It looks like German Touring Car Racing rules are coming to American tracks, will…
Today NASCAR announced that after several years of discussion, DTM-style racing (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters/German Touring Car Masters) is finally coming to North America by 2016.
I first wrote of a tie-up between NASCAR, DTM and the Japanese SuperGT series in 2010 http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/19/report-super-gt-moving-closer-to-dtm-may-adopt-kers-grand-am/
What's interesting is that this is happening now following the merger between Grand Am (owned by NASCAR) and the American Le Mans Series to form United Sports Car Racing from 2014. The DTM rules are quite different from contemporary GT race cars.
Like NASCAR, current DTM cars use a common chassis structure although it's a more sophisticated carbon fiber structure rather an a steel tube frame. The bodywork, suspension and engines are manufacturer specific.
So how does DTM style racing fit with USCR?
Presumably, NASCAR will retain the same race format used in Germany where DTM races are 110 mile sprint races. These new races would make perfect support races on USCR race weekends running in the morning before the longer sports car race later in the day.
+Audi USA has already indicated that it will bring its RS5 DTM car to America for this series. Presumably +Mercedes-Benz will run its C-Class and +BMW will bring the new M4. Hopefully, we'll also see some competition from Detroit. +Ford Motor Company Mustangs, +Chevrolet Camaros and even a potential SRT Barracuda from +Chrysler would be fun to watch against the Germans.
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