The future of the touring car series DTM seems assured. According to SPIEGEL information, DTM boss Gerhard Berger will be presenting a new manufacturer at the weekend in Hockenheim: The British luxury brand Aston Martin wants to start in 2019 alongside Audi and BMW - and fill the gap that tears Mercedes with his exit to the season finale.

For the DTM, the entry of Aston Martin of existential importance. The motorsport bosses of Audi and BMW, with all their loyalty to the DTM, had made it clear that with only two works, the series was not viable. After all, the championship is about proving itself on the racetrack against immediate competitors. For months, Ex-Formula 1 driver Berger was looking for a replacement for the six Mercedes cars as a DTM boss.

Visually, the future DTM rookie comes as a racing version of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage therefore, the 154,000-euro and presented in July sports coupe from the English Gaydon. The operation does not finance and steer the Aston Martin headquarters, but under license their Swiss general importer Aston Martin St. Gallen. Its racing department AF Racing AG will start with two cars in the course of the next season, with four vehicles planned for 2020.

The relief is great

Aston Martin, famous as the car brand of movie hero James Bond 007, will transfer the construction of the racing cars and handling at the track to a German team: HWA AG from the Swabian town of Affalterbach, which has been racing DTM cars for many years - for Mercedes. Also as a developer of racing engines, HWA has made a name for itself and is in discussion for the Aston Martin project as supplier of a 600 hp 4-cylinder turbocharged engine.

Getty Images / Pixolli Studios

From 2019 not there: Mercedes has dropped out

The relief over the new entrant is especially great for Aston Martin's future rivals. When Mercedes announced last year that they would leave the DTM after 30 years to shift money and personnel into the Formula E electric racing series, anger and insecurity were high at Audi and BMW. "The DTM had already dealt a blow," says BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt. It is hard work to keep the series on course and "to preserve this in my eyes very good and very relevant platform."

Problem areas have been plentiful in recent years: The ARD did not want to transfer the races, the number of spectators declined so much that they were no longer published, the cost of the works were so high that effort and earnings were in no healthy relationship.

"The DTM is about guys and emotions"

In this mixed situation, the automakers hired in the spring of 2017 as a reformer to the former racing driver Berger. BMW Boss Marquardt can still remember his fault analysis: "You kidnap the fans," Berger criticized. "You play chess with six or eight cars, and people do not even race." The first thing Berger ordered: He forbade the radio traffic between driver and team, thus keeping the secret strategy games.

Meanwhile, Berger and the works seem to be in line. Excessive technology has recently been frowned upon, uniform components contribute to cost containment. "The DTM should be about types and emotions," says Marquardt, "The race should not be decided by an army of engineers," but on the driving skills, the set-up of the car and the right racing tactics. " Berger wants "hard-hitting racing," a strictly fan-oriented show, or, as he puts it, "the ride on the cannonball."

Therefore, the ten-time Grand Prix winner with the access Aston Martin is far from the finish. Another, fourth participant would be desirable on sight. The Tyrolean believes that he has laid the foundations for the adaptation of the DTM regulations to the Japanese touring car series. As early as 2019, two joint races of the two championships will take place. The dates are also to be announced during the season finale on Saturday and Sunday at the Hockenheimring.