The real extent of Aston Martin's DTM challenge

Aston Martin's much talked about move to the DTM has been heralded in some quarters as the saving of the series. Whether or not you believe that to be hyperbole, it's hard to deny its significance.

In the wake of Mercedes' exit, in favour of pursuing a new challenge in Formula E, R-Motorsport's exclusive licence to run cars in Aston's name (through its parent company AF Racing) has the potential to be the catalyst for the most seismic of shifts in DTM history.

Its arrival also ended ITR chairman Gerhard Berger's quest to bring in a new, international, manufacturer, and satisfied criteria set out by Audi (and BMW) to make its commitment beyond the end of this season a "continuing" one.

That's a pretty strong start before a car has turned a wheel, but the challenge isn't done yet. In fact, the true scale of what the squad and its partners face in the coming months is only now becoming clear.

There's been plenty of chatter about what Aston's arrival means for the DTM and how it will rank against the series stalwarts this year, but the organisation behind the project has remained relatively shtum in that time.

An invitation to R-Motorsport's St Gallen base in Switzerland for the "worldwide launch of the Aston Martin Vantage DTM" should have provided answers about its programme but, while the team was certainly open - refreshingly so - in its communication, its answers have only prompted more questions.

A teaser video offered a first sign of things to come. Plenty of quick cuts and close-ups made distinct parts of the car identifiable as a DTM-spec Vantage, but not all of them were joined up.

Addressing respective Audi and BMW motorsport bosses Dieter Gass and Jens Marquardt, R-Motorsport team principal Florian Kamelger joked about keeping rivals waiting as he and his AF Racing co-owner Andreas Baenziger took the covers off an 'art' car. But there was enough realism in his tone and uncertainty in his answer when asked about the real thing to reveal enough about the squad's preparedness at this stage.

"Going to DTM for 2019 was definitely a stretch," admitted Kamelger. "I think if we are - and that's still a very, very tight plan - on the grid at Hockenheim we will have built a DTM car in around 100 days, so that I think is a huge achievement by the technical department of HWA, our partner in Vynamic."

"We are known to escalate things pretty quickly. Waiting is not our biggest asset" R-Motorsport's Florian Kamelger

Expanding on the difficulties of the months to come, Kamelger told Autosport: "The main thing that is going to be challenging before the first race is definitely to bring the car alive - [a car] which has the potential to compete in the series."

R-Motorsport is not alone in this process, as AF Racing initiated a joint venture with long-standing Mercedes partner HWA, the most successful team in the history of the DTM, last summer.

Vynamic, the name given to the joint venture, is responsible for the design and build of the car (although this lies predominantly with HWA while R-Motorsport takes care of the brand), which includes its engine, a "bespoke, four-cylinder turbocharged Aston Martin".

This is, in Kamelger's words, "in the timeframe" of its anticipated development, but marrying everything together is a longer process and the clock is ticking. The first round of the season might not take place until the first weekend of May, but a test at Jerez organised by the teams is a mere week away.

It should be said at this point that Kamelger, a trauma surgeon by original trade, has previously expressed conservatism about whether the project would be ready for the start of the season. But that was in October, just after the programme had been announced, and seemed more like a sensible, pragmatic response rather than one laced with any real concern.

"We aim to be ready for the test, yes," said Kamelger, with an understated conviction noticeable in all his answers. "That's definitely the goal, because we have to test. The plan is to be in Jerez."

Making that will certainly be an achievement, and should make that much-desired Hockenheim debut a whole lot more attainable. But don't expect any test outing - or, realistically, Aston's race-weekend debut - to feature all four of the cars it intends to run for Paul di Resta, Jake Dennis, Daniel Juncadella (who said he only expects to see the car for the first time this week) and Ferdinand Habsburg.

That's partly because this isn't just a question of making it to the grid - it's about doing so in a suitably competitive manner. Flying the flag for Aston Martin is something the group is used to, whether that's through R-Motorsport's GT programme or AF Racing's St Gallen dealership, but there's a certain level it wants to attain when doing so.

"It's such a highly professional environment that there is no room for errors whatsoever," said Kamelger. "And the task is certainly to put the car into the field, not at the end of the field."

With uncertainty about the car's readiness for a first test, albeit an unofficial one, and a 100-day lead-up before the start of the season, the natural question is, why the rush for 2019?

R-Motorsport's talks with Berger started in the spring of 2018, with HWA joint-venture discussions beginning in the same period, so less than a year has passed in this process. That alone is a hugely ambitious timeframe for a project of such professional undertaking, and Kamelger isn't wrong when he says "it's quite intense".

Despite all the uncertainty, there remain so many reasons to be optimistic about this project, which involves the engineering might of HWA and a partner in R-Motorsport that Aston is familiar with and has put its trust in

"It was a natural step after the other," said Kamelger. "It had to happen in this way - there was no aim to keep to 100 days. I would have loved, and the technical team would have loved, to have started earlier. It just was not possible because the timeframe was so tight.

"There were a couple of different bits and pieces that played in 2019's favour, one of which was definitely the team [HWA] - to keep these highly knowledgeable and motivated people, with their vast experience, in DTM because we know motorsport is very short-term. If nothing happens, then the good people are off somewhere [else].

"That was a commitment we gave to our partner and said, 'Yeah, we'll do that and we help each other to keep the team and tell the team it's going to move on - you'll be in DTM'.

"Another thing was certainly the regulations. If Class One would have happened in 2020, the decision would have been a bit easier from that perspective. But to get into a newly-regulated series can be a huge opportunity also, and you would lose quite a bit of time against your competitors if you came in the next year.

"And the third thing is we are known to - always under that condition that it's properly thought through and properly calculated - escalate things pretty quickly. Waiting is not our biggest asset."

That's partly why making it to the Jerez test is so important, as the team has already lost ground to Audi and BMW, which tested their 2019 cars at the same venue in December.

There's no headline-grabbing claim about what can be achieved in the first year, and in one sense that's a shame - because without it there's not too much to shout about at the moment.

But it's a mark of the professionalism of those behind it, and the situation the project is currently in, that no grand goals have been set. Plus, realistically, what targets can be placed upon a car that's still in build?

"I am ambitious," says Kamelger. "Taking into account how good and experienced Audi and BMW are, taking into account how close the performance level of the different drivers in DTM is - we're talking about a second between one and 20 sometimes on the grid - we are absolutely aware how big the task will be. But we are ambitious for good results for the first year."

Despite all the uncertainty, there remain so many reasons to be optimistic about this project, which involves the engineering might of HWA and a partner in R-Motorsport that Aston is familiar with and has put its trust in.

Beyond the St Gallen dealership, there's a successful Blancpain Endurance Cup GT programme, while the organisation has worked on Aston Martin's Valkyrie project in conjunction with Red Bull. Aston CEO Andy Palmer is also said to be "fond" of the DTM project.

R-Motorsport still has all the components necessary to succeed and, in time, this move may well be recognised as the first step on the road to wider changes to the DTM - including, most pressingly, a change of name and outlook. There's the potential for so much to be achieved but, first, we need to see some substance.