Mandatory Two-Stop Strategy Introduced for Sunday Races

Photo: Gruppe C Photography

DTM has made a change to the race format ahead of its fifth season under GT3 regulations, with competitors now mandated to make two pitstops during the second race of the weekend on Sunday.

Revealed by ADAC during the championship’s single day of pre-season testing at Oschersleben, the tweaked Sunday format is one of a number of changes made ahead of the eight-round campaign that kicks off at the same circuit later this month.

Previously, rules mandated all drivers to make one mandatory pitstop and tire change per race.

The newly introduced change will see a change between the two race days, with Race 2 on Sunday now featuring two mandatory pitstops.

The format for the opening race of the weekend will remain unchanged with a single stop, while all race will run to a length of 55 minutes plus one lap.

That distance can be extended by a maximum two joker laps, should a safety car appear during the race.

Additionally, ADAC confirmed that all cars in the series will run on the newly introduced Pirelli P Zero DHG tire, which is also used in SRO Motorsport Group’s national and continental GT2, GT3 and GT4 series.

Finally, as outlined by ADAC Sport President Gerd Ennser, DTM has adopted a new synthetic fuel developed by British company Coryton.

The series previously used a sustainable fuel from Shell, which consisted of roughly 50 percent regenerative components and was introduced in 2023.

“With the strong field and a wide variety of manufacturers, everything is in place to make it an exciting DTM season,” said Ennser.

“We are also continuing on the path we have embarked upon to achieve sustainable and future-oriented structures in the DTM.

“With the ‘DTM Pro Climate’ fuel from our partner Coryton, we are introducing a new climate-friendly and synthetic fuel that reduces CO2 emissions.”