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Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

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 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (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 made the same in order to provide equal opportunities without the actual design of the road cars having any influence, as in World Touring Car Championship.

Specifications

Engine Displacement: 4 liters with DOHC V8
Gearbox: 6 Speed sport gearbox
Weight: 1070 kg with driver
Power Output: 480 hp
Fuel: Aral Ultimate 100 octane
Fuel Capacity: 70 liters
Fuel Delivery: Fuel injection
Aspiration: Normally aspirated
Length: 4850 mm
Height: 1250 mm
Width: 1845 mm
Wheelbase: 2795 mm
Steering: Servo assisted with rack and pinion, rack and pinion steering with power assistance

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 take 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

Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

Daimler AG

* Mercedes CLK: 2000-2003

* Mercedes C-Class: 2004-present

Volkswagen Group

* Audi TT: 2000-2003

* Audi A4: 2004-present

General Motors

* Opel Astra: 2000-2003

* Opel Vectra: 2004-2005

DTM results

Year	1st	2nd	3rd
2009	TBD	TBD	TBD
2008	TBD	TBD	TBD
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	Marcel Fässler 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.