In mid-October 2018 the last year's season of the DTM ended, from which the Briton Gary Paffett emerged on Mercedes-AMG as a champion. Brand colleagues Paul di Resta and Robin Frijns on Audi took the next two ranks. It should be the last year of Mercedes-Benz in the DTM after 30 years, starting in May 2019 in its 33rd season and the 20th season since its re-establishment in 2000 - without the brand with the star and Paffett, the switch to Formula E. Aston Martin is launching a new label. And there are a lot of changes to the vehicles that we've come up with on the occasion of the delivery of new modelcars from Spark in scale 1:43. Spark delivered the car of Gary Paffett, Lucas Auer, Mattias Ekström, René Rast on wednesday. In Mercedes-Benz packaging: Pascal Wehrlein, Daniel Juncadella and Edoardo Mortara as well as Paul di Resta.
But let's not look back, but ahead: What will change in the cars in 2019? Let's summarize the most important points: The DTM starts with new engines this year. The championship changes from an eight-cylinder naturally aspirated to a four-cylinder turbo engine. This drive source is considered more efficient and powerful. The engineers expect more power and a higher torque. This change is due to the approach of the DTM to Japan's SUPER GT series, where turbo engines have been used since 2014. The purpose of the adaptation of the DTM is that the cars of both series can compete against each other. Or just to drive together, because the manufacturers now have the opportunity to compete with the vehicles of the DTM in several series and are able to save a lot of money because of the identity of the cars.
From the 2.0-liter engines, an output of about 456 kW / 620 hp is expected. With the new push-to-pass function, the driver can increase the engine power for a short time by 22 kW / 30 hp: Applicable but only a maximum of 12 times per race. Even diffusers and underfloor are adapted to the cars from Japan, which drive in exactly this configuration but only from 2020. The regulations, the so-called Class 1 regulations, were developed by the creators of both series. In Germany, this is the DTM umbrella organization ITR. It assumes that the new cars with about 300 kilometers per hour maximum speed will be faster than the previous ones. The drivers will have to get used to the new conditions, which can lead to the fact that the usual stars may not be ahead anymore. We are curious!