24 replies to this topic

[tomisumi]

 

Don´t believe until it happens

[HaydenFan]

Will WTCC be around in 2015. 

[DampMongoose]

If it happens without changes to the track, it'll be good to have a World Championship event back there, but I would have prefered something like the Blancpain sprint series than the blandest touring car series in history.

[Anja]

If it happens without changes to the track, it'll be good to have a World Championship event back there, but I would have prefered something like the Blancpain sprint series than the blandest touring car series in history.

 

Exactly, I woudn't call current WTCC an exciting series.

[DracoN]

WTCC is 15 min race, so they gonna go for 2 laps ?

[DampMongoose]

WTCC is 15 min race, so they gonna go for 2 laps ?

 

No they've said that they would have one race of 120km with a single pit stop.  Sounds riveting  (yawn)

[Risil]

The organizers of the WTCC clearly have The Right Idea. But I wonder what it'll take for their championship to take off.

Edited by Risil, 19 June 2014 - 16:41.

[BRG]

Wow.  Just when the WRC is being transformed into a Punch and Judy show, the WTCC suddenly grows a pair and wants to play at the 'Ring.  Loeb will need to get Daniel Elena back to read him pace notes!

[redreni]

Glad the WTCC is trying to do something to liven up what is a very dull product. It's just a pity that every time they change the technical regs and get new cars, they make them ever so slightly more dull. Not sure this is the right track for them, to be honest. It's great to have touring car races on the Nordscheilfe in principle, but look at the Youtube footage from when DTM raced there in the early 90s. It wasn't particularly thrilling. You seem to get more entertainment and interest in WTCC when you go to places like Pau or Marrakech or Maccau - it seems the less space you give a WTCC driver to work with, the more likely he is to attempt a risky pass...

[eronrules]

i expect something like this ...

 

 

watch out for the accident at 6:20 

 

couple of things

 

1. if this happens, this will be the one racing event worth seeing, like the Lemans of WTCC

2. racing won't improve much as the track is very narrow and faster cars will be even more faster

3. damp or wet tracks should make things fun.

Edited by eronrules, 19 June 2014 - 18:58.

[TimRTC]

Going to need lots of extra drivers a la Macau to ensure that there are enough cars running at the end of the first lap to make it a viable race.

 

I was surprised to see the WTCC running Spa this year considering the length of the track compared to the normal short-circuit touring car races. Provided they promote it properly it could be something interesting. I would far rather see the Nordschleife being used than another generic Asian or American circuit.

[HaydenFan]

I think it is a smart move for the series. Seeing as the track is used nearly everyday, costs would probably be not much higher to stage the event. It's in Europe, which cuts travel expenses. Again, it's in Europe. Where the people actually might go see the series. So you'll have more than a few in the grandstands. And it's the Nordschleife, so that already has a built in fan base.

 

Best business move from the series. And good business moves are what WTCC needs. 

[PayasYouRace]

I think it is a smart move for the series. Seeing as the track is used nearly everyday, costs would probably be not much higher to stage the event. It's in Europe, which cuts travel expenses. Again, it's in Europe. Where the people actually might go see the series. So you'll have more than a few in the grandstands. And it's the Nordschleife, so that already has a built in fan base.

 

Best business move from the series. And good business moves are what WTCC needs. 

 

It's not even that much. It's going to be part of the 24 hours weekend. The track will be race prepared anyway.

[F1TestCatalunya]

 

WTCC is 15 min race, so they gonna go for 2 laps?

 

No they've said that they would have one race of 120km with a single pit stop.

 

 

So 5 laps then.

 

When will F1/MotoGP go there?

Edited by F1TestCatalunya, 19 June 2014 - 21:14.

[Risil]

When will F1/MotoGP go there?

They won't, obviously.

 

I think the future for motorsports outside F1/MotoGP/NASCAR is big, well-attended events as opposed to trying to fit everything around TV coverage, so this move for WTCC to piggyback onto the Nurburgring 24 might work out. Why not a Le Mans support race too?

Edited by Risil, 19 June 2014 - 21:17.

[HaydenFan]

They won't, obviously.

 

I think the future for motorsports outside F1/MotoGP/NASCAR is big, well-attended events as opposed to trying to fit everything around TV coverage, so this move for WTCC to piggyback onto the Nurburgring 24 might work out. Why not a Le Mans support race too?

 

Always wondered why they never did that. Outside of some historical events, you only have a national Porsche Cup race. The German equivalent does the same at the Nordschleife. But add a bigger series like Blancpain Sprints, or a touring car class (which is okay with a bit of banging), and you'd have a proper race at the track. 

[OvDrone]

I don't know about you guys, but I have a boner.

[Risil]

Always wondered why they never did that. Outside of some historical events, you only have a national Porsche Cup race. The German equivalent does the same at the Nordschleife. But add a bigger series like Blancpain Sprints, or a touring car class (which is okay with a bit of banging), and you'd have a proper race at the track. 

 

I wouldn't want to dilute the event with a sportscar-lite series like Blancpain but I think a WTCC race on one of the spare evenings would go very nicely. Citroen and Eurosport are French, they can make it happen.

[Sheepmachine]

This is great news! They just need to race round Monaco next and then it will be perfect (Also how happy was Tom Coronel, it was like all his Christmases had come at once! ).

[V8 Fireworks]

Will WTCC be around in 2015. 

 

All very well, but they are slower than GT3 cars in the Nordschelife 24 hour so who cares. 

[HaydenFan]

All very well, but they are slower than GT3 cars in the Nordschelife 24 hour so who cares. 

 

To me, at least from hours of racing the track in Gran Turismo, speed around the Ring means little. The best races are the slower cars. Heck, WTCC is an enigma as usually sedan racing has the tendency to put on a good show. 

[PayasYouRace]

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/114535

 

"Ribeiro confirmed that there had been no issue surrounding the circuit's licence to hold a WTCC event, and the only hurdle had been one rule in the FIA sporting regulations."

 

Good to know.

[chunder27]

I actually think it's quite a dangerous move.

 

Some of the driving taent in WTCC leaves a lot to be desired, you have a few pay drivers, and those guys relaly should not be cut loose on a very dangerous track like this in a world championship.

 

OK you can ahve the same situation in a 24 hour race that is arguably more dangerous.

 

But this series is supposed to be a pinnacle isnt it?  And the top guys there are fine, but imagine having a round of Blancpain there, it would be carnage!

[ezequiel]

 

 

Some of the driving taent in WTCC leaves a lot to be desired

 

I disagree a bit with you here, I don't think there's a lot of "filler" drivers in WTCC right now, and pay drivers and relative newcomers to touring car racing like René Munnich, who comes form the rallycross world and owns his own team, or Dusan Borkovic, who seems to have developed most of his career in hill climbing, are not precisely a disaster en terms of speed and reliability. Of course you can always improve the driver level but right now you have a multiple touring car champion (BTCC, WTCC) like Müller, a 9 times WRC champion who has proved himself in sportcars with several wins in FIA GT and a podium on Le Mans (Loeb), a FR V6 and multiple touring car champion with experience as F1 test driver (López), a few former F1 drivers (Tarquini, Monteiro), one of them even with a legitimate podium finish there (Morbidelli), a F3 and F. Nippon champion (Coronel), a BTCC Independent`s trophy champion (Chilton), very young guns like Valente and Filippi who proved competent in single-seaters and tin tops (Valente specially is to me one of the most promising drivers in WTCC right now), Rob Huff who's a champion and one of the best drivers in the series (no matter how slow is that LADA he's dealing with this season), a BTCC and ETCC champion like Thompson, a youngster with margin for improvement but who has not looked horrible so far compared to his very experienced and quite succesful teammates (Kozlovskyi), a touring car institution like Franz Engstler and a FR 3.5 race winner in Di Sabatino (who's still in his twenties), Norbert Michelisz who has already won the Independent's trophy in WTCC as well as several promotional tin tops championships around Europe (like the SEAT León Eurocup) and Mehdi Bennani who wasn't terrible despite being far from great in FR 3.5 and has been very competent in his WTCC years. Ha, and I think I've mentioned all the drivers racing full season this year.

[F1TestCatalunya]

 

Also how happy was Tom Coronel

 

Please, the whole segment was so obviously scripted.

Nice acting, just like the Nascar and Wrestling segments. Script galore 

Edited by F1TestCatalunya, 21 June 2014 - 10:30.