DTM.

Very sad to hear. Like all series once they become important commercially the costs sky rocket and the cars get out of control and then a manufacturer questions their participation. At least in the BTCC you can kind of compare your 320d to a touring car but the DTM are just monsters that I guess your buyer of a C-Class can't connect with. Still at least theres now Formula E for all the washed up F1 drivers to go to now.

Yup. Even the maddest of the mad homologated ones still looked like a road car:

It's an Evolution II which had a 2.5 litre version of the engine.

DTM holds a lot of fond memories for me. I will never forget Jean Alesi starring in the wet at the Nurburgring, Hakkinen overtaking around the outside of Paddock Hill bend, the spine-tingling noise of the old V8’s, and Paul Di Resta starring in a two year old car in an era when two year cars were at the back of the field.

Really, the problems have already been mentioned. DTM quietly liked the way the series was referenced; F1 cars but with roofs. But nobody wanted F1 cars with roofs. What people wanted was nose-to-tail action with some argy bargy, typical touring car entertainment. When Opel left DTM back in 2005, that should have been the catalyst for moving back to production bodies. But DTM thought that its proposition of roofed F1 cars was so strong, they didn’t see any need to change. It’s for that reason they introduced DRS, F1 has it….

From 2006 onwards, Audi and Mercedes had the experienced teams, drivers and well developed chassis’. I think there probably was interest from a few manufacturers, but to make that sort of commitment was going to be costly, potentially for no return. Toyota bought an old Opel Vectra DTM and stripped it apart, as the Japanese makers do. I think they got their answer.

For me, the most visible aspect is braking distances. With DTM cars, the braking zone is absurdly short. You watch when the brake lights get illuminated into a hairpin like Druids; you then understand why passing is so difficult. Touring cars shouldn’t need DRS, push to pass or other gimmicks. Even a slight bit of contact in DTM results in retirement. It’s a bit like a chocolate teapot. In comparison, a V8 Supercar is a lot heavier and uses steel brakes. In combination with heel and toe, braking is an art form in those cars. Even if a Supercars race gets a bit strung out, watching the driver brake and wrestle a 1500kg car is very impressive. The braking in DTM must require immense skill too, but with it being so influenced by aerodynamics, it’s not as visible. Undoubtedly a DTM car would leave a V8 Supercar for dust, but the latter looks just as captivating on TV because it moves about a lot more, which means the visible driver input is greater, and touring car racing should be about entertainment, not ultimate speed.

I think another flaw was the move to coupes. Not only are production coupe sales more limiting, but the move to coupes then questioned what DTM was. Principally due to the various GT championships across Germany and Europe, with much fuller grids, lower costs and plentiful brand representation. GT3 isn’t perfect. So what DTM should have become was GT3 but a bit rawer. So instead of 500 hp, 600 hp would have been desirable with no ABS, no traction control and less downforce. A lot of the GT3 manufacturers would have been interested, because development costs would have been less compared to making a DTM car from scratch. The DTM platform is still very strong, so the chance of seeing Audi, BMW, Porsche, Mercedes etc on a DTM grid would have been terrific.

DTM spent too long clinging onto the hope that Class One was going to work as well. It was doomed to start with. Neither DTM nor Super GT showed much commitment, and it took five years for cars from both series to finally participate in the same race. It was great to see a Lexus, Honda and Nissan in DTM, but it clearly wasn’t going to lead further participation. They clung onto the idea of a Japanese marque joining, but it was more of a dream rather than any concrete reality.  I do worry about the wider impact on motorsport. DTM was a strong organisation, and it had a strong support race package. I think in the absolute short term, DTM should become a GT3 series. It would mean again the series would have an identity crisis, but it would be better to race rather than go into demise.

It is a shame, because the revised DTM car for 2019 was encouraging. Power increased by 130 hp, so the cars became more traction-limited and wet races looked quite terrifying. Plus, the four pots sounded genuinely quite decent. But it was too late.

I guess you also have the hugely popular VLN series in Germany that you can compete in with many classes and many different budgets. Plus its at the ring which just makes it better then anything else.