Loic Duval, winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, believes the DTM will merge with other racing series following Audi’s resolve to leave elegance after 2020.
The DTM is about to abandon its Class 1 platform and may adopt reinforced GT3 cars starting in 2021, but ITR boss Gerhard Berger warned that the series might have to be “liquidated” after this year if it was not obtained from the manufacturer.
The transfer to GT3 cars, with or without functionality innovations, will pit the DTM against rival ADAC GT Masters, as well as a multitude of championships, adding SRO’s GT World Challenge series and the International GT Open.
Audi Duval’s driving force believes that the DTM can no longer justify its position in a crowded landscape and that it is better to initiate a fusion with some other series to ensure its survival.
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“I think there are already too many championships in motorsport in general, we already have the WEC, Blancpain [formerly called gtWC], [ADAC GT] Masters in Germany,” Duval told Autosport when asked his opinion about the long term of the DTM.
“I think they merge with anything else instead of doing some other championship.
“For me, that would be best for the overall game.
“The DTM is a very, yet evolving platform and I think they also want to replace it.
“I don’t think it’s imaginable for the DTM to do its own championship by its own rules.
“I hope you find something for this platform, but I think merging with some other series would be the right decision.”
Duval switched to DTM four years ago after Audi finished its LMP1 program with a large fortune at the end of the 2016 season.
The Frenchman, who scored the Le Mans/FIA World Endurance Championship double with Audi in 2013, said news of Ingolstadt’s imminent withdrawal from the DTM “is easier to swallow” than his departure from LMP1.
“We had the bad news of the coronavirus rupture that Audi will withdraw from the DTM,” Duval said.
“After 2016 and the announcement of the prevention of LMP1, I’m getting used to it!
“I would say it’s a little less difficult to swallow than the LMP1 program for a number of reasons; firstly because in the DTM we already had the rumor that everything vulnerable, and in my center I prefer to stay in power race, is more what I like to do.
“But it’s a general disgrace to motorsport because I think the DTM has a lot of value, but it is.
“It gives us additional motivation this season because we have to do well over the last [year] as an organization of people and also as drivers.”