Back to the Future

Very few people outside of the DTM seem to have confidence in the series' long-term future. Some say that without a third manufacturer it can't survive, and others believe that sooner or later at least one of the current manufacturers involved will decide it has had enough, and the journey will be over.

Of course, a collapse wouldn't be the first for the hi-tech touring car series. In the mid-90s, over expansion and ridiculously complicated cars led to the death of the series at the end of 1996. A new low-cost version came back in 2000, and eight years on its still here.

Those on the outside have little to base their opinions on, which is why those on the inside can dismiss talk of the DTM being on dodgy ground in the long-term. But under the surface, there are things to suggest that plenty of work has to be done if the DTM is to live on for many years.

The start of the DTM round at the Nurburgring © XPB

The subject of a third manufacturer isn't a new one for the series organisers the ITR. Since the departure of Opel at the end of 2005, Mercedes and Audi have worked hard to steady the ship, but both would rather not have to fill 50 per cent of the grid. Plenty of manufacturers have come sniffing around in the last two years in particular, with the most recent being Citroen.

But there are two opinions of the Citroen interest in the paddock. Some believe that the French manufacturer (and Sebastien Loeb) are genuinely looking for a new challenge, while others fear that Citroen simply used the DTM as a way of getting what they wanted from the World Rally Championship. It's all gone rather quiet on that front recently, but don't write them off just yet.

So keen are the organisers to have a third competitor, that they have delayed the introduction of new technical regulations until 2010. This gives anyone looking at coming in more time to prepare for such a switch and enter on a reasonably level playing field, as the cars will be new to Mercedes and Audi too. The delay was a sensible idea, as there are more manufacturers along with Citroen showing an interest in the new rules.

But the DTM doesn't help itself sometimes. Days like Barcelona 2007 are an example of the thin ice the series is skating on at times, and a number of controversial decisions last year certainly left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.

The most recent fallout this season came at the Nurburgring, where there was a long dispute over the results of an abandoned qualifying session, which certainly doesn't paint a good picture for any potential newcomers. When Mercedes and Audi are seen to argue, does anyone else really want to be a part of that?

Some senior paddock figures have even described the series as "fragile" at the moment. Away from the glitz, glamour, and well-attended events, deep down they are aware that they need a third manufacturer, and credit to them, they are working hard to make it happen.

It's not only teams that can get put off by the bickering and inconsistent decision-making though. The championship's former star name, Mika Hakkinen, decided towards the end of last year that he'd had enough of grid penalties, half points races, fines, and disqualifications, and hung up his helmet.

It is believed that he wasn't really contemplating retirement at the end of last year, but the penalties he was hit with after a collision with Martin Tomczyk at Barcelona pushed him over the edge.

Mika and Hugo Hakkinen © XPB

Now, there's nothing wrong with penalties, but most people in the paddock get the impression that decisions are made on the spot. In fact, one driver was even compelled to get hold of a copy of the rulebook recently, and was shocked to see how small it was. There certainly are a lot of grey areas, and that is always going to lead to disputes.

Anyone looking to join the series will have noted all of these things already. After all, few series as high profile as the DTM have as many controversies during a season. Safety cars, qualifying sessions, team orders, blocking by backmarkers, it seems anything can spark a dispute.

That's partly the nature of the beast when you have just two manufacturers going head to head, because there's never that third opinion that can act as a mediator. But at the same time, if the DTM wants that third opinion, then it needs to work hard at being a team in the meantime.

As far as rules and decision-making goes, it's not all doom and gloom, though. Lessons have clearly been learned from the 1990s, with more expansion out of Germany unlikely. The aim is apparently to either have a 50/50 split of German races and European events, or perhaps a slight lean towards Europe, but the DTM won't be abandoning its German core any time soon. To be honest, it shouldn't either, because even Oschersleben gets around 70,000 people through the gates over a weekend.

Figures like that make it hard for the series to justify dropping any German races for more illustrious venues, and it puts pressure on tracks like Brands Hatch, which the DTM will visit this weekend. The British track has at least secured its place on next year's calendar, but it is definitely under pressure to improve on the crowd numbers we've seen for the past two years, hence the appearance of Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren-Mercedes F1 car on Sunday.

Unlike some other championships, there is also the rather smart approach of not tweaking the rules too much during a season. The trend seems to be: make a rule change over the winter, if it doesn't work, have a go at changing, but after that, work long-term on a proper solution.

A perfect example of this is the pit stop window for 2008. It was introduced to avoid the controversial clashes between slower cars that stayed out longer to hold up the leaders, but a blue flag system for cars out of sync was also introduced. As Bruno Spengler points out, the organisers in fact "did too much."

Mattias Ekstrom pits at Hockenheim © XPB

The pit window hasn't been particularly well received. It has restricted the strategy of the race too much, and it hasn't led to much more on-track action, as you no longer see drivers with different levels of tyre wear or different fuel loads battling it out. It's all left it rather stale, and too many races have been processions this year.

A change was attempted by extending the pit window, but it will be left alone now until the end of the season, when hopefully we'll get a much better solution for next year.

Looking ahead, the future of the DTM lays in the hands of a lot of people. Fewer disputes would help, stability in the rules would be welcome, and a firm set of regulations to show to those currently considering coming in is a must.

For now there is no reason to suggest that the series won't at least get to its next generation of car in 2010, but we haven't been to Barcelona yet. Let's hope we don't see any more toys thrown out of the pram in such spectacular fashion.