2014 Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisters (DTM)

[MatskiMonk]

DTM
Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisters
2014

CALENDER

04th May - Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (Germany)
18th May - Metropolis Motorsport Arena Oschersleben (Germany)
01st June - Hungaroring Budapest (Hungary)
29th June - Norisring (Germany)
13th July - Moscow Raceway (Russia)
03rd August - Red Bull Ring Spielberg (Austria)
17th August - Nürburgring (Germany)
14th September - Lausitzring (Germany)
28th September - Guangzhou (China)
19th October - Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg (Germany)

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I'll update this thread as news comes through regarding the 2014 section.



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First bit of news so far after the calender confirmation, Andy Priaulx will be leaving the DTM to drive for BMW in the USCC. Dirk Werner also won't be driving for BMW in the DTM in 2014, so two new drivers will take to the grid for BMW - Maxime Martin and antonio Felix da Costa.

 

[Furinkazen]

Is Hungaroring a new round?

 

[MatskiMonk]

Is Hungaroring a new round?

Yep, also China. although they've dropped the UK Event at Brands..

 

[Dennisch]

And Zandvoort?? They dropped Zandvoort?? For frikkin' China??

 

[SagarisGTB]

Yep, also China. although they've dropped the UK Event at Brands..

I'm sorry for UK fans, but the Brands Indy circuit creates dire racing at this level, even for DTM standards. Zandvoort is the far bigger loss and for far more significant reasons.

I welcome the Hungaroring, great track, but another Chinese street circuit is underwhelming.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Yep, also China. although they've dropped the UK Event at Brands..

The organisers have said that there's no more market in the UK. All three marques have reached the point of brand saturation - they could spend a hundred dollars or a hundred million dollars on marketing, and they would not be able to penetrate the public consciousness any more. On the other hand, there is still untapped potential to be had in Russia and China.

another Chinese street circuit is underwhelming.

It depends on the circuit. If it's done properly, it could be good.

 

[MatskiMonk]

BMW official driver line-up

Augusto Farfus/Joey Hand @ BMW Team RBM
Bruno Spengler/Martin Tomczyk @ BMW Team Schnitzer
Timo Glock/António felix da Costa @ BMW Team MTEK
Marco Wittmann/Maxime Martin @ BMW Team RMG

 

[Tired Tyres]

Dallara with BMW badge official driver line-up

Augusto Farfus/Joey Hand @ BMW Team RBM
Bruno Spengler/Martin Tomczyk @ BMW Team Schnitzer
Timo Glock/António felix da Costa @ BMW Team MTEK
Marco Wittmann/Maxime Martin @ BMW Team RMG

Best driver in the line up by miles and miles. If he doesn't win, something is up.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Best driver in the line up by miles and miles. If he doesn't win, something is up.

He's good, and spending the last year as the test driver certainly seemed to work quite well as a formula for the (less experienced) Marco Wittmann last year.

Really I think the weight of expectation at BMW now is on Farfus. Though they've moved the (massively underperforming) Tomczyk to the Schnitzer team, I'd expect to see better performances from him this year... and I'm till hoping to see Hand at the front of the grid sometime soon.

 

[Third Reign]

I really learned to dislike Tomczyk last season, so arrogant and nothing was his fault. Heck I could go without the entire Schnitzer lineup in DTM.

Maxime "Mr GT" Martin and Augusto will be the ones I'll be rooting for. I'm especially interested in seeing how Maxime will adapt to the high DF cars and if I can still marvel at his racecraft in the Blancpain S+E series. It would be a shame to limit him to DTM only.

I also hope that DTM will stray away from the shortest possible track configuration. This causes for too much overlap between early 2 stoppers and late stoppers. Those "Blue Flags" last season were a farce.

 

[MatskiMonk]

At Audi...
Filipe Albuquerque is out of the Audi DTM program and in to their LMP & GT cars, his RS5 DTM seat will be occupied by Nico Müller, who's come up from the World Series by Renault 3.5's. Other drivers confirmed so far for Audi are current champion Rockenfeller, and previous champions Ekstrom, and Scheider.

Meanwhile, at BMW...
Da Costa will run a Red bull sponsored M4 DTM as BMW and Red Bull have announced today.... not sure where this leaves the two Audi Sponsored cars of Ekky and Scheider?

Whilst over at Mercedes....

Tumbleweed and generally no news?

 

[hawkeye122]

I don't see why BMW keep shuffling their drivers. GT and Touring aces like Hand and Prialux didn't do jack in DTM when they could have been getting wins elsewhere. Now they pull Maxime Martin? Goodness gracious...

Look at all the successful people in DTM, they're either Prototype drivers, F1 test drivers, or really BA lower formula guys. (Or they've done it for a million years). So why bother keeping the GT guys around?

 

[MatskiMonk]

Good news everyone

The 2010 champ returns, Paul di Resta back at Mercedes!

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Good news for Formula 1 fans, certainly. Paul di Resta was a pain in the neck. I don't know what he was like in DTM, but when he was in Formula 1, all he ever did was complain and make excuses for his poor performances.

 

[Azure Flare]

Will BMW be continuing with an E92 based car or will they have a new car?

Nevermind, this is what happens when I don't search for this stuff ahead of time.

///M power

 

[Brend]

Yes! Di Resta is back.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Good news for Formula 1 fans, certainly. Paul di Resta was a pain in the neck. I don't know what he was like in DTM, but when he was in Formula 1, all he ever did was complain and make excuses for his poor performances.

Well, he is Scottish, hardly the cheeriest of sportsman at the best of times!

I could be wrong - I saw it, but did not follow DTM very closely until the '12 season - but, he was pretty good in DTM, generally all round quick, and IIRC it was normally in one of the older spec cars than the guys at the sharp end. Mercedes do need a little more experience back in their line-up.

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Mercedes do need a little more experience back in their line-up.

Bring back Bernd Schneider!

 

[Appie]

Bring back Bernd Schneider!

Schneider is busy winning GT3 races with his SLS AMG.

 

[Third Reign]

And he has "retired" from racing! But for someone who is retired, he does an awful lot of winning.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Vitaly Petrov (officially) to Mercedes.

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2014/02/28/mercedes-signs-vitaly-petrov-for-2014/

Mercedes signs Vitaly Petrov for 2014
Ex-Formula 1 driver, Vitaly Petrov, has been signed by Mercedes to form part of its 2014 DTM programme.

Petrov had a Formula 1 career of 57 starts between 2010 and 2012 with the Renault, Lotus Renault and Caterham teams.

Petrov left Formula 1 at the end of 2012, but remained involved in motorsport and was the first Russian to drive a DTM car.

Prior to the first DTM round in Russia in August 2013 at the Moscow Raceway, Petrov drove Mercedes’ C-Coupe DTM at the Moscow City Racing promotional event.

At the Moscow Raceway, he drove Mercedes’ ‘Race Taxi’ as further promotional work.

In January 2014, Petrov tested with Mercedes at Portimao with a view to a race seat for the upcoming DTM season.

“The DTM is a great racing series and I’m very happy that Mercedes are giving me the chance to compete against the world’s best touring car drivers”, said Petrov following the announcement he is to form part of Mercedes 2014 DTM driver line-up.

Petrov added he is aware of the challenges ahead of him in the DTM, but believes his decision to race in the series will help motorsport flourish in Russia.

“I’m aware that I’ve got a steep learning curve ahead of me, but I love a challenge and accept it gladly.

“Motor racing is becoming ever more popular in Russia; last year, the DTM debuted at the Moscow Raceway and Sochi will host Formula 1 for the first time this year.

“I am certain that we will see many more Russian racing drivers in various series in the future and I hope that I can do my part in the DTM to make our sport more popular in my home country.”

Mercedes motorsport boss, Toto Wolff, said he is looking forward to how Petrov’s DTM career develops, and his signing will be a boost for Mercedes’ Russian market.

“I am looking forward to see how things will develop within DTM,” said Wolff. “Vitaly had a successful test in our DTM Mercedes C-Coupe at Portimao and I’m sure that he will be valuable member of our team.

“He is a great sportsman and representative of his country, who has already demonstrated his ability by achieving, among other things, a podium finish in Formula 1.

“He will also be a great asset for Mercedes, especially in the Russian market.”

Mercedes’ 2014 DTM driver line-up so far is Gary Paffett, DTM returnee Paul di Resta, Dani Juncadella and Petrov.

In 2013, Mercedes’ drivers in addition to Paffett and Juncadella were Roberto Merhi, Pascal Wehrlein, Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens.

 

[TomatoFK]

Is there any race they will be running against the SuperGT? Maybe in China? Or they just share the chassis.

 

[Third Reign]

Currently they have only unified the regulations. The racing nature of DTM and SuperGT is also a bit different. DTM is a full on sprint while SGT has more endurance character. I would assume that with the unified regulations, teams could enter in the respective other series now, but I haven't heard of any rulings concerning this. It would be a pretty cool Idea for German GTAcademy to enter a GTR GT500 in DTM for example. But compared to the GT4/3 entries other candidates win, I think the costs of such a project would prevent it.

 

[MatskiMonk]

I think they are on about 2015 for a show event.

 

[MatskiMonk]

Presenting the BMW M4 DTM

 

[MatskiMonk]

Audi unveil this years RS5 at Geneva

 

[MatskiMonk]

Mercedes have announced their driver line-up now officially:

The Mercedes-Benz driver line-up for the 2014 DTM season is complete: Apart from former DTM champions Gary Paffett and Paul Di Resta, ex-formula 1 driver Vitaly Petrov will line up in this season’s DTM for the brand with the three-pointed star, along with last year’s Mercedes-Benz DTM drivers – Daniel Juncadella, Christian Vietoris, Pascal Wehrlein and Robert Wickens.

That's an entry of 7 cars, with Merhi in the testing role.

At least with DiResta and Paffett they can mount a reasonable challenge. It'll be interesting to see how Petrov does.

 

[Bo]

In other news, the M4 DTM quite clearly has some severe eye pigmentation!

 

[MatskiMonk]

@hsv010 lol, either way, it's certainly not the looker that the E92 inspired M3 DTM was!

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Since I haven't followed DTM since the last time new cars were revealed (when BMW joined), is Mercedes going to be showing a new car?

EDIT: So part of the 2012 season for maybe 2 or 3 races and that was it since then