Attempto Team Principal Arkin Aka explains why he and his team are leaving the DTM after two years and why the GTWCE is working out even without Audi money
The Audi team Attempto, which won the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) Sprint Cup last year, will leave the DTM in 2024 after two years. Team boss Arkin Aka, who recently sharply criticized Audi for the hefty Dakar penalty because the money would be needed in customer racing, cites financial reasons for the exit
“We didn’t find a budget”, Apart from that, his priority was always the GTWCE anyway. “That’s our home. The DTM also costs us a lot more because you only have one driver instead of five.”
This plays an important role, as Audi is only providing basic support in customer racing this year and is no longer supporting the teams financially
Why Attempto can no longer handle the DTM commitment
How does the Attempto bill work? A total of 15 races will take place over the ten sprint and endurance weekends of the 2024 GTWCE season – roughly the same number of races as in the DTM season. However, instead of one driver per car in the DTM, it is theoretically possible to field five drivers. Two drivers per car in the sprint series, three in the endurance series.
This makes financing easier, as the drivers bring their own sponsors with them. Especially as a season per car with the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II costs between 1.2 and 1.5 million euros in both cases. There has been no financial support from Ingolstadt for either series since 2024. Has Aka even spoken to drivers for the DTM season? “We never got that far,” he replies
Attempto team boss explains difficult 2023 DTM season
Apart from that, Attempto was already much stronger last year in the GTWCE, where heating up the tires is permitted, than in the DTM, where they did not finish higher than eighth despite Audi works drivers Patric Niederhauser and Mattia Drudi.
“We were on the pace for the race, but we didn’t get it right in qualifying,” was Aka’s explanation. “That was the end of it. And after the second or third race, our focus was no longer on the DTM.”
That’s why they decided against expensive test drives. “I don’t want to win races, I want to win a championship,” explains the team boss. “But I would have had to put too much effort into that.”
Due to Attempto’s withdrawal from the DTM, Abt will be the only team with two R8 LMS GT3 Evo IIs on the grid in 2024, which was also made possible by Red Bull’s comeback as a sponsor. The Engstler squad will also no longer be on the grid after one season: Luca Engstler has found a cockpit with Lamborghini Team Grasser and the team will enter an Audi in the ADAC GT Masters
