Might limiting the Steadiness of Efficiency (BoP) to only one adjustment per race weekend be the answer for the DTM? That is precisely what the Manthey crew has proposed as a part of a file spanning over 30 pages, geared toward bettering the DTM’s classification system sooner or later. Till now, three – generally important – BoP adjustments per weekend have typically been the norm within the DTM.
“The aim is to have a extra constant BoP over the course of the season. With fewer adjustments, as a result of we consider it’s nonetheless a sport,” explains Manthey’s Racing Director, Patrick Arkenau, in an interview with Motorsport-Complete.com. “If we attempt to create the proper BoP for each single day and after each session, we are going to all the time be enjoying catch-up.”
What he means by that is that situations are always shifting and it’s all the time potential for a driver to nail an ideal lap purely on their very own advantage. If the response to this snapshot is persistently a harsher classification for the automobile on the entrance, it should result in a cycle of huge changes, inflicting the pendulum to always swing backwards and forwards.
Manthey’s proposal: A mixed score from qualifying and race
“It’s all the time only a snapshot,” Arkenau explains. “We’re in favor of creating fewer adjustments in precept and searching extra at tendencies. To see: Which manufacturers carry out wherein window – after which react to that.”
This additionally contains not making an adjustment after each session on race days. “Our proposal was: I take qualifying and the race collectively and create a single score from them – how a lot I weight qualifying, how a lot I weight the race – utilizing a selected system consisting of micro-sectors and so forth.”
Manthey: Monitor variations overrated in BoP
Arkenau confirms that they’ve “made a really concrete proposal” geared toward making certain there are “fewer spikes” sooner or later. Arkenau can also be skeptical of huge changes from one race weekend to the following based mostly on totally different observe traits.
“We do not consider that these tracks are so totally different that they require a very totally different BoP. As a substitute, we would like to say: That is the development over the season, as a result of in our eyes, the event of the groups or the combination of crew, driver, and automobile has a considerably better impact than the variations between the tracks.”
Subsequently, the beginning BoP ought to “not focus a lot on the tracks, however somewhat take a look at the development of the earlier occasions. After which take smaller steps, react much less typically, and be certain that the system stabilizes,” Arkenau summarizes.
Finally, each racing collection should discover the correct path for itself, “however we merely tried to be proactive,” he says, explaining the background of the proposal. “We do not need to complain concerning the BoP; we need to take part proactively in making it higher. As a result of we’ve an curiosity within the sporting worth standing above the worth of the BoP.”
HRT Crew Principal: “If I’m the very best at enjoying the sport, I need that too”
However how is the competitors reacting? With a wholesome dose of skepticism. “After all, if I’m the very best at enjoying the sport, then that’s what I need,” says HRT Crew Principal Ulrich Fritz, who voiced his suspicion of a BoP bluff by Manthey in Spielberg. What precisely does he imply? “If I’m the one who has discovered how the sport works, then it really works in my favor if adjustments are solely made as soon as.”
He agrees with Manthey that fixed adjustments are unhealthy, “but when you realize that there’s just one change per weekend, you’ll be able to act very in another way politically.”
“As an organizer, I would not let that software be taken away from me. As a result of if I permit myself to be dictated to solely change as soon as – after which one thing is incorrect or somebody has been ‘enjoying’ – then I can not react. And as a crew, I may then method the championship mathematically and think about the place I can maximize and once I ought to simply let it go.”
BMW crew calls for Manthey “present their playing cards”
Crew boss Torsten Schubert, from the one BMW crew within the DTM, additionally senses political calculation. “In precept, I’d welcome it, however I believe everybody ought to present their playing cards and never out of the blue have two automobiles driving six-tenths slower than within the first qualifying session whereas the opposite Porsche is up on the entrance,” he says, referring to Manthey’s drop in efficiency throughout Sunday qualifying in Spielberg.
“When such proposals come ahead – and also you hear them typically from the Manthey camp – it’s not factor,” he says.
“Mr. DTM” Bernd Schneider, who acts as a model ambassador for Mercedes-AMG, additionally sees a hazard: “If I make a change on Friday when everybody is not displaying what they will do, then maybe your entire weekend is ruined for one model and one other model advantages infinitely. That’s why it’s tough to say: ‘We’re going to do it this fashion now.'”
Grasser finds the proposal “nice”, however the timing incorrect
There may be elementary settlement from crew boss Gottfried Grasser. “I believe the proposal could be nice if all parameters had been identified and we had a tire that all of us knew,” says the pinnacle of the Lamborghini crew, referring to the brand new DTM-spec tire from Pirelli.
“I believe it’s too early for this season as a result of there’s too little information on this tire. Typically, nevertheless, I’m additionally of the opinion {that a} robust efficiency by a driver and a crew deserves extra recognition and should not be instantly buried by the BoP.”
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