DTM bans team orders for 2020 season

The DTM sporting regulations for the 2020 season will include a ban on team orders, Audi Motorsport boss Dieter Gass has revealed.

Team orders became an issue last season, with Audi drivers René Rast and Nico Müller clashing at the Norisring, and then not able to race each other until later in the season when BMW’s Marco Wittmann mathematically dropped out of contention for the title.

“We have now agreed with the ITR and the competitors that there will be no team orders this year,” Gass told Motorsport.com. “In the end, that was Gerhard Berger’s (DTM boss) wish.”

The agreement between Audi, BMW and ITR has now been included in the sporting regulations, although it’s unclear how will the governing body will police the issue.

“This is something that is difficult to check,” added Gass. “But we looked each other in the eye and agreed on the subject. I trust it that it works accordingly.”

The Audi motorsport director stated that he won’t give any specific orders to his drivers if they are fighting on the track beyond not crashing against each other.

“We still want to prevent two brand colleagues from colliding,” concluded Gass. “But there will be no more intervention in the future. And, as I said, this is a regulation that we will naturally adhere to.”