BMW welcomes DTM regulation changes
BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt believes the 2013 DTM regulations are a positive change for the series.
The changes include a Formula 1 style DRS system and ‘option’ tyre which has a shelf life of five to seven laps. The race weekends have also been shortened, with on track time being reduced due Friday practice being scrapped and the session moved to Saturday morning before qualifying.
BMW won the title in 2012 with the Schnitzer team and Bruno Spengler in their first season back in the sport after a 20-year hiatus.
“When preparing for the 2013 season, we primarily tried to improve the interplay between the mechanics in the garage, as well as the communication between engineers and crews,” said Marquardt.
“Generally speaking, we welcome the new race format, as we believe it will make the weekends (more compact) and more exciting.”
Marquardt also suggested the interplay between DRS and the option tyre will improve the quality of racing for fans.
“The combination of the two changes, both the option tyre and DRS, also promises to provide some exciting moments,” he said. “The option tyre was developed to make the DTM even more exciting.”
“It is faster than the normal tyre over the first few laps – only the race itself will reveal exactly how much faster.”
The BMW boss also admitted that even after a week of testing in Hockenheim last week, tyre behavior will be an unknown factor throughout the rest of the season.
“The tyre does degrade after a certain time. Even after the tests, we do not know exactly how it will behave,” he admitted.
“We will only find that out in Hockenheim when we use the tyre in a race for the first time.
Even then, however, we will not be able to say exactly how it will function on the remaining circuits. After testing, there is still a certain unknown quantity in this area.”
