After flirting with the notion of uprated GT3 machinery the DTM, with no little help in reaching that conclusion from both teams and GT3 manufacturer Customer Racing departments has opted for a standard GT3 configuration (with their own in-house BoP). The DTM race format (Sprints with a single driver) is carried over from the outgoing Class One era.
In addition to the efforts already announced by GruppeM Motorsport (1 x AMG GT3 Evo), Jenson Team Rocket RJN (1 x McLaren 720S GT3), 2 Seas Motorsport (2 x McLaren 720S GT3) and Abt Sportsline (2 x Audi R8 LMS), German media sources have also now confirmed that Team Rosberg is set to join with a pair of as yet unidentified cars.
This morning saw another potentially significant announcement as Red Bull confirmed that their F1 Development and Reserve Driver Alex Albon is set to contest a number of 2021 DTM races in one of a pair of Red Bull-backed cars (no details of either the cars of the team have yet been given).
Albon has been stood down from a full-time F1 seat in 2021 (he finished seventh in the Drivers World Championship in 2020), replaced alongside Max Verstappen by Sérgio Perez.
He will contest any races that are not impacted by his F1 support role and will be replaced in the car at the remaining races by another as-yet un-named Red Bull-backed driver.
A second Red Bull backed car will see 18-year-old New Zealander Liam Lawson compete for a full season after finishing fifth in the FIA F3 Championship last season.
In other associated news DTM CEO Gerhard Berger has indicated that three-time Champion Rene Rast is set to return in 2021 and has also outlined his personal goal for the 2021 season:
“My big goal is 20 cars with at least five brands, strong drivers and a battle for the title that goes down to the wire, the final race.”
The 2021 DTM season is set to get underway in May at Igora Drive, a new Herman Tilke-designed circuit located about 54 kilometres north of St. Petersburg in Russia.
