BMW's Glock: DTM should follow Supercars low-downforce example

Speaking ahead of his second appearance in the Bathurst 12 Hour GT race next month, Glock called for the German tin top series to look at its Australian counterpart on how to move forward after Mercedes withdraws at the end of 2018.

"It was a shock when Mercedes announced that it was going to leave the DTM," said Glock.

"On one hand it's a shock, on the other it opens another door. There are chances on the table for the DTM to do things differently.

"Since I've been in the DTM, I've been saying that we need to see what the Supercars in Australia are doing.

"They do it right. They have, compared to DTM, zero aerodynamic downforce. You can follow each other, overtake, drive side-by-side - that's what we can't do.

"Supercars are a long way from a road car, but they are closer [than a DTM car]. If you look inside, it looks more like a road car.

"The downforce makes a difference, and that's what we need to get rid of in the DTM and get closer to what the guys are doing in Australia."

The DTM is working to establish a joint set of regulations with the Japanese Super GT series, but Glock said following Supercars' example could help the DTM increase its fan base.

"They are pure fighting, pure racing, and that's what the fans want to see," continued Glock.

"Entertaining the fans, that's what we need. That's why I say we need to go more and more in this direction with the car, and automatically the show will be better, the fans will join.

"I hope that's the way we go in the future. I hope Gerhard [Berger] steers it in the right way, and I think that's what he's doing at the moment.

"He knows where we need to be, but it's not done in half a year or a year. It takes time."

Glock added he would like to contest the Bathurst 1000 Supercars enduro round, and has held preliminary talks with Australian racing legend Mark Skaife about a wildcard entry.

Andy Priaulx and Mattias Ekstrom shared a car (above) under a similar arrangement in 2013.

"It [Bathurst] would be a race that's on my list to do, it would be a dream to do a Supercars test some time," added Glock.

"But it's tough to get it done because of my schedule, doing DTM races and then commentary for RTL in F1.

"I had a long chat with Mark Skaife about it last year, and we were talking about getting sponsorship done and maybe doing a car with Marco Wittmann, like they did for Andy Priaulx and Mattias Ekstrom a few years ago.

"That would be on my list. Let's see how it works out."