BMW motorsport chief Jens Marquardt expressed his annoyance at DTM’s decision of GT3 switch. According to him, this potential change can undermine customer racing efforts.
Introduction of GT3 machinery in Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters will result in beefed-up horsepower numbers. The new cars will be on par with DTM’s present class one unit with 600 horses. Putting this much power into consumer cars is what concerns the BMW boss.
When asked by the media, Marquardt said, “I think you have to say first of all that GT3 is customer racing,” Marquardt said. “We have no factory programme with GT3 cars. A healthy and sustainable customer programme is different from running a factory-based programme like we do in DTM or in IMSA with the [M8] GTE.”
He further added, “We have to be careful with regards to protecting customer racing. Works racing should not be putting customer racing under pressure, that’s the ideal approach.”
“We need to look at it with an overall approach and some serious talking to each other to get a stable set-up for the future rather than an individual solution that at the end of the day might generate more problems than it resolves.”
Marquardt is also sceptical about bringing North American formats to Europe. He said, “I don’t know how successful prototypes can be in Europe and especially Germany. It has to be really carefully thought through.”
“A lot of the formats that have been successful in the US, like NASCAR, they have not been successful over here in Europe. That is a question that is not easy to answer.”
Currently, BMW is developing a GT3 variant for its M4 coupe which they use in DTM. Reports suggest this toned up M4 will not come out for consumer purchase before 2022.
As Audi leaves the series after this season, BMW remains as the sole manufacturer for DTM. The touring car series’ eventual switch to GT3 platform creates a bulk-load of pressure on BMW motorsport as the company yet to make a GT3 engine.
If engineers at BMW don’t speed up the GT3 developmental process, it will create a bad reputation for the German auto giant. We hope the Bavarian auto corp will come up with something special for the upcoming DTM series.
