ETCC @ Donington!!

[ATF]

I haven't watched any ETCC races this year so I don't know whether to go to Donington or not next weekend! When I went in 2002, the atmosphere and the races were awful!! There was hardly anyone there and no1 seemed to care about who won or anything!

Has there been much advertising for the meeting? And is anyone going?

Hopefully the involvement of JT (and hopefully Plato), old BTCC favourites (Rydell, Priaulx and Tarquini) and star drivers like Zanardi should encourage the British public to go - let's hope so, anyway!!

[Kicking-back]

ETCC should be much better this time, agreed.

[touringlegend]

It'll be far more interesting if Plato gets the chance to race. Be good to see where RML have got the car compared to SEAT Spain.

[Kicking-back]

Wouldn't be surprised to see JP get a win.

Particularly in the second race.

[FIRE]

- James Thomson will drive a factory Alfa Romeo 156 (http://www.eurostc.com/2k4/default.a...ews.asp&id=778)
- James Watt will drive a Peugeot 307 (http://www.eurostc.com/2k4/default.a...ews.asp&id=777)

[Craner Curves]

Don't forget Simon Harrison and Toni Ruokonen. Familar faces to us in the UK.

[ATF]

Apparently when the GR Civics tested at Brands, they did lap times that would have qualified them in the top 10 of the BTCC race!! Surprise for me, never thought the ETC-Civics were up to much!!

[JAG]

Last year was much, much better. With an improving FIA GT/ETCC package there were 22,000 at last years event. Event sponsors John Guest, sponsors of the JWR Porshe GT team, gave away many tickets, and those who attented cama way very impressed.

JG may be giving away more tickets for this years event!

[mystery racer]

Originally posted by ATF
Apparently when the GR Civics tested at Brands, they did lap times that would have qualified them in the top 10 of the BTCC race!! Surprise for me, never thought the ETC-Civics were up to much!!

The civic would also have been running ETCC-spec tyres, hence the lap times. The Dunlops used for the BTCC are slower - hence why the ETCC BMW racing in the BTCC struggled...

[codename_47]

Well, I'll be going, sitting in my "usual" BTCC viewing place of the outside of the Old Hairpin (bit of a trek, but worth it), but first time for the "Super" racing weekend...(I'll wait until after the Sunday to decide whether it really is "Super" or not!)
Probably more chance of seeing some action than sitting at home and relying on Eurosports direction of the races though!

One question, what happened to the supporting Clio's this year?
There used to be two Clio championships on the supporting bill, one for the V6, newer spec cars, and one for the 2Litre cars like in the UK's Clio Cup, but this year they seem to have vanished from the SRW, anyone know why? :confused:

[redshoes]

I was looking forward to EuroClios as well. The V6s were ok but not great. As for the 172s, well I thought the UK series had lots of panel-bashing until I saw the Euro boys.

This year we have
ETCC
FIA GT
Formula Renault 2000 Eurocup
Formula Renault V6 Eurocup
British F3
Ferrari Challenge

Time table at http://www.redshoes-racing.com/2004S...etableETCC.pdf

[rdjones]

Next weekend will be the first time that I have seen the ETCC in flesh, seen it on the TV, so it will be interesting to see the difference between it and the BTCC. I am rather looking forward to it.

[ATF]

Good that F3 is there, should also encourage more British fans to go along.

The timetable says that ETCC race 1 is 13 laps and race 2 is 10 laps. Which length is it?

[Dani Filth]

50 Km so 13 laps i think . if i remember how long the circuit is

[429CJ]

Are they using National or longer Grand Prix version?

[touringlegend]

The ETCC usually uses the GP version. A shame, I think the National version is a far better track.


Has anybody got an official entry list yet? Are we going to see Thompson in an Alfa and Plato in his SEAT ?

[FIRE]

Originally posted by touringlegend
Are we going to see Thompson in an Alfa....

See my first reply in this topic.

[redshoes]

# class team driver car
1 AutoDelta Squadra Corse Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) Alfa Romeo 156
2 AutoDelta Squadra Corse Fabrizio Giovanardi (ITA) Alfa Romeo 156
3 AutoDelta Squadra Corse Augusto Farfus jr. (BRA) Alfa Romeo 156
4 BMW Team Italy-Spain Alessandro Zanardi (ITA) BMW 320i
5 BMW Team Italy-Spain Antonio GarcÃ*a (ESP) BMW 320i
6 AutoDelta Squadra Corse James Thompson (GBR) Alfa Romeo 156
8 SEAT Sport Rickard Rydell (SWE) SEAT Toledo Cupra
9 SEAT Sport Jordi Gené (ESP) SEAT Toledo Cupra
10 SEAT Sport Frank Diefenbacher (GER) SEAT Toledo Cupra
11 BMW Team Great Britain Andy Priaulx (GBR) BMW 320i
12 BMW Team Belgium-Luxembourg Kurt Mollekens (BEL) BMW 320i
14 I JAS Motorsport Alessandro Balzan (ITA) Honda Accord Euro R
16 I GR Asia Simon Harrison (GBR) Honda Civic Type-R
17 I GR Asia Toni R. Ruokonen (FIN) Honda Civic Type-R
18 I RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Sebastian Grunert (GER) Ford Focus ST170
19 I RS-Line Rotpunkt Sport Roland Asch (GER) Ford Focus ST170
20 I Carly Motors Tom Coronel (NED) BMW 320i
22 I Carly Motors Klaas Zwart (NED) BMW 320i
23 Peugeot Sport Engineering Jan Magnussen (DEN) Peugeot 307 Gti
24 Peugeot Sport Engineering Jason Watt (DEN) Peugeot 307 Gti
25 I Proteam Motorsport Stefano D'Aste (ITA) BMW 320i
27 I Crawford Racing Carl Rosenblad (SWE) BMW 320i
42 BMW Team Deutschland Jörg Müller (GER) BMW 320i
43 BMW Team Deutschland Dirk Müller (GER) BMW 320i
44 I Oregon Team Salvatore Tavano (ITA) Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
45 I Oregon Team Michele Bartyan (AUT) Alfa Romeo 156 Gta
46 I Oregon Team Luca Rangoni (ITA) Alfa Romeo 156 Gta

[Dani Filth]

so no Plato ??

[Kicking-back]

No.

Good to see Jan Magnussen and Jason Watt, though.

[Hazza]

Lets see if Thommo can get consequtive wins in consequtive races...

Hey, they didn't hire out Fisi again...I wonder why? [Puzzled look]

[ATF]

27 cars - great news. Good that we've got a 2nd Peugeot finally too!

[codename_47]

Originally posted by ATF
Good that F3 is there, should also encourage more British fans to go along.

F3 too? Well, it just gets better!

Though it's kind of made me change my mind about sitting at the old Hairpin....the F3's (and most single seaters) were boring through the craners at the BTCC meeting last year and lead to processional racing through that part of the track, but as soon as they dissapeared from view the circuit commentary would explode with excitement as they found somewhere to overtake!

And with the extra wing they'll have to add for the Melbourne loop, this will be magnifyed for this weekend, right, right? (Looking for validation of my theories! )

Hmmm..maybe I'll station myself at Mcleans instead...unsure now. Just look out for the fella in the Tenacious D T-shirt permenantly clutching a camera, desperate to capture everything Eurosport miss!

[ATF]

Originally posted by codename_47
Though it's kind of made me change my mind about sitting at the old Hairpin....the F3's (and most single seaters) were boring through the craners at the BTCC meeting last year and lead to processional racing through that part of the track, but as soon as they dissapeared from view the circuit commentary would explode with excitement as they found somewhere to overtake! :

Unfortunately 1 F3 race is on Saturday but there is 1 and a half hours between the ETCC and F3 on Sunday so you have enough time to walk..no, trek back from the outside of the old hairpin!

[codename_47]

Well I'm not going now...some eejit has decided to steal my Dads car and probably have a "Super Racing Weekend" of his own with it!

Scum, sub Human Scum!

Still, I've still got the "going to the event" feeling, so I guess I'll be following this event more than any others....and if anything big happens at the old hairpin I'll eat various unsanitary products!

Go Thompson! (For what it's worth! )