The DTM is going back to the drawing board to ensure its continuity after Mercedes AMG’s exit from the series. One of the issues is widening the geographical scope of the series, in order to attract new manufacturers.

“We’re a bit too German-led. Germany has a very, very strong touring car soul, and DTM has a special fan club there that is very big,” said ITR’s chairman, Gerhard Berger, to TouringCarTimes. “So, the most successful races we have are in Germany. We’re here in Zandvoort, we were in Moscow, where we had 25.000 people, we have Hungary, and in the future, we may have one or two more so that helps manufacturers.”

DTM’s current calendar feature five races in Germany and the rest in Holland, Hungary, Russia and Austria. BMW Motorsport Director Marquardt is cautions about opening the series to more countries: “We already have quite an international calendar. For us, going to more places has to make financial sense, but we should only race where people are interested in the DTM. Racing in front of empty grandstands doesn’t make sense.”

For Berger, the decision is in the balance between two different perspectives: “A manufacturer may think about many countries they are going to be present in but, at the same time, he’s going to compete with the German premium manufacturers.”

The ITR chairman also believes that figures speak about DTM’s success with fans and spectators, which will be plus on their side when attracting new partners: “The selling point is, if you take Germany, you have on million spectators on TV on Saturday, one million on Sunday, so two million over the weekend. If you look at other categories, like Moto GP, you have 400,000. For Formula 1, it’s four million.”

“But if you look to GT, you have maybe not even 100,000, and Formula E is zero. At Norisring we have 100,000 people, let’s say that’s an extreme, but we still have 30 to 50 thousand people on average at the tracks every weekend, no other series has that,” concluded Berger.