The DTM went into its summer break with the season highlight at the Norisring in front of 110,000 spectators on the penultimate weekend. In around four weeks, the action will then continue at the Nürburgring (16-18 August), where the fifth of eight race weekends in the 2024 season will take place. The DTM promoter ADAC wants to use the time off to set the course for next year early on.
Right at the top of the agenda: the race calendar for the 2025 DTM season. Next year’s dates, which are always eagerly awaited, could be communicated to participants and fans around the Nürburgring weekend in order to offer everyone involved planning security.
DTM Calendar 2024 – Races, Start Times, Tracks
Rumours about the 2015 DTM calendar: From the Salzburgring to Vila Real
Until then, there is plenty of speculation as to whether there will be changes to the DTM calendar. Since the short-term takeover of the DTM at the end of 2022, the ADAC has focused on consistency: there were eight races in 2023 and 2024 at the same venues, six of them in Germany and two in nearby countries (Spielberg, Zandvoort). The ADAC practically adopted the concept of the ADAC GT Masters for the DTM, which now appears as a supporting racing series.
But there are always rumors about new race venues, including the Salzburgring, a city race in Vila Real in Portugal or a return to Assen in the Netherlands. There is also speculation every year that the DTM race calendar will be expanded beyond the current eight events. The ADAC has so far refrained from doing this for cost reasons, primarily so as not to put an even greater strain on the already strained budgets of the customer teams.
Does it make sense to have more than eight races in 2025? ADAC boss: “I doubt it”
“You can plan a lot of things, but it has to be feasible for everyone,” said ADAC Motorsport Director Thomas Voss on the sidelines of the Norisring weekend to Motorsport-Magazin.com“The medium-term goal for me personally and the DTM is to have more than eight events. I doubt whether this is the right time for that.”
From what we hear, the majority of teams are still in favor of eight events instead of nine. The main focus at the moment is to reduce running costs. Several departures, such as that of Timo Bernhard from Team75 Motorsport, have made it clear to everyone that participation in the DTM must not become any more expensive under any circumstances. “Shortening the events by one day is also an issue,” said Voss. “Everyone is in favor of it. We will also continue to discuss the test drives.”
Thomas Voss: DTM race calendar is 80 percent set
In economically critical times, especially for racing, a certain degree of consistency certainly can’t hurt. According to Voss, the DTM calendar for the 2025 season is “80 percent” complete, but there may always be changes or postponements.
The current race tracks – Oschersleben, Lausitzring, Zandvoort (contract recently extended), Norisring, Nürburgring, Sachsenring, Red Bull Ring and Hockenheimring – are expected to be back in 2025. There will be “no changes as things stand,” said Voss, who continued: “But I don’t want to rule out that there will be changes.”
Vila Real representatives visit the Norisring
There have been a number of inquiries from foreign race tracks, revealed the ADAC motorsport boss. For example, officials from the Portuguese street circuit ‘Circuito Internacional de Vila Real’ are in Nuremberg.
The spectacular circuit, located around 100 kilometers east of Porto, which most recently attracted over 100,000 fans to World Touring Car Championship races, has been heavily criticized since 1991, when a racing car went off the track, fatally injuring four people and seriously injuring several others. The consequence of this tragedy was that Vila Real disappeared from the international motorsport calendar and only returned in 2007 when a new race track was built, shortened to 4,736 meters and better secured.
Clear message from Voss: “I don’t need a car graveyard”
Before negotiations can begin, however, a fundamental decision must first be made as to how many races will be held. Talks with the Salzburgring near the German border were held again this year. Voss confirmed: “We are in irregular contact. There are several race tracks abroad that keep coming to us.”
What the ADAC primarily checks with such requests before concrete negotiations can take place: safety for the participants (Voss: “I don’t need a car graveyard”), spectator friendliness and capacity in the stands. “This is the case on all Formula 1 tracks and on all German tracks, these are no-brainers for me,” explained Voss.
1,000-piece puzzle called Racing Calendar
Furthermore, creating a racing calendar remains a gigantic 1,000-piece puzzle. Among other things, it has been necessary to avoid scheduling conflicts with the friendly GT World Challenge Europe of SRO boss Stephane Ratel, the WEC and the big 24-hour races at the Nürburgring as well as in Le Mans and Spa-Francorchamps. The Norisring is also always a tricky matter because the city of Nuremberg has a significant say in the scheduling.
Voss, who was pleased about the “really great and sharply increasing number of spectators” at the DTM races this year: “Providing planning security is becoming increasingly important for the teams and also the manufacturers. That is the reason why Formula 1 and the WEC now publish their calendars in July. That is good for us because we can then plan earlier.”
Speaking of 24-hour races: In June 2025, Le Mans, Nürburgring and Spa are to be held within just 16 days! It’s crazy, says the BMW M boss, among others. You can read about the madness surrounding the 24-hour marathon here: