The DTM has confirmed that all of its races in 2019 will start at 13:30 local time on each race weekend, even in countries which are situated in a different time zone to the core German audience.

Both races on Saturday and Sunday will kick off at 13:30 local time. For the eight rounds in Germany, Belgium, Italy and The Netherlands, this will be 13:30 CEST.

The only event held in a different time zone, at Brands Hatch in the UK, will also get underway at 13:30 local time, resulting in a 14:30 CEST start time for European viewers.

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“Consistent start times are of major importance, not only for the visitors on site but also for the fans that want to follow the race action live on TV or via live stream,” said ITR Managing Director Achim Kostron. “Therefore, we attached great importance to retain the start times we used last year.”

It means that the series’ one year experiment with night races at the Misano round in Italy will not be repeated in 2019. The first-ever DTM race at night time was held last year.

There will also be a minor adjustment to the weekend format for the DTM, with practice sessions now only taking place on Fridays.

The move has been made to accommodate the packed support race schedule, which now includes the new W Series formula for female racers, the Porsche one-make series and the Formula European Masters.

Again, the only exception to this will be the Brands Hatch event, where running on Fridays is not possible due to local noise restrictions in place for the Grand Prix loop.

It means that drivers will go into qualifying on Saturday and Sunday without the benefit of a practice session earlier in the morning. Consequently, the DTM has gone from featuring three free practice sessions to only two, with the abolishment of the sessions on Saturday and Sunday morning respectively.

All 2019 races will be broadcast by the German TV station SAT1.