Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters

else sure sure so it was karting and then uh straight into sort of racing from from from there so racing

so it's karting and then into uh in ireland it was formula sheen and then i went to the uk and i entered into the brdc scholarship and that was to race formula fords i think i came second i can't remember it was second and and then I started racing Formula Ford and then you go through the single-seater ladder and then you get into cars because the single-seater route unless you're going to F1 it's telephone number money so you just don't really look at it that way so I very quickly I always wanted to race DTM that was my thing but the old DTM DTM is now just GT3 really but the old days DTM they were Formula 1 cars with body kits they were amazing So, yeah, I got to the point where I got up to Ford 2000 in America.

And that was when the Celtic Tiger got euthanized.

And sponsorship kind of ran dry.

It felt like it was still... a TV product that was sort of, yeah, passively put on the big screens.

Whereas if you go to someone like DTM, for years, DTM was such a good fan space.

You know, the big screens had different graphics that you could read from your grandstand seat.

Um, they did these sort of things that you would expect to see in stadiums when you go or stadia, when you go to like an NFL game or something like that.

And they play around with the, the kiss cam and things like this.

Um, and DTM has always been so good for that.

And I don't know why motorsport is not able to be better, but we seem not to be bothered.

Yeah, it's something I've definitely noticed as well.

Yes.

So back in 2020, Robert was driving DTM at the Nürburgring and he ended up at our company, Apex, back at the time to come and rent a car.

He went to another company first, but they didn't know who he was.

And they said, if you want to rent a car, you need to take an instructor with you because we don't know you, we don't trust you.

So when I got into the office, everyone was going mad, like, oh, yeah, yeah, Kubica is driving our BMW.

I'm like, who? Whatever.

And he booked a BMW M4 for a full week while he was at DTM.

And then one of the evenings when I came also to drive the truck myself, I ran into him at the office.

And I think the thing that really, really ticks it for me is, I think Greg talks about him being clean-cut and McLaren-y.

As soon as he's out of McLaren... and almost tail end of McLaren a little bit as well, very much at Red Bull, and then totally in DTM and Pundit era, he's a character.

There's a lot going on with Cawthard that is entertaining, and he's got a lot of opinions and anecdotes and interesting approaches to life.

And you don't see any of that when he's doing his McLaren stint.

know i i think it was it was launched very much for the competitors because it was launched as a home for the essentially for the um the gentleman as we were saying uh but the way it's spread and the way it's become so important and you know in in this decade that has sort of continued with gt3 taking its place on the wet grid and most significantly at the Le Mans 24 Hours, as LMGT3.

You know, we see it in the DTM.

We see a professional class now in the IMSA Sports Car Championship, the predominant sports car series in North America.

So it changed over time, you know, and it changed actually quite rapidly.

He was saying, we need to go back to where we have... two classes again you know in the old days you know it it wasn't as simple as this but you could say you know gte which gt2 became was sort of the professional class and gt3 was the amateur class obviously it was not as simple as that uh But he's saying, do we need to go back to that situation? Because at the moment, GT3 covers both bases.

We have fully pro GT3 racing at the highest level of the, say, the GT World Challenge Europe.

where all pro lineups are allowed, and then in the DTM, where, you know, single drivers, and in the pro class, GTD Pro in IMSA.

But then, you know, there are amateurs racing in IMSA, in regular GTD, and then, you know, in all the GT World Challenge series in Europe, in...

Aber sobald ich auf der Strecke bin, vergesse ich es wieder.

Und glaub mir, wenn wir hier heute Mittag und morgen fahren, alle gestandenen DTM Mechaniker lassen Werkzeug fallen, sind am Schauen und gucken zu.

Wir fahren für die Fans, für die Leute, die auf der Tribüne sitzen, die da fünf Stunden in der Sonne hocken, für die fahren wir.

Das ist natürlich Geschichte und da haben wir eine gewisse Ehrfurcht und schauen natürlich jedes Mal, wenn ein Auto vorbeikommt oder vor einem ist, das könnte jetzt irgendein, ein Grande der Vergangenheit sein, wo man sich dann natürlich ganz respektvoll hin tastet.

That's the penalty you're getting.

Like, take the DTM.

I feel like we've mentioned the DTM on

the...

either talking on Twitter or also on my own podcast with Nicole and Austin.

We've mentioned the DTM and how effective they are.

I feel like IMSA needs to take a leaf out of the DTM book of applying penalties because these guys are quick.

Yeah, I was going to mention DTM as well.