DTC 2008 Off-season: News & Rumours

[Robbe]

Calendar 2008:
(April 26th/27th - Jyllandsringen media day)
May 4th - Jyllandsringen
May 18th - Djursland Ring
June 8th - Jyllandsringen
June 29th - Padborg Park
August 18th - Jyllandsringen
September 7th - Sturup Raceway
September 21th - Padborg Park
October 12th - Jyllandsringen

Teams & Drivers 2008

Driver	Team	Car	Comments
Michel Nykjaer	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Kristian Poulsen	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Emmet O'Brien?	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	likely
Nicki Thiim?	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	likely
?	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	plans to enter 5 cars
Jan Magnussen	Team DBA	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Martin Jensen	Team DBA	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Henrik Lundgaard	Perfection	Chevrolet Lacetti	confirmed
Michael Outzen?	Perfection	Chevrolet Lacetti	sponsor problems
Robert Schlünssen	Team Koge	Peugeot 407	confirmed
Peter Ager	Telesikring	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Tom Pedersen	Telesikring	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Joachim Stephansen	JM Racing	BMW 320i E46?	confirmed, maybe E90?
?	JM Racing	BMW 320i E46?	possible
?	JM Racing	BMW 320si E90	possible
?	Hartmann	Honda Accord? Civic?	likely
?	Hartmann	Honda Accord? Civic?	likely
Kasper Jensen?	ARTS	Peugeot 407	likely
?	ARTS	Peugeot 407	likely

I think the DTC is also worth having a thread and I hope some danish guys can help with the entry list and news

[Bramzel]

No more Jason Watt at DBA?

[JMeissner]

12 Bmw?!

[Ellmau]

Can't we make the DTC a hot topic as well?

Isn't that amount of cars of one make dangerous for a series of this size?

[Frederich]

Ronnie Bremer, ??? new team, Merc C-class, very likely

[Ellmau]

Did he buy the STCC one?

[Frederich]

Originally Posted by Ellmau

Did he buy the STCC one?

Nope, a new are building a new 2008 car. The most likely driver is Bremer.

[Frederich]

Apparently no driver have been signed to the new Merc team.
1999 DTC champion Jesper Sylvest have signed with Poulsen to drive a 320si.

[werner]

If the BMW's can fight eachother, the problem isn't that big. Although I hope the few Honda's, Peugeot's and Chevy can fight them to. It would be a problem. It would be a problem if team Poulsen would run over everyone, but I'm sure Magnussen won't let that happen. And in the WTCC the chevy was at it's best at twisty tight racks like Porto and Pau, and when it was cold and wet, like in Zandvoort or Anderstorp. Both conditions will often be the case in Denmark, so Lundgard will be strong to. I hope....
Well, the most important thing to me is that a good driver will win the championship and goes to do the European cup, because that will probably be the only time I will see Danisch touringcardrivers in action.

[kmchow]

Originally Posted by werner

If the BMW's can fight eachother, the problem isn't that big.

The bigger problem I worry is if they all run white background paint schemes!! Please get get some more colours like the TC2000 or the DTM!!

[Robbe]

Teams and Drivers 2008 (updated)

Driver	Team	Car	Comments
Michel Nykjaer	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Kristian Poulsen	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Jesper Sylvest	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Emmet O'Brien	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	or WTCC?
tba	Poulsen Motorsport	BMW 320si E90	possible
Henrik Lundgaard	Perfection	Chevrolet Lacetti	confirmed
Michael Outzen	Perfection	Chevrolet Lacetti	confirmed
Jan Magnussen	Team DBA	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Martin Jensen	Team DBA	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Peter Ager	Telesikring	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Tom Pedersen	Telesikring	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Robert Schlünssen	Team Koge	Peugeot 407	confirmed
Jens Möller	Hartmann	Honda Civic	very likely
Kasper Jensen	JM Racing	BMW 320si E90	confirmed
Joachim Stephansen	JM Racing	BMW 320si E46?	confirmed
tba	JM Racing	BMW 320si E46?	possible
Kim Lund	Lund	Seat Leon FSI	very likely
Ronnie Bremer	???	Mercedes C	likely
tba	Peugeot 407	ARTS	possible

Some news about Watt on dba.dk too but I don't understand them... well me and danish...

[JMeissner]

How about the team sturup raceway seats?

[Frederich]

Originally Posted by JMeissner

How about the team sturup raceway seats?

No news yet.

Jason Watt is working on setting up his own team with a competitive FWD car. Rumour says Vectra.... But who knows.

[JMeissner]

As I have understood they will only do one STCC race and rest full DTC season.

[stedevil]

Yeah, apparently both times STCC is at Sturup DTC has races in Denmark. Guess that makes STCC less interesting for them.

Though i wonder why STCC and DTC dont merge into Scandinavian TCC. It would be a lot of talented drivers as well and a lot less anemic when it comes to amount of tracks (STCC 7, and DCT 3).

[JMeissner]

It is a great idea that has been discussed before, but from what I know there are forces in both Denmark and Sweden that doesen't want to "give up" their interests that could be lost in a merge...

[Bramzel]

In other words; ego's standing in the way of something beautiful. As happens too often in racing unfortunately

[duke_toaster]

That would require it to be put on the International Calendar, but it would be a good idea, although the Finns could go in to it as well as their series isn't exactly healthy.

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

That would require it to be put on the International Calendar, but it would be a good idea, although the Finns could go in to it as well as their series isn't exactly healthy.

Well, STCC already have races in Norway and DTC already race in Sweden, so it's pretty close to being international already.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by stedevil

Well, STCC already have races in Norway and DTC already race in Sweden, so it's pretty close to being international already.

Oh come on, right on the other side of the border ain't international. Especially inside Scandinavia, thats like calling a Benelux series international. Even the Dutch Supercar Challenge I wouldnt call international despite 3 races in Germany and a whole load of British and German drivers. Sorry, STCC nor DTC is even remotely international yet.

[JMeissner]

Exactly, there are good grounds for a very strong Scandinavian TC series. But that requires a lot of work, initiative and to some extent sacrifice from some parts.

Lets see if someone can solve that in the future

[werner]

Padborg, Jyllandringen, Sturup, Knutstorp, Anderstorp, Falkenberg, Mantorp, Gothenburg, Valer, and the best Finnisch tracks (Ahvenisto and Alastaro probably, and maybe a race in St. Petersburg and/or a Baltic country. Would make a very varieing calendar. Already some Russians are looking to race in Sweden, and with a race also in Russia it would be good for them. For the Finns it would mean a loss if they loose their championship, but if they would loose in anyway.... The Swedes still have 6 races left, so they can't complain to hard, if this would mean a stronger championship. Only the Danes maybe don't gain so much in this case. Only 2 races left, while they have a good championship already, with lots of competitive and good drivers, live tv, and 7 races in their country.

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by werner

Finnisch tracks (Ahvenisto and Alastaro probably, and maybe a race in St. Petersburg and/or a Baltic country. Would make a very varieing calendar.

Finland, Baltics... I dont see that as a good solution. The problem here is logistics. All STCC & DTC tracks lie within a 6-8h cartrip. To increase that to eg 24h traveling to reach the track... serious cost increase.

And St Petersburg, have you ever tried to cross the borders to Russia in a non Russian registered car? And visas for all drivers, mechanics, guests, etc... Not a realistic option at present.

[Valker]

Originally Posted by stedevil

And St Petersburg, have you ever tried to cross the borders to Russia in a non Russian registered car? And visas for all drivers, mechanics, guests, etc...

Finnish F3 Championship will have one round at ADM (Avtodrom Moskva) in Myachkovo, Moscow oblast this year. Alan Docking Racing Finland participated in one round of Russian championship last year and everything went fine, so we are not expecting any problems this time either.

p.s. I have crossed the border in a non Russian registered car, have you?

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by Valker

p.s. I have crossed the border in a non Russian registered car, have you?

Yupp, this January. Took an hour in the customs just to fill in all the papers for "importing the car" and getting insurance. And I had a native Russian with me to help with the translations, wonder how long it would have taken to fill in the Russian forms otherwise...

As an example, Swedish registration papers dont have engine volume figures on them, which is one of the things you need to specify on the forms, so you immediately run into the problem of how to prove the engine size to the customs personnel... Further, you need special documents from your insurance company to show it's really your car (even though you need to buy a completely new Russian insurance) + of course an international driving license (EU licenses are not enough in Russia).

So I can imagine dozens of Swedes and Danes trying to pass the borders not being exactly smooth. It's not like you can hope for communication in English either.

And dont get me started on the 1 full day event after 14 days where I had to go to local customs to prolong the permission for having the car in the country and "prove" that I was not intending to sell it or even parts of it Franz Kafka comes to mind...

In short, it's too far away, too bad roads and too much paperwork to be a realistic option at present. Hell, even the Russian team that will participate in STCC this year is AFAIK registered in Estonia... bet the reason is to cut down on the paperwork around actually travelling back and forward between EU and Russia.