DTM boss Gerhard Berger says a name change for the series is \u201con the radar\u201d as organising body ITR attempts to broaden the tin-top championship\u2019s global appeal.
\nEx-Formula 1 driver Berger has repeatedly stated his intentions to improve the global credentials of the DTM since becoming ITR chairman last year, and is targeting luring a new manufacturer to replace the soon-to-exit Mercedes.<\/p>\n
But Berger admitted that, looking further ahead, the current Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters name could limit the series\u2019 worldwide marketability.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The name] has a lot of pluses and a lot of minuses,\u201d he told Motorsport.com. \u201cIt\u2019s always a matter but in Germany there\u2019s a very, very strong fan crew who are behind DTM.<\/p>\n
“But outside of Germany they would like to have a more international name. We have [a change] on the radar but so far no conclusion.”<\/p>\n
Audi’s head of motorsport, Dieter Gass, accepted that the DTM moniker made \u201clife difficult for the championship\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that needs to be looked at properly,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the other hand, DTM is a brand name as well and everybody knows what DTM is. There\u2019s two sides to the matter really.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2018D\u2019 in particular now for us, and for Gerhard to talk to potential new manufacturers outside of Germany, is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gass added that DTM should be open to morphing into a full world championship, like that of the 1996 International Touring Car Championship.<\/p>\n
The ITC – which collapsed at the end of that year, four years prior to the revival of the modern DTM in 2000 – featured a predominantly European calendar but also held rounds in both Brazil and Japan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a championship like [DTM as it is now] in the long term, purely German, will be quite difficult to sustain,\u201d Gass said. \u201cWe need to be more international.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Berger added that moving towards a world championship was at least another two years away.<\/p>\n
\u201cStep-by-step, we have to strengthen first our core product within the DTM, especially in countries like Britain or Italy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re back again but it takes two or three years to stabilise it and bring it back ahead of the fans. So it\u2019s not a one-off where you\u2019re going to be successful, it takes time.<\/p>\n
“I would say in year three, if it\u2019s adapted in new places, we could think about the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DTM boss Gerhard Berger says a name change for the series is \u201con the radar\u201d as organising body ITR attempts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16,17],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-car-race","tag-formula-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions\/133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilyturfthemes.com\/demo\/omag-pro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}