After much deliberation for the the main parties involved within the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, the grid for the 2017 season will now be shrinking to 18 cars, as confirmed in an official statement from Head of Mercedes-AMG DTM Ulrich Fritz.
Via the outfit’s official Facebook page, he admitted that all three brands had made the joint decision to each run with six vehicles, and that the Stuttgart brand will now be using Affalterbach-based HWA in a “centralized manner” next season.
“We have investigated different implementation scenarios for our team,” he explained, with cost cutting being one of the factors that the series has had to look at, in terms of future stability.
“Of course, it is a pity that the successful cooperation with Mücke Motorsport and ART Grand Prix will not go further in the DTM. Peter Mücke and his team have been a loyal partner of our program since 2005.”
Both Lucas Auer and Christian Vietoris have secured one win and two podiums this season, with the former also taking two pole positions alongside his and Mücke’s maiden win at Lausitzring race two earlier back in June.
However, Fritz said that both teams would be involved within the Mercedes program in other championships, including Formula Three, saying that there was a lot of appreciation for both outfits.
“This is why we are very pleased that the cooperation between Mercedes-AMG and Mücke Motorsport will continue in various areas such as Formula 3. ART GP has done an incredible job over the last two years: Without any experience in the DTM, it’s hard to get anybody. ”
Both António Félix da Costa and Martin Tomczyk departed BMW at the end of this season, as did two-time champion Timo Scheider from the Audi camp, which will see at least three or four drivers set to move on from the series very soon.
No further information is forthcoming, as to both driver and team line-ups at both Ingolstadt and Munich, but it appears as though this year’s runner-up, Edoardo Mortara, will be confirmed very shortly after his final appearance for Audi at the Macau GT World Cup in November.