BMW have announced they are pulling their World Touring Car Championship squad, leaving just a customer entry for 2011.
The manufacturer is cutting its motorsport involvement further following its departure from Formula One last year. This leaves Chevrolet as the only full works manufacturer entry for next year.
Links
BMW presents comprehensive racing programme for 2011- but pulls its WTCC squad (BMW Motorsport)
"The FIA World Touring Car Championship remains an important Customer Racing platform, enabling private teams and drivers to demonstrate the potential of the BMW 320 TC at the highest level. The BMW 320 TC will compete for victories and titles in the Independents’ Trophy of the WTCC.
"Private teams and drivers will campaign the car – based on the successful BMW 320si WTCC, but fitted with the new 1.6-litre four-cylinder (DI-) turbo engine. The ‘TC’ in its terminology stands for ‘Touring Car’.
"Therefore this car will represent BMW in the WTCC in 2011, although a works campaign is not planned."
Australian GP dispute resolved (Autosport)
"Australia’s motorsport governing body CAMS says it has reached an agreement to end its dispute with the Melbourne race organisers, ensuring that next year’s Australian Grand Prix can go ahead."
Why James Courtney owes life to Michael Schumacher (The Daily Telegraph, Australia)
"Michael Schumacher looked down at the young Australian and saw blood coming from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth."
Bernie Ecclestone’s daughter Petra gets her first home – worth £66million (The Mirror)
"The daughter of Formula One billionaire Bernie has splashed out £66million for a luxury pad. Her new home is a grade II-listed, 14-bedroom mansion in an exclusive part of London."
Comment of the day
Throughout the year we’ve heard from loads of F1 fans who witnessed the season from the stands.
Keirdre is one who shared those experiences:
I mentioned my trip to the Korean GP just after the race. The race itself was exciting, and the weather was not the organisers fault. However, the organisation was appalling: confused, unclear and highly frustrating. Shuttle bus success seemed like pot luck, my ticket hadn’t ‘arrived in Korea’ yet and my grandstand hadn’t been built yet. The facilities (like decent food, drink and adequate toilets) were dreadful, and the place was just a gravelly mud-bath.
The Koreans are embarrassed easily, and any loss of face is bad. The general feeling after the race was that they had made a mess of it on a very public scale, which is a shame.
I enjoyed myself, and will return next year (if I’m still living here) and I fully expect it to be massively improved.
Keirdre
From the forum
Happy birthday!
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On this day in F1
On this day last year, BMW released details of the categories they would be racing in during 2010, having announced their departure from F1 earlier in the year.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
6th December 2010, 0:20
I’d have to say that the WTCC experiment has largely failed. They’ve had to cope with shinking grids over the year, a manufacturer exodus, courts deciding championships and a roster of banal circuits. I don’t know what the FIA were thinking, trying to get a Super 2000 championship to compete with DTM, SuperGT and V8 Supercars, all of which have larger, faster and more powerful cars on a better-organised roster of circuits. The WTCC was only really ever competing with the British Touring Car Championship, and even then, the BTCC has been around for so long that the only time WTCC really competed with them was when the BTCC slowly started to fall apart. But now they’re getting stronger again as the WTCC weakens … the FIA would have been better off getting behind something like DTM or SuperGT and taking it to an international level.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
6th December 2010, 1:13
DTM isn’t that better either. The Mercs vs Audi battle it’s getting boring, and it’s a lot worse due to each manufacturer giving team orders.
About WTCC, it’s just a total failure. FIA wants to cut down the costs in F1 but they fail to bring interest to WTCC, which is a lot cheaper and should atract constructors like Fiat, Renault and such…
In all honesty, TC2000 would kill BTCC and WTCC in a minute if it got international broadcast…
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
6th December 2010, 1:42
Well, DTM is one example. But it’s completely killed by the way blue flags are shown to any driver who hasn’t pitted and the leaders start to come up behind them.
TC2000 might be able to kill BTCC and WTCC, but I don’t think it coud compete with SuperGT or V8 Supercars. I don’t know much about SuperGT, but I think V8 Supercars is a good formula to observe. That said, it still needs work – the split between manufacturers is totally unbalanced; ten of the thirty cars on the grid are Fords and the other twenty or so are Holdens.
KlBD
6th December 2010, 6:39
Super GT is set for a merger regulations-wise with DTM in the near future, but even with the success ballast system it remains a spectacular racing series with some of the most exotic machinery on this planet!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
6th December 2010, 8:59
well, V8 Supercars and SuperGT are very different to TC2000.
But yeah, I think V8 Supercars is a good formula.
However, I don’t like the idea of just two manufacturers racing. I think the more, the better.
that’s why BTCC in the 90’s was so good, and it’s why TC2000 is very good nowadays, with 8 manufacturers racing, 6 of which won a race this year. And next year Citroen will be there too… That’s 9 manufacturers in just one series.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
6th December 2010, 10:49
V8 Supercars are trying to expand to include extra manufacturers, but the existing ones – Holden in particular – are trying to discourage others from taking part. They got a lot of egg on their faces when they claimed Ford wouldn’t win anything this year and a Ford driver won the championship, so they’re trying to recover lost ground by controlling as much of the grid as possible. The problem is that the Powers That Be haven’t stepped in to moderate the grid; the balance of power should be evenly split to stop one manufacturer from controlling most of the grid the way Holden does.
SoerenKaae (@soerenkaae)
6th December 2010, 9:04
I still think WTCC was a great series, but it is starting to degrade. DTM in comparison is a great series. Also BMW is going to join, and there has been rumours that VW-group is thinking about it too. DTM is also starting up a series in USA, and the Scandinavian Touring Car championship will follow the DTM – rules. I think DTM is the touring car series of the future.
beanzoo
6th December 2010, 10:40
vw are already in as audi
SoerenKaae (@soerenkaae)
6th December 2010, 16:13
Thank you Beanzoo, it must have been something else they were thinking of then. But I read something about VW and DTM.
Soumya Banerjee
6th December 2010, 6:44
The main problem with the WTCC races is that they run for only 10 laps or so.
JT19 (@jt19)
6th December 2010, 0:45
I am pretty much sure the F1 2010 Review DVD is out today.
sato113 (@sato113)
6th December 2010, 1:16
don’t forget that BMW are entering the DTM in 2012. so all is not too bad.
and yes the F12010 review dvd is out TODAY!!! 5 hours of pure entertainment. :)
DamionShadows (@damionshadows)
6th December 2010, 18:25
Does anyone know if they’re pulling out of the ALMS as well? It would be a real shame considering how close the championship was at the end.
Heddlu_Cymru-M5
8th December 2010, 11:46
No, they will race in the 2011 ALMS with the same outfit of BMW Rahal Letterman Racing… The only change in the team is Tommy Milner will leave the cockpit and replaced by Dirk Werner.
sato113 (@sato113)
6th December 2010, 1:17
keith- when do you receive your copy of the 2010 dvd review? am looking forward to your review!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th December 2010, 1:54
It was supposed to be here last week but there have been some delivery disruptions owing to the recent snow around London. Expecting it very soon.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
6th December 2010, 1:36
So the DVD review is out before the F1.com race edit for Abu Dhabi!
US_Peter (@us_peter)
6th December 2010, 6:46
I think they’ve scrapped any plans ever to produce that video.
BasCB
6th December 2010, 7:37
They are probably still looking for enough interesting footage to fill the edit, without showing to much of fist shaking and the podium celebrations!
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
6th December 2010, 8:03
Or maybe they’re trying to find a song short enough to fit all the footage they have. I recommend Kyuss’ Yeah:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIV2zvhre5U
US_Peter (@us_peter)
6th December 2010, 18:58
Yeah, that’s a perfect solution.
Fixy (@)
8th December 2010, 16:51
LOL
sato113 (@sato113)
6th December 2010, 10:07
i think they’ve just forgotten.
bosyber
6th December 2010, 12:39
Or would like to forget, at least
Fixy (@)
8th December 2010, 16:52
Yes, but the season review? In the whole season I’m sure they can find some interesting scenes.
Calum
6th December 2010, 8:09
As you may well have know, the Mclaren Autosport Award was decided last night, and the winner was 2010 Formula Renault runner-up, Lewis Williamson.
In addition to a trophy, the Scottish race ace will receive a Formula 1 test in a Mclaren car, as well as £100,000 sponsorship which will hopefully help guide him to Formula 1. Williamson has also received the services of Puma to provide him with overalls, gloves, ect for one year and has been inducted ito the BRDC.
His success completes an overall good year for Scottish motorracing, with the recent DTM title win Paul Di Resta, a third Indy Car title for Dario Franchitti, and a podium finish ar le Man for Allan McNish. Incedently all these drivers (exc. McNish)have previously won the Autosport Award. Lewis Williamson is the fifth Scot to have won the award, 21 years after David Coulthard won the inaugral trophy.
MGPW01
6th December 2010, 8:13
I know it’s a bit off the topic of the WTCC, but what do all of you think was the best race of the season?
I vote for Korea only because i had a stupid bet that Schumacher would win, however it looked like he could after he took Kubica on the restart and then the great move on Button put him in to fith. And with everyone crashing or breaking down it made it very exciting and just the thought of Schumacher on the podium would have been brilliant.
SparkyJ23 (@sparkyj23)
6th December 2010, 9:37
Can we now agree Bernie takes too much cash out of F1 now?
Stephen
6th December 2010, 9:54
Well done James Courtney for taking the Australian Touring Car title on the weekend. It was an absolutely amazing weekend of racing. It sure put all the F1 races this season to shame!
Stephen
6th December 2010, 10:00
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ud7-ogv8wM – I wish the winners in F1 could do this!
PJ
6th December 2010, 13:07
http://www.lotusracing.my/news/heikki-wins-lg-moment-of-the-year-2010.aspx
bosyber
6th December 2010, 13:41
Did anyone mention this (found via facebook) http://www.f1technical.net/f1db/cars/958 – the added link to a PDF by Ferrari detailing (some?) changes to their car over the season is great stuff.
I think I read about them all on f1technical already, but it is nice to have them acknowledge them. I guess they know very well that all their competitors have figured them out by now, and detailing the F-duct after the fact won’t help any of them, so Ferrari don’t loose anything by confirming them, but it well done and a nice service to their fans (and I guess also showing: look we did do quite a bit to get our car faster over the season).
OEL
6th December 2010, 16:22
Thanks a lot, interesting reading!
PJA
6th December 2010, 14:29
Webber has revealed in his new book that he was driving with a broken shoulder for the final four races of the season
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9260822.stm
OEL
6th December 2010, 15:45
That explains why he was slower than Vettel in the end. So what was beleaved as “bad nerves” was actually an injury, which, maybe, cost him the title.
David A
6th December 2010, 21:23
Webber himself isn’t blaming the injury for losing the title, and i’ll just take his word for it.
Macca25
6th December 2010, 23:44
Not sure if it has been said or not, but Courtney did win the V8 Supercar Championship in Sydney on the weekend.
GO FORD!!!
MGPW01
7th December 2010, 7:51
I agree, i wish i had kept up to date with V8 supercars this year, GO FORD!!!