The DTM is saved, the first champion of the new era crowned with GT3 cars – now the series is working on its future! The magic word in racing is: sustainability. That is why Germany’s most popular racing series with a roof now also wants to attack Formula E.
The electric formula has been roaming the world’s metropolises since 2014, and has officially been a world championship since this year. And yet it doesn’t electrify. Audi and BMW got out at the end of this season, Mercedes will follow at the end of 2022.
THE chance for DTM boss Gerhard Berger (62)! As part of the DTM finals at the Norisring, he presented a design study of the new DTM Electric, which will be launched alongside the classic DTM from 2023/24. Berger to ABMS: “If we want to hear motorsport in the future, we have to open up to the topic of electrics. The look of the car expresses how we imagine a fully electrified high-performance racing series: futuristic, innovative and thoroughly sporty. With performance values that come close to Formula 1. “
At the Norisring, the DTM showed the DTM Electric design model.
Specifically, this means: The prototype that the DTM is currently developing with the support of the automotive suppliers Schaeffler and Mahle should be around 1000 hp and at least 300 km / h fast. For comparison: Formula E currently has 340 hp and brings it to a top speed of around 230 km / h on the narrow street circuits.
Berger not only wants to pick up the fans, but also the drivers. Ex-Formula 1 driver Timo Glock to ABMS: “I have to admit: I find it difficult in races without sound. If that is not the case, the cars must at least be really fast. ”But: In Formula E, they are not.
Red Bull, with two cars in the DTM in 2020, would also welcome an electric offshoot. “We have never really dealt with Formula E because it doesn’t offer motorsport in our sense,” says Motorsport Director Helmut Marko to ABMS. “We don’t seem to have this exclusive opinion, given the problems the series is having right now.”
But the DTM platform is not only becoming increasingly exciting for brands like Red Bull. Berger is also luring automobile manufacturers back into series production with the electrics division. Berger explains: “It’s not just a fast racing car, you can also use the silhouette of a series counterpart.”
With this, the Austrian names one of the major disadvantages of Formula E: Formula racing cars have nothing in common with production cars. A real trump card of DTM Electric in the fight against Formula E.
