DTM evaluating series name change to broaden global appeal - Berger
DTM boss Gerhard Berger says a series name change is "on the radar" as organising body ITR attempts to broaden the category's global appeal
Berger, who was announced as ITR chairman in March 2017, has repeatedly stated his intentions to improve the DTM's global credentials and his plans include luring an international "premium" manufacturer to the championship for '19, after Mercedes exits.
The former Formula 1 driver also reckons the full Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters name could be limiting the series' worldwide marketability.
"[DTM] has a lot of pluses and a lot of minuses," he told Autosport. "It's always a matter but in Germany there's a very strong fan crew who are behind DTM.
"But outside of Germany they would like to have a more international name. We have it on the radar but so far no conclusion."
Audi's head of motorsport Dieter Gass accepts that the DTM moniker makes "life difficult for the championship".
"It's something that needs to be looked at properly," he said.
"On the other hand, DTM is a brand name as well and everybody knows what DTM is. There's two sides to the matter really.
"The 'D' in particular now for us, and for Gerhard to talk to potential new manufacturers outside of Germany, it's a problem."
Gass added that DTM should be open to morphing into a full world championship, along the lines of its International Touring Car Championship iteration in 1996.
Before the DTM's revival in 2000, the ITC featured a predominantly European calendar but also held rounds in Brazil and Japan.
"I think a championship like [DTM as it is now] in the long term, purely German, will be quite difficult to sustain," said Gass. "We need to be more international."
But Berger, who has overseen the reintroduction of DTM rounds in Britain and Italy, explained that moving DTM towards a world championship was at least another two years away.
"Step-by-step, we have to strengthen first our core product within the DTM, especially in countries like Britain or Italy," he said.
"We're back again but it takes two or three years to stabilise it and bring it back ahead of the fans.
"So it's not a one-off where you're going to be successful, it takes time. I would say in year three, if it's adapted in new places, we could think about the next step."
Previous article
Audi's Jamie Green: 'Painful' 2018 DTM year down to qualifying woes
Next article
DTM needs minimum 16 cars without Mercedes in 2019 - Audi
The slow-burner threatening to unseat Audi's DTM king
It's taken him a while to emerge as a consistent title challenger, but in the final year of DTM's Class One rule set, Nico Muller has smoothed the rough edges and has double champion stablemate Rene Rast working harder than ever to keep up in the title race
How a DTM failure became an unlikely Nurburgring conqueror
Opel's fortunes in the DTM had taken a turn for the worst by 2003 - hardly the pedigree that suggested it could take on the toughest 24-hour race of them all. But that's exactly what it did
The season that revitalised a sleeping giant
On the 20th anniversary of the resumption of hostilities in the DTM, Autosport revisits a classic season that brought a staple of German motorsport back to life with a bang and set in motion the careers of some notable names
Does 2000 hold the answers to DTM's current crisis?
It's 20 years since the DTM roared back into life at a packed Hockenheim with a back-to-basics approach as the antidote to its high-tech past. Now it's on its knees again, so is it time to recall the lessons learned in 2000?
The last-chance saloon of Germany's forgotten tin-top champions
The Opel Vectra GTS was the last in the line of the marque's DTM challengers, but failed to hit the lofty heights of its predecessors when financial constraints hit
Ranking the 10 best Audi DTM drivers
Audi last week announced it would be exiting the DTM at the end of 2020, bringing the curtain down on 20 years of continuous participation since the series' reboot in 2000. Autosport's expert panel ranks its 10 best drivers from the period
How the DTM landed itself in crisis
Audi's announcement that it will withdraw from the DTM was the latest bodyblow for a series that has lost three manufacturers in as many years. Some major soul-searching will now be required to assess how it can survive
The FE cynic who had to accept change in his series
DTM boss Gerhard Berger was an ardent detractor of Formula E and was reluctant for his series to embrace greener engine technologies. But this cynic's tune has had to change to ensure the DTM's existence in the future of motorsport
