The Grasser Racing Team is currently looking at the window and trying to figure out where it can line up its Lamborghinis in the 2023 season.
After preparing four Huracans in the DTM this year, the Austrian team still doesn’t know what they will do next. Indeed, what will he be able to do, because currently the conditions for returning to the start of the German series are not there at all, while as far as the IMSA SportsCar Championship is concerned, things are a bit simpler.
So to speak, though, because team principal Gottfried Grasser is working hard these days with his men to plan the future of his team. On the one hand there is the will to continue in the DTM, which however is in the high seas in days in which there are rumors of sales negotiations with the ADAC, while on the other there is the awareness that the time available is very little and 2023 it is now upon us.
Gottfried Grasser, Team Principal Grasser Racing Team
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
“We would like to race a championship in Germany, but it becomes more and more difficult, because to plan the season with confidence we need a clear and precise format,” says the Austrian in an interview with Motorsport.com.
“Actually, we predicted four cars again in the DTM, but we still don’t know how many cars from each manufacturer can be fielded, if only two per team and stuff like that. There are so many of them that I can’t even give numbers and forecasts.”
It all stems from the DTM’s desire to cap the number of cars of the same brand on the grid, allowing only two entries per team.
“I can’t define anything for four cars, because it might not be possible to enter them at all. Many things are not clear. Every negotiation ends with: ‘Let’s see where we will race’. We don’t know how much the entry fee will be, how much the tires will cost, the synthetic fuels and everything else. At the moment it is very difficult for the teams to go in one direction, they are all waiting.”
Clemens Schmid, Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan EVO GT3
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The problem is that if the alternative to the DTM could be the ADAC GT Masters, which starts in the spring of next year, other championships such as the IMSA will open their doors as early as January. For this reason time is running out and the sums drawn in time.
“Everything is pending at the moment, because everything depends on the calendars. For this reason, IMSA has also become increasingly topical for us. As a team, I cannot twist my thumbs from October 4th to December 4th, hoping that something will rain from the sky”.
“We need to know things in time and at the moment there is nothing. In theory, it could also be that we will show up with two cars in the ADAC GT Masters and two in the DTM. Anything is possible, maybe even the fact that in Germany we will have only two cars”.
“I admire people like Torsten Schubert who managed to do both this year. Because on some weekends you need to race four cars in different series, or in our case it would be six at the same time. Where to get the staff and the funds? It’s impossible With a calendar without overlaps, then that would be a viable option.”
Mirko Bortolotti, Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan EVO GT3
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Among other things, there is also the problem of the drivers, because in 2022 Lamborghini Squadra Corse gave GRT Mirko Bortolotti, who however, as we know, is also destined for the project of the brand new LMDh and will certainly be involved in the GT commitments with the new reference team of Sant’Agata Bolognese, Iron Lynx.
From this point of view, Grasser can do nothing but spread his arms and, as with the championships, wait for news.
“Nothing can be said about the riders, starting with Mirko. Much depends on the LMDh program and certainly his next year will also be very intense. He will race in various championships and in the event of coincidences with the DTM it would obviously be impossible to have him with us. And that would obviously be very painful.”
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