2006 FIA European Touring Car Cup preview
ESTORIL IS READY TO HOST THE SECOND EDITION OF THE
FIA EUROPEAN TOURING CAR CUP Thirty drivers, coming
from 13 European countries, and at the wheel of 12 different
types of car from 10 different makes, will gather next week
at Estoril’s Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva
to compete in the second edition of the FIA European Touring
Car Cup.
The FIA European Touring Car Cup is reserved for cars complying
with the FIA Super 2000 and Super Production technical regulations.
Drivers’ titles will be awarded for each of the two
categories.
AN FIA EVENT BACK TO ESTORIL AFTER THREE YEARS
The 2006 FIA European Touring Car Cup will be the first FIA
event held on the 4.18 km Estoril racetrack since the 2003
FIA European Touring Car Championship.
The event is promoted by the Portuguese company Maxima Rotaçao
and patronised by the Federação Portuguesa de
Automobilismo e Karting (FPAK); the organisation also involves
the Associação de Comissários de Desportos
Motorizados do Estoril (ACDME). Promotion and organisation
have been supported by the Instituto de Turismo de Portugal
(ITP) and the Região de Turismo da Costa do Estoril.
NATIONS CUP AWARDED FOR THE FIRST TIME In
addition to the two FIA European Touring Car Cups for Super
2000 and Super Production drivers, the FIA Touring Car Nations
Cup will be awarded for the first time at Estoril.
This title will be awarded to the National Sporting Authority
(ASN) whose drivers have scored the highest number of points
in the two races of the 2006 FIA European Touring Car Cup.
The best two cars entered by competitors belonging to same
ASN will be taken into consideration for the Nations Cup’s
classification. Should this Cup have existed last year, Sweden
would have won it in Vallelunga, scoring 24 points and edging
Italy by only one.
WTCC FORMAT FOR THE EUROPEAN CUP Compared
to the first edition, that was held on October 15, 2005 in
Vallelunga, Italy, the second European Cup fully adopts the
World Touring Car Championship format: two 30-minute free
practice sessions and one 30-minute qualifying session on
Saturday; 15-minute warm-up and two 50 km back-to-back races
on Sunday. The grid for the second race is determined by the
results of the first race, with the top-eight in reverse order.
Cars of both eligible categories – Super 2000 and Super
Productions – will race together.
Two 60-minute test sessions will be held on Friday, October
20.
EURO 200,000 PRIZE MONEY AT STAKE Competitors
of the FIA European Touring Car Cup will race on Yokohama
control tyres. The Japanese tyre Manufacturer and the company
promoter KSO have put in a strong effort to confirm the Yokohama
Trophy’s prize money, which will again award a total
of euro 200,000.
Euro 150,000 will be distributed among the first twelve drivers
classified in the Super 2000 Cup. The winner will receive
euro 25,000, while the second and third classified drivers
will win 20,000 and 15,000 respectively. Euro 50,000 are at
stake for Super Production Cup’s competitors, with a
first prize of 15,000.
LIVE BROADCAST ON EUROSPORT Eurosport International
will broadcast both the FIA European Touring Car Cup races
live from Estoril on Sunday 22nd October.
Race 1 will be televised from 16.10 and Race 2 from 17.20.
Last year’s races from Vallelunga were covered live
by Eurosport 2 that will repeat the Estoril races on Sunday
night from 23.15 (all times are CET).
The FIA European Touring Car Cup will also be aired live
on SIC (Portugal), 7TV (Russia), ETV (Estonia) and Nuvolari
(Italy).
Eurosport will also release through Reuters free-of-charge
news access of the event.
WIN A CHEVROLET MATIZ AND OTHER PRIZES!
One Chevrolet Matiz is the first prize in a lottery that will
be held on Sunday at Estoril among all the spectators in possession
of a valid entrance ticket.
Other prizes at stake are two Pioneer GPS, three Apple iPods
and 30 DVDs of the Pixar movie “Cars”.
The draw will happen after the end of the FIA European Touring
Car Cup podium ceremony.
ZANARDI AND PORTEIRO WITH BMW ITALY-SPAIN
Once again Alessandro Zanardi will be the star of the FIA
European Touring Car Cup. After he finished third in last
year’s edition at Valellunga – claiming victory
in the first race – the Italian driver entered in the
2006 edition. He will be at the wheel of a BMW 320si run by
BMW Team Italy-Spain, the very same car in which he claimed
a dominant win at Istanbul in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.
The Italy-based team have also entered a second car in the
Portuguese event, for the 23 year old Spaniard Félix
Porteiro who faces his Touring Car debut. Porteiro comes from
his first GP2 season after he was successful in karting and
the World Series by Renault (5th in 2005).
O’BRIEN AND SHARP TO RACE FOR GR ASIA
FIA WTCC independent team GR Asia will run their two SEAT
León cars at Estoril. Last Sunday in Valencia, the
team directed by Paul Ridgway clinched the WTCC Independents’
Trophy with Tom Coronel.
However their drivers in the ETC Cup will be Ryan Sharp and
Emmet O’Brien. Sharp (27 year old from Scotland) and
O’Brien (25 from Ireland) have both taken part in the
WTCC, racing for JAS Motorsport and Wiechers-Sport respectively.
The Scotsman claimed an outstanding third overall in Puebla
at the wheel of his Honda Accord. Both, Sharp and O’Brien
had their first test in the León last Monday in Valencia.
SEAT SPORT UK COMPETE WITH TWO CARS Last
year Jason Plato in the SEAT Sport UK SEAT Toledo Cupra came
very close to winning the S2000 Euro Cup. In Vallelunga the
Briton emerged victorious in the second race and finished
runner up to Richard Göransson in the final classification.
This year Plato and SEAT Sport UK make a second attempt, with
the new SEAT León. The name of the team’s second
driver has not yet been unveiled.
Plato is currently placed second in the British Touring Car
Championship and this weekend in Silverstone – together
with team-mates James Thompson and Darren Turner – he
will try to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship for
SEAT.
LOCAL DRIVER HUGO GODINHO WITH CHEVROLET
Switzerland-based team Maurer Motorsport entered two Chevrolet
Lacetti cars in the S2000 Cup. The team have recently clinched
the German Procar title with Vincent Radermecker.
At Estoril the 39 year old from Belgium – who boasts
an impressive touring car CV, including three Belgian titles
and two seasons in the British Touring Car Championship –
will be teaming with local driver Hugo Godinho (30), the only
Portuguese to take part in the Cup.
In the last decade Godinho has emerged as one of the best
players in the Portugues Open de Velocidade, claiming titles
in the Renault Clio and Mazda cups; at Estoril his car will
be backed by General Motors Portugal.
WEST COAST RACING TO DEFEND S2000 TITLE
Swedish team West Coast Racing will defend the Super 2000
title they won last year in Vallelunga with Richard Göransson.
The team directed by Dick Jönsson will run only one
BMW 320i in Estoril, for the 27 year old Robin Rudholm. The
driver, who won the national Porsche Carrera Cup in 2004,
joined the team at the beginning of 2006, alongside WTCC competitor
Duncan Huisman. On his first full season in the Swedish Touring
Car Championship he classified 7th, claiming two podium results.
A TRIO OF EXPERIENCED DRIVERS FROM SWEDEN
Three other drivers represent the Swedish Touring Car Championship,
probably the most competitive national series for S2000 cars.
They are Tomas Engström with his Honda Accord Euro R,
Carl Rosenblad in the Elgh Motorsport BMW 320si and Eurosport
Sweden motorsport commentator Mattias Andersson at the wheel
of an Alfa Romeo 156. Engström who was quite unlucky
last year in Vallelunga, being involved in a collision at
the start of the first race, finished fifth in the 2006 STCC.
FINNISH TOURING CAR CHAMPION JOINS THE CUP
Ari Laivola, the newly crowned Finnish Touring Car champion,
will also race at Estoril. The 42-year old from Finland will
be at the wheel of a SEAT Toledo Cupra run by the Sarlin Race
Tech team, which he drove to clinch the Finnish title in the
Super 2000 Race series.
After being classified fourth in the 2005 championship, during
the current season Laivola claimed two race victories –
at Alastaro and Kemora – and secured the title with
a 28-point margin ahead of Keijo Ahonen. Laivola took part
in last year’s FIA ETC Cup, finishing both legs in 14th
position.
RUSSIA TO SEND A DOZEN DRIVERS The largest
group of drivers comes from Russia. Eleven competitors of
the Russian Touring Car Championship plus Rustem Teregulov
– a competitor in the German Procar – will make
the field in Portugal. Four of them in the S2000 class and
eight in the Super Production.
Both, the newly crowned Russian Touring Car champion Vladimir
Labazov and the former champion Mikhail Ukhov will be at the
wheel of BMW 320i; like Teregulov. The fourth S2000 driver
is Alexey Dudukalo in an Audi A4.
Among the Super Production drivers are former RTCC champion,
Alexander Lvov, and Sergey Krylov, who finished runner up
in last year’s Super Production Cup.
BMW CARS WITH DIFFERENT GEARBOXES The BMW
320i coming from the Swedish championship are slightly different
from the others. As a matter of fact Rosenblad and Rudholm
use an X-trac 6-speed sequential gearbox, while the other
BMW drivers have the 5-speed “H” pattern gearbox.
This means that Rosenblad’s and Rudholm’s cars
will be 30 kilos heavier than the other BMWs, for a minimum
weight of 1170 kg including the driver.
THE PRESIDENT OF SAN MARINO NSA IS A RACER!
Stefano Valli from San Marino will take part in the Super
Production Cup at the wheel of a BMW 320i run by the Zerocinque
Motorsport team.
It’s interesting to point out that Valli is not only
an excellent amateur driver – and a regular competitor
in the Italian Superturismo Championship – but also
the president of FAMS, the National Sporting Authority of
the small Republic on the Adriatic sea.
BALTIC STATES REPRESENTED BY KULLI AND HORELIKS
Raimo Kulli from Estonia and Janis Horeliks from Latvia come
from the Baltic Touring Car Championship, also known as North
European Zone (NEZ).
They will both compete in the Super Production Cup, Kulli
in a Škoda Octavia and Horeliks in a Honda Integra Type-R.
PHILIP GEIPEL: THE YOUNGEST DRIVER OF THE FIELD
He will turn 20 years old on December 9th. Therefore Philip
Geipel will be the youngest driver of the field at the Euro
Cup in Estoril.
Geipel and his Toyota Corolla T-Sport run by TFS-Yaco Racing
classified 4th in the 2006 German Procar championship. The
event in Estoril will not be their first international outing
as they have already taken part in the World Touring Car Championship
meeting at Brno.
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