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Return to international calendar not "first focus" for new DTM bosses

Building back towards a more international calendar is "not in the first focus" for DTM according to ADAC Motorsport director Thomas Voss.

Until 2020 the series was a silhouette touring car championship predominantly contested by manufacturer-financed teams, but the withdrawal of Audi prompted a reboot towards GT3 cars for 2021.

After two seasons of GT3 regulations, DTM promoter ITR was dissolved at the end of 2022 and the championship taken over by German organiser the ADAC, which moved to scale back the number of flyaway rounds and refocused on the German-speaking market.

Portimao, Imola and Spa were dropped, with trips to calendar returnee Zandvoort and the incumbent Red Bull Ring the only trips beyond Germany.

Speaking to Autosport, Voss said "as a short-term decision it was completely right" to shift the emphasis of calendar for 2023, because of the reduction in manufacturer support.

"We have to build up something like a new DTM, with a new philosophy," he said.

"Of course the GT3 cars are the same as we used before, but everything else is completely different.

"There is hardly no manufacturer support anymore; the main structure is now the race teams and we have to be much more focused on having the race teams in our series than having the last manufacturers."

As a result, Voss believes expanding the DTM to different territories and returning to Britain for the first time since 2019 will not be on the agenda in the near future.

Source: Autosport

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