Audi, BMW Have “Facts on The Table” After ADAC Deal

Management from Audi and BMW say they’re able to proceed with planning for the 2023 DTM season after new series owner ADAC announced its plans for the series after taking it over from previous promotor ITR.

Following the acquisition, ADAC revealed a multi-tier pyramid system with DTM at the top tier, with the existing ADAC GT Masters moved under the ‘DTM Endurance’ umbrella alongside the LMP3-based Prototype Cup Germany.

It also confirmed an eight-round calendar primarily focused on Germany, kicking off at a returning Oschersleben and doing away with all rounds in southern Europe that had been a feature of the championship in previous years.

The announcement brought an end to weeks of uncertainty for manufacturers, with Sportscar365 first reporting of a potential series sale at the end of November.

Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport, told Sportscar365 that the Bavarian manufacturer had no involvement in the talks but began to suspect something was up when both series repeatedly delayed the release of their calendars.

“We realized it quite quickly, but we were not involved in the discussions,” Roos said.

“We were not involved but we realized when everything was postponed, we knew that there was something going on.”

Roos said the timing of discussions was troubling for BMW, as it meant it had to pause its planning phase for the 2023 season.

“It made our life not very easy, because at the moment we are in the phase to define contracts, programs and everything,” he said.

“For sure DTM is a part of it and in the end you have to get the full puzzle together because you can really define everything and tick the box when you have all the knowledge of calendars and programs.

“For sure we want to defend our title. One hundred percent. We didn’t want to show up with the M4 GT3 for only one year.

“The plan is definitely to continue there, but as you have to understand there were a lot of discussions going on in the last weeks.

“We had to wait for what is now decided by ADAC. Now we can continue and we can go into the planning to set up a good spot so that we can successfully fight for victories again.”

Roos’ comments were echoed by Audi Sport’s head of customer racing Chris Reinke, who similarly said Audi is now able to proceed with its planning phase for next year.

“It’s very important that now we have something to discuss,” Reinke told Sportscar365.

“We now have facts on the table that we can see what kind of potential, what kind of risk does this new setup carry. We can start to plan to discuss.”

Reinke, however, did criticize the late timing of the announcements, saying it makes it difficult to map out the season appropriately, especially considering its parallel commitments in other championships.

“It’s far too late,” he said. “Even if we say yes but they postpone the start of the season. We have so many connects with other commitments, it’s very tricky.”

Significant question marks still remain for manufacturers with regards to driver ratings in DTM and GT Masters, with Platinum-rated drivers set to be ruled out from competing in the latter series.

“That puts some stress on me,” Reinke said of the new measure. “At least we have something to start discussing. That’s very positive. But it’s very late in the year.”

Roos added: “For sure there are also still some details that have to be clarified. There were questions about driver ratings or categorization, if it’s Gold, Silver, Bronze or Platinum.

“All of this has to be decided but on the other hand we already have some BMW teams which already committed to ADAC GT Masters.

“For sure they now have to start the discussion with ADAC again. Hopefully we see BMWs in GT Masters and also in DTM.”

Reinke said Audi will have to investigate whether ADAC’s proposed pyramid system will work within its customer racing framework. 

“For me in customer racing, the focus is to have a format that’s accessible that can be run by our partners,” he added.

“In the end for us as well [it has to be] profitable. We have to review now thoroughly if the new DTM format is of such.”

John Dagys contributed to this report