DTM rules out any regulations merger with the WTCC
ITR chairman Gerhard Berger has said any technical regulations merger with the World Touring Car Championship is unlikely, instead saying the DTM’s focus will be on aligning its still to be finalised ruleset with the Japanese Super GT series.
The WTCC made a late season announcement in 2016 to its teams, saying that it was now interested in introducing the “Class One” regulations, the moniker given to the undefined regulations being brought into the DTM from 2019, but Berger said that there’s no appetite for the DTM to align its regulations with the FIA managed WTCC.
“No, (there’s no interest),” said Berger to TouringCarTimes. “We have our own platform, and we are based in Europe.
“It’s always a pain to have different regulations in different countries, so we’re interested in getting some the same. The closest to us is the Japanese, and we’re always in dialogue with them, as I think it’s helpful if they have the same regulation as us and we find common ground.
“The WTCC is completely different to us…we have a regulation and we have the IP rights on our regulation; we own it, so if someone wants to use the regulation we have, it’s not possible,” he declared.
The Austrian didn’t rule out some crossover with the FIA regulations in the future, but it wasn’t the main focus for the DTM.
“I respect the FIA a lot,” he added. “In this case, I think we have the best regulation, so we’ll stick to our regulation, but my relationship is close with Jean (Todt), and if we can put some synergies together, that’s always good.”
As it stands, the DTM is still to finalise its technical regulations from 2019, with the current regulations frozen for 2018, the last year in which Mercedes-Benz will compete in the championship. Meanwhile the WTCC is yet to even confirm its technical regulations for next season.
