DTM 2008: Prominent Drivers, Eleven Rounds, New Regulations
Wiesbaden. The DTM-season has started. On Sunday morning
the most popular international Touringcar-Series was presented
in the sports-loving city of Duesseldorf. On the occasion
of the official kick-off press conference all of the nineteen
drivers were introduced. Most prominent arrival on the DTM-grid
is Ralf Schumacher, who starts with a last-year-spec Mercedes
into his premiere season. “DTM is completely new to
me, I’m basically a 32-year-old rookie”, said
the brother of the F1 record World Champion amidst some laughter.
“I’m just aiming not to stall the engine at the
start of the race at Hockenheim next weekend.”
Defending Champion Mattias Ekstroem (Sweden/Audi) sees a
good omen: “In 2004 Audi presented the new A4, and I
won the Championship. Now Audi introduces another new A4.
I should be lucky.” But he is not alone in the fight
for the title: Seven times Le Mans-winner Tom Kristensen (Denmark/Audi)
as well as DTM-record Champion Bernd Schneider (Germany/Mercedes-Benz)
and last year’s runner-up Bruno Spengler (Canada/Mercedes-Benz)
strive for the prestigious Championship. “We have a
great team, and I’m quite certain that the sport and
the excitement will be even better in the new season”,
commented Mercedes-Benz sports director Norbert Haug. The
Stuttgart-based company will field nine cars, Audi will send
ten cars into the competition. Audi motorsports-director Dr.
Wolfgang Ullrich said: “Our driver line-up is the strongest
we ever had in DTM.” When talking about the fans both
bosses agree: “The customers – our fans –
will always be king in DTM.”
Eleven races are on this year’s calendar. Rounds will
be organized in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Great Britain,
France and Spain. “It is our goal to establish DTM in
other European markets as an attractive platform for motorsports”,
explained ITR-Chairman Hans-Werner Aufrecht. Those who cannot
make it to the tracks in person do not have to miss anything:
They can watch DTM-action in the media. TV-partner ARD will
broadcast all qualifying sessions and races live. The opening
presentation, all press conferences as well as summaries of
all heats and background stories can be watched free on the
brand new DTM.tv (www.dtm.tv).
Regulations are optimized
In time for the season opener next weekend DMSB (Deutscher
Motor Sport Bund) has released the final regulations for the
DTM-season 2008. After thorough consideration by touring car
experts of Germany’s governing body, series-promoter
and holder of the rights to DTM, ITR e.V. as well as the manufacturers
Audi and Mercedes-Benz a number of modifications were introduced.
These are the five most important points:
Team orders outlawed
To guarantee a high measure of fairness in the rounds of the
DTM all team orders will not be tolerated in order to prevent
a contortion of the competition. The 2008 rule book explicitly
states: “Team orders which affect the result of the
race are forbidden.”
Pit stop-windows defined for compulsory stops
DTM races will be easier to be followed by the introduction
of more obviously defined windows. The heats over roughly
160 km respectively 60 minutes will be looked at as three
thirds. The two compulsory stops with tyre change and the
opportunity to re-fuel have to be carried out in the second
third of the race. In this context the rules valid until 2006
regarding the Safety Car are re-introduced and allow compulsory
pit stops during a Safety Car phase. Thus it will be insured
that a Safety Car phase at such a time when not all cars have
had their obligatory stops does not lead to a contortion of
the competition.
New minimum weights
The minimum weights for the cars including driver will be
for 2008 as follows:
• Cars with an aerodynamic package of 2008: 1.050 kg
• Cars with an aerodynamic package of 2007 1.040 kg
• Cars with an aerodynamic package of 2006: 1.030 kg
The basic weight of cars with an aero package of 2006 can
be adjusted after the first two rounds.
Introduction of pit stop penalty
An additional sports penalty will be introduced from 2008:
The pit stop penalty. It supplements the valid penalties such
as time- and drive-through-penalties in order to account for
less serious incidents. Drivers who have not yet had their
two compulsory stops will be halted at the beginning of the
pit lane for the time allotted but – as opposed to procedure
of the drive through-penalty – may stop at their garage
for a tyre change.
Compared to a normal stop the stay at the garage is only prolonged
by the penalty time. This measured influence on the race does
not cost additional time for the drive to the pits.
Different time for Warm-up
In 2008 the Warm-up will not be held on Sunday morning but
shortly before the start of the race. From 13:05 h drivers
and teams have ten minutes to make final adjustments and prepare
the pit stops.
Record Crowd: 200.000 Fans Attend DTM-Presentation
Duesseldorf and the DTM – it just fits. Already for
the third time the capital of North Rhine Westphalia hosted
the great DTM-presentation just a week ahead of the opening
round at Hockenheim. According to police sources 200.000 fans
followed the presentation of cars and drivers in the very
heart of the city. Lord Mayor, Joachim Erwin was content with
the well-run event: “200.000 fascinated and excited
spectators at the Koenigsallee are proof of the fact that
Duesseldorf and the region are highly affine to motor sports.
No other city can lure so many people to the track to experience
motor sports live – despite the fact that an F1-race
was broadcast at the same time.” ITR-chairman Hans-Werner
Aufrecht was equally happy: “The unbelievable feedback
of Duesseldorf’s population shows once more how popular
DTM is. Now we are looking forward to a fantastic start to
the season in Hockenheim.”
The colourful and highly entertaining programme was presented
by ARD-personality, Claus Lufen. His colleague, comedian Oliver
Pocher was responsible for much track-side laughter. The spectators
could experience the DTM-stars at close range. Interviews,
pit stop-competitions and autographing sessions made sure
that the fans were well entertained. In particular new DTM-arrival
Ralf Schumacher (Mercedes-Benz) and the Swedish defending
champion, Mattias Ekstroem (Audi) were facing throngs of fans.
“You can see F1-drivers only on TV – but this
here is great”, many visitors commented. Absolute highlights
were the presentation laps of the 470hp-strong DTM-cars on
the Koenigsallee which was closed for normal traffic. Apart
from Audi’s and Mercedes-Benz’s race cars the
spectators could also marvel at cars from the supporting series
Formula 3 Euroseries, ADAC Volkswagen Polo-Cup, Porsche Carrera-Cup
and the Seat Leon Supercopa.
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