Aston Martin, a name increasingly rumoured to be getting even closer to Formula 1, has suddenly pulled out of the German touring car championship DTM.
Mere months before the start of the 2020 season, DTM has been left with just two car manufacturers after the R-Motorsport team lost the backing of Aston Martin after just a single season.
The news coincides with rising speculation that Racing Point owner Lawrence Stroll is now poised to take over Aston Martin, a British luxury carmaker that is currently title sponsor at Red Bull.
Citing sources that say a Chinese investor’s interest had waned, Bloomberg reports that Stroll is now the frontrunner to buy a $260 stake in Aston Martin.
Aston Martin did not comment, and Bloomberg said Stroll could not be reached.
But the DTM news puts the Gerhard Berger-run German series in serious trouble, as BMW and Audi are the only manufacturers now following Mercedes’ departure in 2018.
"Our reassessment of our motorsport program concluded that we want to set new priorities for the future, and that the DTM commitment would not be appropriate for this," R-Motorsport boss Florian Kamelger is quoted by Kolner Express.