– Would it be a solution to allow only one change to the Balance of Performance (BoP) per race weekend in the DTM? That is exactly what the Manthey team proposed as part of a dossier spanning over 30 pages, which deals with how the DTM classification can be improved in the future. So far, three – sometimes major – BoP changes per weekend have often been the norm in the DTM.
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“The goal is to have a more consistent BoP over the season. With fewer changes, because we say, it is still a sport,” explains Manthey race director Patrick Arkenau in an interview with Motorsport-Total.com. “If we try to make the perfect BoP for exactly that moment every day and after every session, we will always be chasing.”
By this he means that conditions are constantly changing and it can always happen that a driver manages a perfect lap. If you always react to this snapshot with a less favorable classification for the leading car, there will constantly be major changes.
Manthey proposal: Separate scoring from qualifying and race
“It is always a snapshot,” explains Arkenau. “We are in favor of basically making fewer changes, looking more at trends. And looking: Which brands perform in which window – and then reacting to that.”
This also includes not making a change after every session on race days. “Our proposal was: I take qualifying and race together and make a score out of it – how much I value qualifying, how much I value the race – with a certain formula from micro-sectors and so on.”
Manthey: Track differences in BoP overrated
They have “made a very concrete proposal,” confirms Arkenau, which is about having “fewer fluctuations” in the future. Arkenau is also skeptical about major changes from race weekend to race weekend that are due to different track characteristics.
“We do not believe that these tracks are so different and that a completely different BoP is needed, but would rather say: That is the trend over the season, because in our eyes the development of the teams or the mix of team, driver and car has a significantly greater effect than the differences of the tracks.”
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So one should “not adapt the starting BoP so much to the tracks, but rather look more at the trend of the past events. And then take smaller steps and react less often and make sure the system settles,” summarizes Arkenau. (SPONSORED LINK: Secure tickets now for the DTM season 2026!)
In the end, every racing series has to find the right way for itself, “but we have simply tried to be proactive,” he explains the background of the proposal. “We do not want to complain about the BoP, but want to proactively participate in making it better. Because we have an interest that the sporting value stands above the value of the BoP.”
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HRT team boss: “If I can play best, I want that too”
But how does the competition react? Quite critically. “Of course, if I can play best, then I want to have that too,” says HRT team boss Ulrich Fritz, who already expressed his suspicion of a BoP bluff by Manthey in Spielberg. What exactly does he mean? “If I am the one who figured out how the game works, then it suits me if only one change is made.”
He agrees with Manthey that constant changes are bad, “but if you know that only one change is made per weekend, you can act politically very differently.”
“I would not let this tool be taken away from me as an organizer, because if I am told to change only once – and then something is wrong or someone has played – then I can no longer react. And as a team, I could then approach the championship mathematically and consider where I can maximize and when I let it go.”
BMW team demands “play with open cards” from Manthey
Team boss Torsten Schubert of the only BMW team in the DTM also suspects political calculation. “Basically, I would welcome it, but I think everyone should play with open cards and not suddenly have two cars running six tenths slower than in the first qualifying, while the other Porsche is up front,” he refers to the Manthey performance drop in Sunday qualifying in Spielberg.
“When such proposals come – and you hear that more often from the Manthey camp – that is not so good,” he says.
“Mr. DTM” Bernd Schneider, who acts as an advisor at Mercedes-AMG, also sees a danger: “If I make a change on Friday where no one shows what they can do, then maybe the whole weekend is ruined for one brand and another brand benefits infinitely from it. That is why it is difficult to say, I will do it this way now.”
Grasser finds proposal “great,” but timing wrong
There is fundamental agreement from team boss Gottfried Grasser. “I would find the proposal great if all parameters are known and we had a tire that we all know,” refers the head of the Lamborghini team to the new DTM special tire from Pirelli.
“I think it is too early this season because there are too few values from this tire. In general, I also believe that a strong performance by a driver and a team would deserve more recognition and should not be immediately cemented away again by the BoP.”
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