René Rast (left) won his third Drivers' Championship while Nico Müller (right) finished second in the championship.
The 2020 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters was the thirty-fourth season of premier German touring car championship and also twenty-first season under the moniker of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters since the series' resumption in 2000 as well as second and final season of "Class 1" regulations era.
Audi entered as the defending Manufacturers' Champion, after winning their seventh title in 2019,[1]Audi Sport Team Rosberg entered as the defending teams' champion and René Rast entered as the defending drivers' champion, after winning his second title in 2019.[2]
After Aston Martin and R-Motorsport decided to withdraw from Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, the 2020 season marks the first season since 2011 that the series featured only two manufacturers.[3]
2020 also marked the final season for Audi Sport in the DTM, shifting their focus to FIA Formula E and customer programmes.[4] It also marked the final season for the "Class 1" regulations, as the DTM will switch to GT Pro regulations for 2021.[5]
René Rast retains the DTM driver's title for the second year in a row (third overall).
BMW was due to introduce customer teams for the 2020 season, increasing their line-up size to seven cars.[15][16][17][18] This led to the return of ART Grand Prix, which last competed in 2016.[12]
Aston Martin terminated their contract with engine partner HWA after the 2019 season.[19] Aston Martin ultimately withdrew from the series in January 2020.[20]
A provisional ten-round calendar was announced on 19 September 2019: five rounds will be held in Germany, and four outside of Germany.[30][31] However, the calendar was altered twice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; initially on 26 March before a further modified schedule was published on 3 June.[32][33]
The Hockenheimring will feature just one round instead of the usual two rounds, with Circuit Zolder becoming the new season-opener.[31]
Russia will return to DTM for the first time since 2017,[35] with the series inaugurating the Igora Drive circuit near Saint Petersburg.[36]
First amendments
The first half of the season was postponed, with the opening race scheduled for the Norisring on its original date in July. Two event slots were left in early August and October respectively for either the Russian or Swedish round, with original season opener Zolder moved to August. The rounds at Brands Hatch, TT Circuit Assen and the Nürburgring were left on their original dates, with events at the Lausitzring, Hockenheimring and Monza moved to October and November.[32]
Second amendments
The Norisring Trophy remained the opening round on a schedule restricted to Germany and Benelux. The first blank slot was filled with the series' first event at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps since 2005, and will be followed by two events on back-to-back weekends at the Lausitzring. Further double-header events will be held at the Nürburgring and Zolder, with the Lausitz and Nürburg events punctuated by a round at Assen. The Hockenheimring returned to the season finale slot having been shuffled out by Monza in the first amendment.[33] The Nuremberg season-opener was eventually cancelled after the local council ruled against holding the event behind closed doors on economic and health grounds.[37][38]
Regulation changes
After a successful 2019 season, the push-to-pass overtake system was doubled from 30 to 60 horsepower (22 to 45 kilowatts) and the drag reduction system (DRS) usage became unrestricted.[39][40] To compensate, the engine's power output was reduced from 610 to 580 horsepower (455 to 433 kilowatts).[41]
On 1 July 2019 it was announced that Hankook would once again extend their DTM tyre partner contract until at least 2023, beating out bids by Continental, Dunlop, Michelin, Pirelli and Yokohama to provide tyres for the series.[42]
A High Yaw Lift-Off (HYLO) system was introduced in front of the two rear wing pillars, to avoid cars becoming airborne in the event of a high-speed collision.[43]
The fuel-mass flow restrictor rate for all Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters engines was slightly reduced from 95 to 90 kg/h (209 to 198 lb/h) to compensate more fuel-efficiency and maximum performance with fuel-mass flow restrictor for extra push-to-pass mode slightly increased from 5 to 10 kg/h (11 to 22 lb/h).[44]
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