If the French Grand Prix will not be abandoned by the championship officials – Le Mans is to be replaced by the debuting Dijon circuit – Italy won't get to see their series' favorites next year. Due to the fact that the MotoGP series will also be making a visit to Mugello in late May 2009, the location has been dropped out of the official calendar.
“We had two fantastic events, there, but due to the latest postponements finding a reasonable date for the Mugello round proved to be just impossible as the Moto GP is going to race there in late May,” explained DTM's Chairman Hans Werner Aufrecht.
Some further adjustments have been made by the series' officials in order for the DTM calendar to avoid clashes with the Formula 1 schedule for the upcoming season. Therefore, the season opener at Hockenheim will get under way 3 weeks later than previously planned, on May 17th. The EuroSpeedway Lausitz event was consequently moved to late May – therefore pushing Mugello out of the schedule – while the Brands Hatch round was moved to September 6th.
“We always had the intention to avoid scheduling conflicts with Formula One. After all, our fans have been accustomed to such a calendar for many years. In cooperation with our organisers, the German Motorsport Association, DMSB, and our TV partner ARD we succeeded in once again avoiding such scheduling conflicts. Consequently, we now are able to present a well-balanced calendar featuring ten races in five European countries,” added Aufrecht.
Here is the complete DTM schedule for 2009:
17th May Hockenheimring
31st May EuroSpeedway Lausitz
28th June Norisring
19th July Zandvoort
02nd August Oschersleben
16th August Nürburgring
06th September Brands Hatch
20th September Barcelona
11th October Dijon
25th October Hockenheimring
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