After Saturday’s big news about the new common “CLASS 1” technical regulations, more has been revealed about how the two series, DTM and SUPER GT, will race together.
Although no formal dates have yet been released, the combined events will certainly be a fan pleaser, both in Europe and in Japan, as the depth of talent currently in the two series is extensive, including former Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button and other ex F1 drivers like Paul di Resta.
“In 2019, we are going to hold the first-ever joint race events where DTM and SUPER GT cars compete together,” Japanese GTA series boss Bandoh san announced at the Norisring. “I strongly believe that the joint events will bring new excitement for motorsports fans around the world and both SUPER GT and DTM will continuously develop together.”
Even though SUPER GT will only adopt the new “CLASS 1” regulations in 2020, both DTM and SUPER GT plan to hold two joint race meetings – one in Europe and one in Asia – as early as next year (2019).
The proposed race day format will resemble the current sporting regulations of DTM, with two sprint races – one on Saturday and one on Sunday – without a driver swap or refuelling but with the usual obligatory pit stop for the change of all the four tyres.
For these two joint race weekends, a one-off special “Balance of Performance” (BoP) will be created to make for equal chances of the still slightly differing vehicles of both series to be competitive against each other.
MotorsportWeek.com understands that the first of the two planned events could happen as early as the DTM season opener planned for Hockenheim in May next year. This event is always very well attended by fans and it will also have the prestige of the racing taking place on a current Formula 1 grand prix circuit.
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