Tim Heinemann has proven his talent several times in the DTM Trophy. In 2020 he became the first champion in the history of the GT4 racing series, and again this year the young German is fully involved in the title fight with his Toyota. Nevertheless, a promotion to the big series is not set in stone.
The umbrella organization ITR has now taken on the matter. None other than Martin Tomczyk has been series manager for the DTM Trophy since the beginning of the year. “In the long term, it is my wish and my plan to see the winner very quickly and easily in the DTM,” he told “Motorsport-Total.com” in the spring.
But so far, promotion has repeatedly failed due to the large sums that have to be spent for a full DTM season. The prize money for the Trophy Champion is far from enough to financially support promotion.
Tim Heinemann: There wasn’t the right door opener yet
However, there should be an incentive, in whatever form, as Heinemann demands in an interview with ‘Motorsport-Total.com’: “If nobody from the 2nd Bundesliga were promoted to the 1st Bundesliga, then nobody in the 1st Bundesliga would either Play Bundesliga 2. I think that should have been the example from the start.”
“It was always tried, even after 2020, when I became champion. But there has never been the right door opener. Nowadays it doesn’t help to just engage people in conversation. In my opinion, you have to do a little more behind it and also do a bit more than series,” the young German continued.
Heinemann welcomes Tomczyk’s efforts to change that and speaks of “the good way” that the umbrella organization ITR is on. Heinemann himself is in talks with several teams and manufacturers for the 2023 DTM season, as he reveals. According to his own statements, he was “unbound and open to everything.”
The promotion to the DTM has therefore been an issue since his 2020 championship season, but time and again it failed due to financing. “That’s always a huge budget issue, and there’s a huge question mark with everyone, especially at the moment, because nobody knows exactly how much budget they have next year,” he notes.
Double commitment DTM and DTM Trophy? Heinemann skeptical
Apart from the DTM Trophy, his engagements this year are therefore limited to the KTM project on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife and occasional GT3 engagements. At NLS4, for example, Heinemann was allowed to drive one of the Falken Porsches. “If everything goes well, I’ll drive on the Nordschleife again this year,” he reveals.
And a double commitment consisting of DTM and DTM Trophy, like the one contested by Trophy colleague Theo Oeverhaus at the Nürburgring last weekend? Heinemann is skeptical about this. It is true that he also started in two series at the Lausitzring last year, namely in the DTM Trophy and in the BMW M2 Cup.
But with a view to Oeverhaus, Heinemann says: “I don’t even know whether I would have done it. It’s a mammoth task what he’s doing there. Not even because of the Trophy, but of course because of the DTM. It will definitely be Fall hard for him.” The 17-year-old himself sometimes had to put the DTM Trophy aside.
“I wish him only the very best for the DTM,” said Heinemann on Friday at the Nürburgring. And not without reason, because: “If he does well, the entire DTM Trophy benefits from it.” In fact, Oeverhaus wasn’t too far from the top. His gap to the leaders was between 1.3 and 1.6 seconds in all practice sessions.
However, the BMW youngster played a tragic role in Sunday’s race. At the restart after the early safety car phase, being the leader, he irritated championship leader Sheldon van der Linde, which cost the South African a few places. An unfortunate end to an otherwise decent weekend for Oeverhaus.