R-Motorsport has said that it will not use engines supplied by HWA in the 2020 DTM Series, after one season in collaboration with the German company.
HWA, an affiliate of Mercedes‘ AMG programme, did make an offer to continue supplying engines for the four Aston Martin Vantage DTM cars for ’20, but its approach was rejected by the Swiss squad.
A number of failures in the season finale at Hockenheim earlier this month fed rumours of R-Motorsport’s discontent with HWA, but team boss Dr. Florian Kamelger stated that he held faith in the latter’s ability to resolve any issues.
HWA seemingly made a breakthrough in reliability in the mid-stages of the season, with the project gaining momentum in the second half of the year.
In a statement released on Thursday, Kamelger confirmed that the two parties has split – but emphasised that R-Motorsport and Aston Martin will continue the fledgling DTM programme.
“Regrettably, we have not been able to find any consensus for the further cooperation with HWA AG with regard to our DTM [programme],” said Kamelger.
“So in the end, the only option we have is to end the joint DTM participation with HWA and focus on the future.
“We plan to continue our DTM programme after the end of our cooperation with HWA and will reorient ourselves under different circumstances in coordination with Aston Martin in 2020.”
R-Motorsport made the decision to withdraw from November’s ‘Dream Race’ merger with SUPER GT at the Fuji Speedway, in order to dedicate all of its time to improving the performance of its DTM machinery.
The team scored 49 points in ’19, compared to Audi Sport and BMW Motorsport‘s totals of 1132 and 550 points respectively, with a best finish of sixth – courtesy of Jake Dennis at Zolder and Dani Juncadella at the Norisring.