[WTCC] 2011 Calendar

[I Rosputnik]

I know it's fairly early to start talking about this, but seeing as the calendar is annouced around this time (2010 calendar in June, while 2009 in October.) it's worth guessing what it will be. So far Suzaka has been annouced, while Lotti has said that the USA will have a round, however this was annouced back in September so things may of changed. Also with the possiblity of an Argentinian team, this could mean a round in Argentinia. And then what of the round in Russia?

Oh well, lets see what happens.

[skells22]

Well, for a start the street track at Porto to be the Portugal round. Brands Hatch as per normal host the UK round and i wonder if Pau will return.

[I Rosputnik]

Street track wise I would go with Pau and Marrakech, but only if both tracks were Modified to prevent red flags and safety cars. Marrakech needs a complete redo and better marshals.

I think Watkins Glen or Laguna Seca would make sense for a US round.

[Quintin03]

Pau is unlikely.

[I Rosputnik]

Here's the 2011 layout of Pau.

[duke_toaster]

Why oh why oh why are they changing the layout?

[I Rosputnik]

(I spelt Suzuka wrong, lolz, pity I can't change it.)

I dunno maybe the organisers wanted their track to be 2 miles long.

[daallo]

I would like México City but its quite unlikely, since the reason why México ha a round is because an FIA VP ir member of the family that owns the Puebla circuit and after what happened this year, I'm almost sure Puebla won't have a round...

[Quintin03]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Why oh why oh why are they changing the layout?

Because the man that made that map saw an outdated website with this map on it.

[Sodemo]

A shame, I really like Okayama, a fantastic little circuit.

I mentioned this in another thread, but I really like Motegi, certainly the last 2/3rds of the lap are great fun.

Would like to see a return to Estoril.

In fact, if I could design my own calendar it would be...

Brazil - Jacarepaguá
USA - Watkins Glen / Mid Ohio / Laguna Seca / Sebring
Portugal - Estoril
Spain - Jerez
Italy - Mugello
Germany - Sachsenring
Belgium - Spa-Francorchamps
Great Britain - Brands Hatch
Japan - Motegi
Macau - Guia

[Bonanza]

hate to tell you sodemo, but jacarepagua is dead. the road course died as the oval was created, and the oval is dying as it is being built over for rio 2016.

I welcome suzuka. I'd love to see a race at potrero de los funes. with honda's ownership of suzuka, links to the argentine honda team looking at WTCC in 2011-this isn't beyond the realms of possibility. curitiba is boring, potrero de los funes would be the perfect replacement.

[duke_toaster]

What about Interlagos?

[I Rosputnik]

If they went to Interlagos it would be epic. It's the right size, and makes perfect sense for a World Championship.

[Sodemo]

Originally Posted by Bonanza

hate to tell you sodemo, but jacarepagua is dead. the road course died as the oval was created, and the oval is dying as it is being built over for rio 2016.

Shame!

Oh well, I just wish that we could have more a more varied calendar each year rather than going to the same venues over and over. Keep Macau as the final race, but would like to see more variety in the venue selections.

I remember going to watch the ETCC at Donington one year - 2004? Would be nice if some other tracks got a look in.

[6157]

Originally Posted by I Rosputnik

So far Suzaka has been annouced, while Lotti has said that the USA will have a round, however this was annouced back in September so things may of changed.

That article states one of the original sights was Phoenix? Phoenix? Where, exactly, did they intend to run a round of the World Touring Car Championship in Phoenix?

Phoenix Int'l Raceway is no chance and a street race would have been a bigger disaster than the F1 years.

[Jacques Rabbit]

I'm assuming the United States round will be on the roval at Homestead-Miami Speedway since that's been the location most-mentioned in all articles, though those were months ago. I'd love to see a better track, obviously, but realistically it seems we're stuck with that. I do wonder what they plan to do with the event considering we U.S. Americans still lack WTCC television coverage; I imagine it will have to be the support race for something (I'd guess Grand-Am, since they run at the Homestead road course) because no one knows about the series here yet. Even BTCC, DTM, and V8 Supercars get coverage in the U.S. (albeit not live), which is great, but it's still a shame to not have WTCC for the fans and for the sport if they plan to do a U.S. round.

[NaBUru38]

According to VisionAuto, the WTCC would race in Buenos Aires, Argentina in March 2011.

[Purist]

Sodemo, it's hard to build a core fan base if you're constantly moving the venues around. This is particularly true of events held in geographically larger countries.

Rosputnik, you can have a start line red flag at just about any permanent circuit, so it is impossible to prevent such an occurrence on a street circuit. And if we got rid of the safety car procedure, people would complain about the leader just running away with things. Anyway, the configurations at Pau and Marrakech are reasonable enough as is. You're not going to get a more open street circuit than Marrakech, except for the Norisring, and Pau is just a tradition the way it is. Porto is pretty good. It has a couple technical sections, and two long "straights". I do wish they could at least get rid of the chicane on the Avenida Boavista though.

I don't really care for Estoril since they re-did the place for MotoGP for the 2000 season.

My ideal WTCC calendar would be something like this:
1. Interlagos
2. El Zonda (San Juan, Argentina)
3. Kyalami
4. Pau
5. Porto/Algarve rotation
6. Jerez/Jarama rotation
7. Sachsenring/Salzburgring rotation
8. Spa Francorchamps
9. Brands Hatch GP
10. Mexico City
11. Laguna Seca
12. Suzuka/Sugo rotation
13. Macau

[I Rosputnik]

Next years Calendar comes in September

[NaBUru38]

Buenos Aires + TC2000 means second half of the year. It's strange, since the WTCC will surely bisit Brazil in March or April. I doulbt that the TC2000 moves the 200km race to that date.

[Japanese Samurai]

2011 WTCC Suzuka round held in the Suzuka east course.
Japanese Super Taikyu(Endurance) Seris is held with WTCC.
http://as-web.jp/news/info.php?c_id=6&no=28736

[helterskelter]

Here's my dream-calendar:

1. Interlagos
2. Buenos Aires
3. Magny Cours
4. Imola
5. Portimao
6. Valencia
7. Salzburgring
8. Spa
9. Brands Hatch GP
10. Vallelunga
11. Hockenheim
12. Suzuka
13. Macau

Apart from Magny Cours and Vallelunga they seem quite realistic to me. Salzubrgring has already hosted two international touring car races and Vallelunga is one of the top touring car tracks in Europe, where lots of works teams have had tests in the past. I raced there, too, that's one of the reasons why I love it!!!
We really need less street tracks. I mean, look at the difference between the Marrakech and Portimao races. Street tracks might be spectacular and more profitable in terms of economy and publicity for the races, but they're just too bad for the sport.

[I Rosputnik]

2011 Calendar

[Sodemo]

A shame that we have lost Okayama, its a brilliant track, which hasn't been ruined by the F1 safety brigade like Suzuka has.

[NaBUru38]

Suzuka ruined? By what, the chicane?

China replaces Belgium, Argentina replaces Mexico, Porto is back as in all odd years. Current engines will be allowed, as they should have announced months ago.

Having seen TC2000 cars in the streets of Punta del Este this year, I have no interest in crossing the pond to Buenos Aires.