2009 World Touring Car Championship

David Garcia · Nov 27, 2009

Sad news... I remember his 98 seasson at Champ Cart, I had the chance to see it complete, and I think one of the most impresive performance in motorsports ever. He became famous because of his donuts!

Good luck Alex!

Danny Pattiwael · Nov 27, 2009

Ramon van Rijn said:
Hmm, re-count your birds again. You might be missing someone.:mean:

It was indeed great to meet Zanardi. The legend will continue elsewhere.

Well, if you are talking about birds, I remember counting other 'birds' there
:tits: hehe

Mark Guy · Nov 27, 2009

Yip, one of the real great drivers..

Good luck with your future plans, your a inspiration to others...

Mark Birney · Nov 27, 2009

Wow, that pass was brave

Nigel Atkins · Nov 27, 2009

Marcel Hulsbergen said:
All the best Alessandro, the first time I saw you race was on Laguna Seca 1996.

I will never forget the move you made in the last lap of the race, it was in the famous Corkscrew, simply superb.

i guess Rossi also learned that move from the master

arrot:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfPM77TsGaA[/ame]

Pekka Virkamäki · Nov 27, 2009

He truly is one of a kind. If I understood it correctly, Zanardi will continue to compete in the future too. If nothing else, and that is a big something, he will try to qualify to London Olympics 2012.

Ben Tusting · Nov 28, 2009

The World Touring Car Championship will have a reduced grid of factory cars in 2011 with BMW and SEAT set to announce downsized programmes next week.

BMW is expected to cut its works effort from five cars to two. Roberto Ravaglia's ROAL Motorsport team expected to quit the series following Alex Zanardi's announcement that he is to leave the WTCC.

Schnitzer Motorsport will remain a factory BMW team in 2010, but is rumoured to be leaving the WTCC to focus on the VLN endurance series at the Nurburgring Nordschleife with the Gt2 M3. That would leave the RBM team to run two WTCC cars, most likely for Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus.

The German manufacturer has been openly critical of the series' performance balancing regulations this season and admitted in March this year that it was considering quitting.

BMW Motorsport boss Mario Theissen would only say that "a decision on next year's programme will be taken on December 5".

SEAT, meanwhile, is believed to be on the verge of withdrawing from the WTCC entirely. It has already confirmed that it will reduce its effort next year with French team ORECA - which took Yvan Muller to the 2008 title - not being retained for 2010.

The Spanish manufacturer is expected to announce its future next week, but WTCC boss Marcello Lotti believes SEAT will keep a two-car works team.

"For sure BMW and SEAT are reducing their programmes, but we will still have four manufacturers," Lotti told this week's AUTOSPORT."

Chevrolet will return with at least three cars and Lada will also run three Prioras again next year.

Lotti is confident that more manufacturers will be attracted by the next generation of regulations, beginning in 2011.

"I am working hard to have two new manufacturers when our new rules arrive in 2011," he added. "I'm sure we will have more than four."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80356

Bram Hengeveld · Nov 28, 2009

I just wanted to post the same news

Big change, quite interesting though as also Seat will reduce those aweful diesels to a two person team.

Too bad that Chevy and Lada stay at 3 cars, otherwise it would have become a really interesting championship.

But my favorite Jorg Müller back to GT2 with a M3? :thumb:

Trebor901 · Nov 28, 2009

unfortunately Augusto Farfus will be Priaulx's team mate but being that its still RBM where Priaulx has been since he joined BMW then i'm sure we know who their number 1 is.

Robert Wiesenmüller · Nov 28, 2009

I think it's a good development for WTCC - less team tactics and more chances for privateers. I only hope there will be many privateers that can raise the budget for a full 2010 campaign.

Bram Hengeveld · Nov 28, 2009

Yes that worries me too Robert

With expensive trips to the west and the east it will be quite difficult to archieve.

Therefore i hope they go back to the ETCC format eventually and focus on Europe only.

Marcel Hulsbergen · Nov 28, 2009

Nigel Atkins said:
i guess Rossi also learned that move from the master arrot:

Wow Rossi is crazy too, on 2 wheels lol almost the same move.

Hannu Karesola · Nov 29, 2009

It's shame he retires. He is one of the best persons in WTCC, hardly ever on bad mood and his driving is entertaining to watch.

While Häkkinen couldn't really explain the meaning of Finnish word 'sisu' right in top gear. Alex needs no words to show us what it means. He has lots of it.
Whatever Alex will do in future I think we all will follow it.

Frank Oyer · Nov 29, 2009

Received this newletter from his website:

Dear Friends,

As has probably some of you did, I have also read the news of my "retirement" from WTCC which has appeared, at various times, on news channels on the subject and I feel that a more precise information is needed since the perception from the reported news misrepresents, in my opinion, not only my real thoughts but also the way things happened.

I have been running in WTCC since 2005 in a prestigious programme organized by BMW Italy and, despite being certain of giving a lot to the series in terms of communication and media exposure due to a popularity that goes beyond what I achieved as a sportsman, I recognize that I also had a lot in return from the series and to have found in it the ideal ground to win with the hard work my new challenges.

The level of competitiveness extremely high, the value of opponents that I challenged, the difficulty and beauty of the race tracks we battled on and the difficult task of combining all this with my objective personal problems make my victories in WTCC some of the best results I achieved in my career.

This is the reason while I would be happy to keep on racing in a category that for a driver can be rightly considered as an end point and not necessarily a transition point. But probably (nothing is decided yet) strategic choices of BMW Italy will not allow me to do so and that is all.

I answered to a precise question from a journalist in Macau that at 99% I will not be racing in WTCC in 2010. This does not mean announcing my retirement at all but instead giving an honest answer to a precise question that, avoiding rhetoric, implies a bit of regret for what this will involve.

I do not know what I am gonna do next year, what is certain is that I see myself still too "young" and strong to hang up my racing helmet. On the contrary, I hope I can find together with BMW the way to keep challenging, even more directly and without excuses, the strongest opponents even if this will mean risking to get a good beating ... I could not ask for anything better!

I will fill you in, ciaoooooo!