Elkins Created “Mutual Respect” in First DTM Season

DTM race director Scot Elkins says he was able to create “mutual respect” between drivers and officials during his first season in the series.

The American, a former IMSA senior technical official, was named to the race director position a year ago in addition to his already established role as race director for the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Elkins replaced Niels Wittich, who moved to a permanent role with the FIA and is currently the race director in Formula 1 after originally joining as deputy under Michael Masi.

As race director for both DTM and DTM Trophy in an unfamiliar country, Elkins admitted he felt like he needed time to adapt during the early days of his tenure with the German organization.

“It was an incredible year considering I was very much a ‘fish out of water’,” he said.

“I was new to DTM, my German language skills were and still are quite poor, but it was amazing to be so welcomed by the entire DTM family.

“It was every bit the challenge I thought it would be and from my point of view, it worked out very well.

“I think we were able to create a mutual respect between the drivers, the officials and myself and that made working together much easier.”

Elkins and other race officials faced criticism at multiple points throughout the season because of driving standards during races.

Nico Mueller labeled the situation as “just ridiculous” after the Saturday race at the Norisring that saw 16 cars retire. Rene Rast, meanwhile, expressed a wish to discuss the topic with Elkins personally after claiming the series was ‘no longer fun to race in.’

“This is a topic every race director has to deal with and it is simply part of the job,” Elkins said about the driving standards debate.

“I think in every case one party will not be happy, but we have to judge as fair as we can and be very clear to the drivers and teams about what the expectations are for the driving standards.”

Elkins asserted an ambition to carry progress made during the past season into next year.

“It is necessary to keep doing what we did in 2022 and to extend this,” he said. “To involve the drivers and the team managers in the development of the regulations and to ensure that everyone is on the same page.”

He pointed towards the series’ progress on track limits policing as one of the key points of progress it has made throughout the year, claiming the series managed quell debate on the issue.

“Honestly, I think it is already in the background,” Elkins said. “We invested in a new technology for a camera system which automatically [spots] track limit violations.

“This has calmed down the controversy a bit as with this system, we know in black and white terms if it is happens or not and we can provide photos to the driver.”

DTM is one of the few series yet to release its 2023 calendar, although Sportscar365 understands the series is likely to kick off in April.