where do you spend the money to find the pace?
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Testing, drivers, personnel. It's amazing what extra familiarity with the car can do for you. It will take you less time to find the right setup, because you'll know exactly what to adjust to change the car to your liking. Hire the right strategy people, and the top 2 drivers in the championship the previous year and you have a recipe for success. Also, I thought the manufacturers had their own suspension as well as bodywork.
 
I believe the aero package is in someway standardised at the start of the season, with no further development allowed thereafter. I could be wrong on that. The fairly un-detailed tech regs on DTMs website state that aero is one of the areas that can be used for development, along with engine and suspension, as TiredTyres pointed out.
 
Just thought I'd drop in and say that I am very disappointed with Mercedes. All the way around.
That is all.
 
Lausitzring Qualifying...

Robert Wickens on Pole for Mercedes

Fastest BMW was Spengler in 2nd

Edo Mortora for Audi in 4th..
 
Wickens and Spengler in first and second? My dreams are coming true!


Again, I used to race at the same track as Wickens, I met him on a number of occasions.
 
Tomczyks demise was inevitable, you can't run two wide round the whole of the Norisring! Shame, though some good racing there.

C'mon Bruno! Let's get Wickens done!
 
Hopefully the safety stays in for the rest of the race and Priaulx can makes some progress :)
 
MrMelancholy15
I'm Canadian, and what is this? No, Wickens, who's even more local than Spengler, should win. Bruno second, Priaulx third.
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Hmm, But I want a BMW to win :D

Priaulx dropped like a rock... it will be great if Hand can stay near the front, but he's got a pitstop to do so... I'm not sure this will be much of a result for BMW this week. :(
 

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