DTM / SuperGT Join Forces in 'Class One' Regulations

[Paul Jeffrey]

The DTM and SuperGT series will join forces in 2019 following confirmation of the new Class One ruleset for 2019.

Bringing together two of the most spectacular and dramatic championship in motorsport under a single set of rules was hailed as a "a milestone for international motor racing" earlier today, as DTM Chairman Gerhard Berger and SGT Chairman Masaaki Bandoh shook hands on a deal to bring the two series together for the very first time. With a common set of regulations due to be enforced as early as 2019, the move to Class One rules brings about the possibility of running both the German DTM touring car series and Japanese SuperGT category together in the same race event, something both parties are keen to make happen next year in dedicated "one off" races, one to be held in Europe and one in Japan.

With shared rules meaning the potential exists for both series to run together at the same time, the main driving force behind the new rules are to encourage new manufacturers into each series, potentially allowing a team and car to run in both DTM and SuperGT races during the same season, a point seen as key to making the rules a success and expanding the grids of both already spectacular series...

“I want to thank Bandoh-san and all the peers that jointly worked on the new ‘CLASS 1’ regulations very much,” Berger said. “I’m really happy about the fact that DTM and SUPER GT made a crucial step on the way to our goal: to jointly hold races. By the creation of these regulations we kept on pursuing our previous course consequently. Furthermore, we set the course for the future of DTM that will fully adopt the new regulations from 2019, thus remaining an attractive platform for the car manufacturers.”

“In 2019, we are going to hold the first-ever joint race events where DTM and SUPER GT cars compete together,” Bandoh added. “I strongly believe that the joint events will bring new excitement for motorsports fans around the world and both SUPER GT and DTM will continuously develop together.”​

The Class One rules have been designed to both keep costs under control, by way of a series of standardised parts, and also to increase the spectacle of racing in terms of both speed and drama. It is thought the new rules, coupled with a new 4 cylinder turbo engine will allow the cars to achieve speeds of up to 300kph, up by over 100bhp compared to current DTM machinery.

With the German series left reeling following the proposed withdrawal of Mercedes at the end of this season, the DTM plan to adopt the new rule set from 2019, with their Japanese counterparts looking to go live from the 2020 racing season.

Exciting times for fans of both series lay ahead...

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Do you think the new Class One regulations will be a success? Excited to see what the new partnership might bring? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[Will Mazeo]

If you watch SGT this news is actually horrible. Japan didn't need DTM regs before and dont need it now, they should keep doing their own thing, it is much better.
I hope this deal will fail rather soon, I really do.

 

[Knoxstar]

Smart move. Gerhard has done IMO a great job with DTM. Reducing aero and no tire warmers has made things much more interesting. It's what they've done with GT3 and TCR and hopefully some day others. SGT is a fantastic series as well but my only question is the 4 cylinder turbo engine. Do they mean 1 engine like Gibson in P2 or it just has to be a 4 cylinder turbo engine from the manufacturer?

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

If you watch SGT this news is actually horrible. Japan didn't need DTM regs before and dont need it now, they should keep doing their own thing, it is much better.
I hope this deal will fail rather soon, I really do.

Good thing it won't be DTM regulations then, but a new set of regulations

 

[Deleted member 99238]

Super GTM

 

[Sky]

as long as its dtm adopting gt500 rules i'm fine with it.

 

[Grape-Juice]

Gonna be amazing GT3 GT500 and DTM races.

 

[Will Mazeo]

as long as its dtm adopting gt500 rules i'm fine with it.

Yep, if this was the case would be great. But it isn't. Hope SGT wont go full spec like DTM and will keep car development and tire war.

Good thing it won't be DTM regulations then, but a new set of regulations

It is DTM regs already but fortunately SGT didnt get all of it. Basically SGT (GT500) is what DTM tried to be since a few years ago, difference is that SGT is more open and allow car development + tire war while DTM wanted it so spec it would be a single engine maker with Audi and BMW logos on it.
If SGT end up like that it's going to suck big time.

 

[formidable]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! We want v8s on DTM!

 

[wra1th21]

DTM is actually leaning more towards Super GT, as Super GT has already been adopting most of the class 1 regs, it's the DTM that is lagging behind as the manufacturers were reluctant to move to the 4 cylinder for this year.

 

[Nick Gregory]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! We want v8s on DTM!

The GT500 cars have more power.

 

[howitzer155mm]

"German Touring Car Championship backed by Assetto Ferrari join forces with Japanese GT500 racing"

League of Nations (FIA): Uh oh...

 

[Otune]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! We want v8s on DTM!

The GT500 cars have more power.

And the GT500 cars sound better as well

 

[Richard Dastardly]

I wouldn't shed a tear if both died & GT500 reverted to actual GT cars again. DTM will do anything to survive, I guess.

I suppose I should elaborate a bit, and how I see types of racing:

* GT - obvious draw is they're customised road cars
* Touring cars - as GT ( it's even in the name ), just cheaper & less fragile
* Sports prototypes - well, these are a bit harder to place because there's not all that much difference between a prototype & a single seater, other than the bodywork over the wheels and the space for a child passenger seat. However they're the technological pinnacle of endurance racing.
* F1 - meant to be simply the fastest cars around a track. I lost interest quite some years ago, but the idea is still true.

Where does DTM fit into this? it's a silhouette prototype series masquerading as touring cars, and it's quite bad at either of them. The original DTM died for two reasons: cars were starting to cost fortunes - active suspension, 4WD, custom engines, custom chassis etc - and secondly, Bernie who turned it into the ITC which flopped terribly. Why then was the replacement all the bad parts of this and none of the touring cars? no wonder it keeps struggling.

Why did GT500 turn into a silhouette formula? this is a genuine question. Why do anything remotely like DTM if you're going to be a silhouette GT class too?

If there needs to be a faster class than GT3 again why can it not still be production based, less customisation than GTE still to keep costs down a bit, but using smaller production runs than GT3? that'd give everyone the hypercar class they want that they're not going to get from LMP1 no matter how much they wish for. However this time actually force the homologation requirements so we don't end up with yet another GT class broken by prototypes. It'd overlap horribly with GTE, but then again I'm very far from impressed with the state of GTE...

If DTM wants to be faster than BTCC ( which is marginally quicker than TCR still ) then... use bigger four door road cars with bigger engines, not overgrown hot hatches. Having a "M4" in DTM and also in GT4 is kinda pointing where DTM has gone wrong.

 

[Ryno917]

If you watch SGT this news is actually horrible. Japan didn't need DTM regs before and dont need it now, they should keep doing their own thing, it is much better.
I hope this deal will fail rather soon, I really do.

SGT and DTM have had the same chassis rules for 2 or 3 years now. The difference has been in aero (SGT more advanced) and engines (SGT much more power). Honestly, looking at this, it sounds like SGT will stay exactly as is and DTM is the one that's changing in an effort of survival.

I don't see how this could possibly be bad for SGT?

 

[Sporadik]

Good for future sim racing titles, as we may now see SGT cars in our sims as official content instead of mods. I think people may be rushing to conclusion, exposure outside its native market for SGT is a good thing and vice versa with DTM.

 

[Isaac Chavira]

I'm very curious to see how the NSX fares against the AMG C63 or the RS5.

 

[Nick Hill]

Not an active follower of either series, but I hope it works out for both series for the sake of motorsports in general. Maybe it's just my impression, but it seems like interest is waning across the board.

This is guaranteed to get me some dislikes, but maybe electric vehicles will rekindle interest - perhaps people will start to see innovation in the vehicles themselves, as most of the people I know base their car purchase decisions on which one has the most tricked out infotainment system.

 

[Ryno917]

Not an active follower of either series, but I hope it works out for both series for the sake of motorsports in general. Maybe it's just my impression, but it seems like interest is waning across the board.

It definitely is, generally speaking. While some series see temporary resurgences of grid numbers and fan engagement, there's a general downward trend across the board in the industry as a whole.

This is guaranteed to get me some dislikes, but maybe electric vehicles will rekindle interest - perhaps people will start to see innovation in the vehicles themselves, as most of the people I know base their car purchase decisions on which one has the most tricked out infotainment system.

I'm with you. FormulaE is great. The racing is genuinely exciting to watch most of the time. It still boggles my mind to see die-hard F1 fans call FE boring, when it is clearly the far more entertaining racing. I genuinely mean that. F1 has been a snooze-fest since the late 90s. I'll miss the sounds and smells of IC engines as much as any die-hard fan, but ultimately I'm a racing fan, not an engine fan. I don't give a rats ass what's pushing those wheels around a track, so long as there's several sets of wheels battling for positions. Seeing multiple vehicles in on the limit in close combat is what the sport is all about; the rest is just dressing.

 

[Jonny Austin]

DTM is done.The major problem it always has had for many years is that the cars are so expensive to run there are no privateer or team run cars to fall back on when the manufacturers predictably leave like they always do.Look at any well supported series like GT3,BTCC & Supercar V8s & the common thing is that when manufacturers leave the series continues.