Thread: FIA WTCC 2008

SEAT Sport announced today that they will campaign again a five-car team in the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship.Rickard Rydell who had raced for the Spanish manufacturer in the 2006 season and made a guest appearance in this year’s final meeting at Macau returns to the team alongside four confirmed drivers from this year’s line-up: Jordi Gené, Tiago Monteiro, Yvan Muller, and Gabriele Tarquini.

Everybody tought that Rydell whas to drive for a japanese team next year, as the rumours are spreading that Mazda is to join the WTCC in 2008/2009.

Christ so again no factory seat for Tom Coronel. How on earth can they still keep ignoring him!

Because

a) Yvan Muller is better
b) Gabriele Tarquini is more experienced
c) Jordi Gene is the development driver and from Spain
d) Tiago Monteiro brings a lot of money and is on a similar level after only one season
e) Rickard Rydell is undoubtely a great driver

All drivers drove factory cars for years. Tom drove really great this season but was the only privateer that was forced to drive into the factory championship! How stupid is that. Only because he won the yokohama trophy. Maybe they should "promote/force" Andry Priaulx to drive in another class now too :)

http://www.fiawtcc.com/fiawtcc/sport_sto1408668.shtml
Also een WOW when you see it :)

The FIA WTCC handicap weight system has been revised in view of the 2008 season, starting from the name that has been changed to "success ballast." The new system was approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council after a proposal coming from the Touring Car Commission.
The imposition of success ballast remains based on different criteria: championship points and race results.
a) according to the Championship points: 1 kg per every point scored
b) according to the sum of points obtained in the two races of each event, according to the following scale:
1st + 30 kg
2nd + 25 kg
3rd + 20 kg
4th + 15 kg
5th + 10 kg
6th + 5 kg
These ballasts will be scrapped and recalculated after each championship event.
Handicap weights a) and b) are cumulative up to a maximum of 70 kg (previously 60 kg).
A 30 kg ballast will automatically be allocated to each driver entered on a race-by-race basis on the occasion of his first appearance in the championship.

(Source: FIAWTCC.COM)

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/64554

Same drivers as always: Menu, Larini, Huff

At first view you may think, why did they sign them again? But there are 3 good reasons:
- Consistency: These guys really know the engineers, the car, the tracks
- Good job: Menu was incredibly fast, Larini scored many points, and also Huff got better towards the end of the season.
- Alternatives: Who else could they have signed? Rydell, Giovanardi, Muller, Priaulx, Plato, Thompson all have contracts. The other touringcardrivers are not better then theirs. And Formula drivers don't have to be fast in touringcars (look at Monteiro, Porteiro, Hernandez in WTCC or Frentzen, Hakkinen in DTM)

Only sad there is no 4th car for Coronel or D'Aste, I would have loved to see them what they can do in a good car.

They should have kicked Larini out after last season's masacres he did! He and Zanardi are only in here still for economic reasons i guess :(

Tom Coronel is just from Holland and will never get a factory seat if you ask me. But what people from the factories seem to forget is that Tom has its own TV Show in Holland and drows big attention with it for his team

Menu is just from Switzerland :)

Nevertheless I'd reallyreally like to see Coronel in a factory car (but after his disappointing Thruxton BTCC run he won't be with SEAT anymore I fear)

Keeping the same drivers is a good thing for a team... Everyone knows everyone, so the atmosphere in the team should be wonderful, which mostly results in good performances.

So 2008 will be a Chevy year (mark my words) !!!