[WTCC] 2015 WTCC news & rumours

[Speed-King]

I don't think it's gonna happen for WTCC... way too much factory involvement there. It is something, though, I'd be looking into for TC-3 if not on the international stage then for national series. Porsches might need some slowing down for that, maybe a switch to the 3.4 motor.

[DS"]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

I don't think it's gonna happen for WTCC... way too much factory involvement there. It is something, though, I'd be looking into for TC-3 if not on the international stage then for national series. Porsches might need some slowing down for that, maybe a switch to the 3.4 motor.

We don't know how fast TC3 is going to be. I assume that they're somewhere between TC1 and TC2[1], so yeah, the Porsches would have to be slowed down slightly. I also agree that it could be an alternative for several national series, although the ones that need it the most[2] don't use TC3 at the moment.

[1] Oh the irony.
[2] I'm looking at you STCC!

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by DS"

[2] I'm looking at you STCC!

Actually, Belgium would be my first candidate, things there are really messed up right now and they have a bit of a history of mixed touring and GT-classes

[DS"]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Actually, Belgium would be my first candidate, things there are really messed up right now and they have a bit of a history of mixed touring and GT-classes

This would have been my second thought . Yeah, countries like Belgium or Portugal could also make use of Cup Porsches, to boost their initial grids a bit.

[FIRE]

Isn't that what we call GT4?

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Isn't that what we call GT4?

Nowadays, yeah. Back in the 90s we would have called it Belgium Procar or ADAC *not so Grand* Touring Cup...

[Rubio]

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2014/...-loeb-stay-on/

Confirmed - Sebastien Loeb Racing will enter two private Citroens. Ma Quing Hua is likely to be signed. Great to see more TC1 cars

[Go_For_Pole]

That 5th Citroen will come pretty expensive to someone

[JoestForEver]

So basically Citroen is selling its one-year-old chassis+upgrade to SLR, and build two completely new ones? I begin to think about whether they will keep the third and fourth one-year-old cars as well.

[Metzo]

so that would make 19 cars so far for 2015:
5 Citroen
5 Honda Civic
6 RML Cruze
3 Lada Vesta

[jsmee]

Errrm.... Why are people saying there are TWO extra Citroens... We get 5 next year, we have 4 this year?

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Metzo

so that would make 19 cars so far for 2015:
5 Citroen
5 Honda Civic
6 RML Cruze
3 Lada Vesta

On paper that's a pretty tasty line up!
Now all we need is for everyone to catch up to Citroen a bit.

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by jsmee

Errrm.... Why are people saying there are TWO extra Citroens... We get 5 next year, we have 4 this year?

Because the 4th Citroen for Ma this year only ran what... a third of a season?
So while there have indeed been 4 Citroens at times this year, there have normally been only 3. So 5 full year Citroens would be an increase of 2 over the 3 full year cars from this year.

[Mies7337]

19 cars still isn't enough, I think. And I'm afraid the rest of the field will not catch up with the citroens next year as well, so we'll just have the same as this year, exept there won't be a 1-2-3 for citroen, but a 1-2-3-4-5 for citroen.
Hopefully the Vesta will be a lot faster than the Lada's are this year, so there will be more competition and overtaking behind the citroens.
The FIA needs to do more about the balance of performance, because even though the citroens are much faster, they are only 20kg heavier than the chevy's at the end of the season.

[Metzo]

i think jas will improve the civic a lot more than they did this year.

i also think there will be than 19 cars on the grid, still 5 months until the 1st round of 2015, plenty of time for teams to sign up.

[helmat]

Originally Posted by Metzo

so that would make 19 cars so far for 2015:
5 Citroen
5 Honda Civic
6 RML Cruze
3 Lada Vesta

Isn't at least one more Honda for Nika racing and Rickard Rydell already confirmed? Honda Racing Sweden
I've also read a rumor somewhere that Honda will increase their works effort to three cars with Micheliz moving up to the works team. That would leave an open seat at Zengo.
That makes 21 cars, add a possible new manufacturer for next season (with the car design rumored to be already completed) and we're up to a really nice lineup.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Metzo

i think jas will improve the civic a lot more than they did this year.

JAS will also have the TC3 project on their plates, so that might take away some much neeeded resources from the TC1.

[DS"]

Will any Russian customer team pick up some TC1 Grantas? They've won races after all. No seriously, what about squads like SMP Racing? They have some good Russian backing that wants to present itself on an international level.

I'm only midly optimistic for the future of the series. I won't myself let be fooled by the odd Lada, Honda or Chevy wins. Citroen was dominating the 2014 season and it'd be very difficult for Honda and Lada to reach the same level. Not the least on a budget level: Lada probably won't have too much money to spend on WTCC, while Honda needs plenty of money for F1. I guess this is also the reason, why they're starting a TC3 program, so they can get some funds for their TC1 program. As for RML...well, I guess they're biting themselves for building Chevys, given that the brand will pull out of Europe by 2016.
And I won't believe any rumours about new manufacturer entries until I see an Alfa/Kia/Skoda on the grid. So my (admittedly very far out) long-term prediction would be a merger between the WTCC and TC3 series...and maybe that's what Lotti is going for with TC3, sort of like TTA did with the STCC in 2012/13.

[Matt]

i really wish there was lada merchandise

[Metzo]

Originally Posted by helmat

Isn't at least one more Honda for Nika racing and Rickard Rydell already confirmed?

2 civic for jas, and one each for nika, proteam and zengo makes 5 civics so far confirmed

[Tarzaan]

Originally Posted by helmat

Isn't at least one more Honda for Nika racing and Rickard Rydell already confirmed? Honda Racing Sweden
I've also read a rumor somewhere that Honda will increase their works effort to three cars with Micheliz moving up to the works team. That would leave an open seat at Zengo.
That makes 21 cars, add a possible new manufacturer for next season (with the car design rumored to be already completed) and we're up to a really nice lineup.

As I know/guess the situation here in Hungary, if Norbi goes to the JAS Honda (99% imho) Zengő motorsport might quit from WTCC.

They have only some mechanics/engeneers, imho they would follow Norbi, and the team

I doubt there are any hungarian drivers who can brig 5-600 000 Euros for a season. I have no doubt Kiss Norbi (FIA Truck champ, won an ETCC race with a 2l TC2 car this year) has the talent to be on the very top level of the WTCC, but he haven't got too much money backup and his relationship with Zoltan Zengő seems not the best.

Kiss Pál Tamás might be an other strong contender (AutoGP runner up and GP3 race winner) but he has no touring car experiment and also don't have too much money behind.

Maybe the current main sponsor, MOL (the main hungarian oil company) pay the bills for one of them, but if Norbi's mechanics follow Norbi to the JAS it would hard to keep this years level.

[kurski]

Originally Posted by Tarzaan

I have no doubt Kiss Norbi (FIA Truck champ, won an ETCC race with a 2l TC2 car this year) has the talent to be on the very top level of the WTCC, but he haven't got too much money backup and his relationship with Zoltan Zengő seems not the best.

pity that Zsolt Baumgartner career not proceeded far, he could have been a good Zengo driver

[Tarzaan]

Originally Posted by kurski

pity that Zsolt Baumgartner career not proceeded far, he could have been a good Zengo driver

Agree, but after 2004 he quit from car racing, and go to a university.

[keviiinn]

any possibility of RML fielding their own team again?

[jsmee]

I hope to see Stefano d'Aste return!