Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

DTM manufacturer gap too big at start of 2017 season - Mercedes

Mercedes DTM boss Ulrich Fritz says the gap between the series' three manufacturers has been too big at the start of the 2017 season

The series introduced several regulation changes over the winter including softer compound tyres, a ban on tyre warmers, the awarding of points to the top three drivers in each qualifying session and making both races in a weekend the same length.

But manufacturers have been able to dominated sessions and races so far this season.

Audi drivers occupy four of the top five places in the drivers' standings ahead of the fourth round of the season at the Norisring this weekend, while Timo Glock is BMW's sole representative in the top 10 in the points.

Mercedes and Audi also have three wins apiece at the start of the year, while BMW is yet to get off the mark.

"I think [the field] should be much more mixed, not because I want to win races," said Fritz.

"For sure [I want to win], but also for the fans.

"It's a better show if the three brands also battle each other and not one day one brand is in front and the other day the other brand.

"If you look at the performance deltas, they are also created by the weight system.

"[I hope] over time it will be equalised it and then we will not see six Audis, six Mercedes and six BMWs."

EARLY STOPS WON'T WORK EVERYWHERE

Pitstop windows were also scrapped for the 2017 season, with drivers able to serve their mandatory stops at any point during the 55-minute races.

While the softer tyres introduced for 2017 were expected produce higher levels of degradation, drivers have been able to pit in the early stages of races and gain an undercut - with the Hankook tyres proving durable enough to last to the finish.

Fritz said he had not anticipated that tyres would last an entire race distance, but added he did not expected the same trend to occur at every venue.

"We did not believe that [the tyres could last for the whole race]," he said.

"We knew that maybe for some tracks like the Hungaroring you could do a lot with the tyre, or also Lausitzring.

"[But] I still believe you can't really do it in Hockenheim or Zandvoort.

"At Zandvoort there is no way you could do something like that and also not in Hockenheim, there would be just too much tyre degradation."

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Mortara finding Audi to Mercedes DTM move harder than expected
Next article Norisring DTM: BMW's Martin snatches pole from Audi driver Rast

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe