The second half of the 2011 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (German Touring Masters) season will be available live to 120 million households in Communist China, Macau, Honk Kong, and Taiwan. The first race to be broadcast to Asia will be the Nürburgring round, August 8.
DTM has partnered with the Shanghai Media Group, China’s second largest free television channel to broadcast the remaining five races.
The move into Asia is significant because China is one of the fastest growing automobile markets in the world. In 2010 GM sold more cars in China than in the United States—a first for the U.S.-based global corporation. German manufacturers hope to capitalize on the region’s expanding interest in automobiles, and broadcasting DTM racing is a very cost-effective way to advertise.
DTM is one of the popular touring-car racing series in Europe—sort of the European equivalent of NASCAR. It features purpose-built cars from manufacturers Audi and Mercedes Benz; in 2012, BMW will join the fray.
The cars have nearly identical chassis and engines, as does NASCAR, and the bodywork is based on the hood sand roofs of production cars, with the rest wildly modified for aerodynamic efficiency.
Meanwhile, the DTM series is also negotiating for a United-States-based arm to be run in conjunction with NASCAR’s Grand Am subsidiary. The United States is a huge market for all four DTM manufacturers.
