1991 WTCM - Macau posted, final standings are up! 1992 soon!

[Pinkd56]

Mercedes will re-offer Geisler the testing role, with a wage matched to the normal driving personnel.

Driver Name: Andrea Geisler
Years of Contract (factory only): 1
Driver Status (#1, #2, Equal, Test Driver): Test Driver
Number: 92
Pay-Driver (yes/no and must name sponsors): no
Rounds: All, entering the 12th round in the third car.
Wage (per race): 25K

[Salamander]

Mazdaspeed Team Taisan will be buying 2 overall upgrades, and 1 small engine upgrade.

[CaptainGetz12]

USD will test on home base of Salzburgring with Patrick Watts for the following upgrades

March 17: Aero
March 18: Engine

And will hire Nick Whale as tester for the rest of the year

I thought your home course is the Österreichring?

[Miguel98]

USD will test on home base of Salzburgring with Patrick Watts for the following upgrades

March 17: Aero
March 18: Engine

And will hire Nick Whale as tester for the rest of the year

I thought your home course is the Österreichring?

It isn't, he changed it.

[Miguel98]

The upgrade and testing results are on the budget sheet, on the "Upgrades and Testing" tab.

You can find them here: Sheet.

Here's the testing data:
Mitsubishi:
March 9:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

Reliability: 17 -> 0.75 * 17 = 12.75 (13)
March 10:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Light Rain

FWLiftParams: 0.016 -> 0.75 * 0.016 = 0.012 * 0.80 = 0.0096
RWLiftParams: 0.008 -> 0.75 * 0.008 = 0.006 * 0.80 = 0.0054
BodyDragBase: 0.01 -> 0.75 * 0.01 = 0.0075 * 0.80 = 0.00675
Feedback:
Reported problems with tyre heating. Second flying lap always faster than the first.
Reported understeer on corner exit due to low front-end grip.
Reported no failures during testing.

Peugeot Talbot Sport:
March 9:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:
Weather: Light Rain

FWLiftParams: 0.016 -> 1.25 * 0.016 = 0.020 * 0.90 = 0.018
RWLiftParams: 0.012 -> 1.25 * 0.012 = 0.015 * 0.90 = 0.0135
BodyDragBase: 0.02 -> 1.25 * 0.02 = 0.025 * 0.90 = 0.0225
March 10:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:

FWLiftParams: 0.007 -> 1.25 * 0.007 = 0.00875
RWLiftParams: 0.005 -> 1.25 * 0.005 = 0.00625
BodyDragBase: 0.05 -> 1.25 * 0.05 = 0.0625
Feedback:
Reported problems with slight understeer on corner apex.
Reported problems with top speed: car was not topping out at Mistral.
Reported low tyre degradation.
Reported that car felt a bit heavy on turn in.

Vauxhall Sport:
March 16:
N/A
March 17:
N/A
Feedback:
Jeff Allam suffered a violent shunt into turn 1 during the morning session of March 16. It has been reported as a suspension failure.
1-20 - 20% damage
21-40 - 40% damage
41-80 - 60% damage
81-95 - 80% damage
96-100 - 100% damage
Result: 62 - 60% damage

Union Saver Developments:
March 17:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

FWLiftParams: 0.017 -> 0.50 * 0.017 = 0.0085
RWLiftParams: 0.006 -> 0.50 * 0.006 = 0.003
BodyDragBase: 0.04 -> 0.50 * 0.04 = 0.02
March 18:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

N/A
Feedback:
Reported good top speed as the car would top out in the Salzburgring straights.
The Toyota suffered an engine failure on the morning session of March 18 and the day was done there.

Here's the RNG results for the drivers that were requested:
Nick Whale:
1-90 - Accepts
91-100 - Refuses
Result: 59 - Accepts

Andrea Geisler:
1-40 - Accepts
41-100 - Refuses
Result: 29 - Accepts

[Pinkd56]

MERCEDES FRUSTRATED WITH NEW RULESET
It has emerged that several leading heads at Mercedes-Benz are unhappy with the new Super Touring regulations. The main complaints appear to be that Mercedes are not seeing much return from racing their "high value executive saloon" against "budget models" such as Toyota's Carina, Opel's Vectra and Peugeot's 405. Mercedes are set to announce the 190E's replacement later this year but it is unclear whether this model will race in the WTCM - especially with rumours that the marque could be set to return to the Formula One grid in the near future.

[kevinbotz]

TWR Volkswagen has borrowed £5,000 from Mazdaspeed Team Taisan, with the loan due to mature at the end of the Watkins Glen race weekend. At an agreed per-race interest rate of 20%, TWR shall repay the loan, and the accrued interest, amounting to a total of £6,000 to Team Taisan at the time of maturation.

[Miguel98]

TI Aida Report:

Weather:
Pre-Qualifying Qualifying: Light Rain
Pre-Qualifying: Overcast with Light Rain predicted
Qualifying: Light Rain
Feature Race: Dry
Sprint Race: Dry

Friday Morning Report:
Heat 1 Pre-Qualifying Qualifying:


Heat 2 Pre-Qualifying Qualifying:


Friday Afternoon Report:
Heat 1 Pre-Qualifying


Heat 2 Pre-Qualifying:
(no image because Fraps ONCE AGAIN bugged on me, please suggest another program)

Saturday Morning Report:
Qualifying Results:


Saturday Afternoon Report:
Feature Race Results:


Sunday Report:
Sprint Race Results:


Stewards Report:
N/A

Damage Report:
Mitsubishi Galant chassis #2:
1-5 - 20%
6-15 - 30%
16-25 - 40%
26-40 - 50%
41-60 - 60%
61-80 - 70%
81-90 - 80%
91-100 - 90%
Result: 7 - 30%

Mazda 323F #5:
1-40 - 0%
41-80 - 10%
81-95 - 20%
96-100 - 30%
Result: 94 - 20%

Ford Sierra Sapphire:
1-20 - 0%
21-40 - 10%
41-80 - 20%
81-100 - 30%
Result: 50 - 20%

Injury Report:
Mauro Baldi:
1-5 - Ok
6-10 - Out for 1 race weekends
11-20 - Out for 2 race weekends
21-40 - Out for 4 race weekends
41-95 - Out for the rest of the season
96-100 - Career over (out for a few years)
Result: 43 - Out for the rest of the season

Budgets and wiki have been updated.

Mitsubishi have until the 28th July to nominate a replacement for Baldi. He'll be paid the same wage as Baldi, so those spendings are already covered.

Teams have until 28th July to post updates, testing details and damage repairs.

[kevinbotz]

TWR Volkswagen will once more design and implement 3 Overall Upgrades.

[CaptainGetz12]

*Grumbles in Italian*

Mitsubishi Ralliart will ask for the following drivers to replace Baldi for the rest of the season, in order of first to last preference:

Oscar Larrauri
John Crichton-Stuart, Earl of Dumfries (Johnny Dumfries)
Geoff Lees
Andy Rouse (Will run Nakaya or another driver for rounds 5 and 9)
James Weaver
Roland Asch
Akihiko Nakaya (If so I will request a replacement test driver)

- - - - - - -
In addition, we will repair the damages on Baldi's car and request testing for the following days, both at Donington Park, the hopes to address tire wear and low front-end grip:

April 5: Akihiko Nakaya
Aerodynamic Development

April 6: Roberto Ravaglia
Aerodynamic Development

[Miguel98]

*Grumbles in Italian*

Mitsubishi Ralliart will ask for the following drivers to replace Baldi for the rest of the season, in order of first to last preference:

Oscar Larrauri
John Crichton-Stuart, Earl of Dumfries (Johnny Dumfries)
Geoff Lees
Andy Rouse (Will run Nakaya or another driver for rounds 5 and 9)
James Weaver
Roland Asch
Akihiko Nakaya (If so I will request a replacement test driver)

- - - - - - -
In addition, we will repair the damages on Baldi's car and request testing for the following days, both at Donington Park, the hopes to address tire wear and low front-end grip:

April 5: Akihiko Nakaya
Aerodynamic Development

April 6: Roberto Ravaglia
Aerodynamic Development

Oscar Larrauri:
1-10 - Accepts
11-50 - Runs both WSC and WTCM at the same time
51-100 - Rejects
Result: 21 - Runs both WSC and WTCM at the same time

Larrauri will run the following races:
WTCM Round of Americas (Watkins Glen)
RAC Tourist Trophy (Donington Park)
WTCM Round of Czechosloavkia (Masaryk Circuit)
WTCM Round of Italy (Autodromo Internationale Monza)
WTCM Round of Britain (Brands Hatch)
WTCM Round of Sweden (Anderstorp Raceway)
WTCM Round of Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
WTCM Round of Germany (Nurburgring)
Grande Prémio de Macau (Guia Circuit)

You still need a driver for Lagos and Pau. Do you wish to use Nakaya or will use somebody else?

[Gertrand Bachot]

Tauber will buy another Overall Upgrade.

Peugeot will do another 2 days of testing at Paul Ricard, to try and address the lack of power and unwieldiness of the 405.

April 5: Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Aerodynamic Development

April 6: Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Engine Development

[Dom_Wings]

Vauxhall Sport will repair their damaged #3 chassis and send it back to Donington for testing on April 19-20.

April 19: Bernd Schneider - Driver Development
April 20: Jeff Allam - Engine Development

[CaptainGetz12]

*Grumbles in Italian*

Mitsubishi Ralliart will ask for the following drivers to replace Baldi for the rest of the season, in order of first to last preference:

Oscar Larrauri
John Crichton-Stuart, Earl of Dumfries (Johnny Dumfries)
Geoff Lees
Andy Rouse (Will run Nakaya or another driver for rounds 5 and 9)
James Weaver
Roland Asch
Akihiko Nakaya (If so I will request a replacement test driver)

- - - - - - -
In addition, we will repair the damages on Baldi's car and request testing for the following days, both at Donington Park, the hopes to address tire wear and low front-end grip:

April 5: Akihiko Nakaya
Aerodynamic Development

April 6: Roberto Ravaglia
Aerodynamic Development

Oscar Larrauri:
1-10 - Accepts
11-50 - Runs both WSC and WTCM at the same time
51-100 - Rejects
Result: 21 - Runs both WSC and WTCM at the same time

Larrauri will run the following races:
WTCM Round of Americas (Watkins Glen)
RAC Tourist Trophy (Donington Park)
WTCM Round of Czechosloavkia (Masaryk Circuit)
WTCM Round of Italy (Autodromo Internationale Monza)
WTCM Round of Britain (Brands Hatch)
WTCM Round of Sweden (Anderstorp Raceway)
WTCM Round of Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)
WTCM Round of Germany (Nurburgring)
Grande Prémio de Macau (Guia Circuit)

You still need a driver for Lagos and Pau. Do you wish to use Nakaya or will use somebody else?

I will have Nakaya run at Lagos and Pau then.

[Rated]

Zakspeed will go on private testing at the Nürburgring
April 19 : Klaus Ludwig - Aerodynamic Development
April 20 : Klaus Ludwig - Engine Development

[SeedStriker]

USD will test at home with Nick Whale

April 7: Aero Development
April 8: Engine Development

[Miguel98]

USD will buy an overall upgrade and test at home with Nick Whale

April 7: Aero Development
April 8: Engine Development

You can't do both. You can either test or upgrade.

[Salamander]

Mazdaspeed Team Taisan will be testing at Autopolis.

April 11: Will Hoy (Aero development)
April 12: Will Hoy (Aero development)

[Miguel98]

The upgrade and testing results are on the budget sheet, on the "Upgrades and Testing" tab.

You can find them here: Sheet.

Here's the testing data:
Mitsubishi:
April 5:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

N/A
[siz-e=110]April 6:[/size]
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

FWLiftParams: 0.018 -> 1.00 * 0.018 = 0.018
RWLiftParams: 0.007 -> 1.00 * 0.007 = 0.007
BodyDragBase: 0.03 -> 1.00 * 0.03 = 0.003
Feedback:
Car is reported to have a LOT of understeer in rain conditions.
Car suffered an engine failure in the afternoon session of April 5, and couldn't finish the session.
Car suffered a suspension failure in the morning session of April 6, but returned on track to finish the session.
Drivers continue to report little consistency over a stint.

Peugeot:
April 5:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

N/A
April 6:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

Power: 3HP -> 3 * 1.25 = 3.75 (rounds to 4HP)
Reliable: Worses by 40
Fuel Consumption: Worses by 0.004
Weight: Gains 0.2*4 = 0.8
Feedback:
Car suffered a brake failure into turn 1 with 10 minutes remaining in the session. The car couldn't be repaired during the rest of the day. Driver was ok.
Damage RNG:
1-60 - 0%
61-80 - 10%
81-95 - 20%
96-100 - 30%
Result: 55 - 0% (no chassis damage)
Car was reported to suffer from understeer in the end of the stint.
Car's turn in as been improved from the last test.

Vauxhall Sport:
April 12:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

Race Ability: 0.02
Qualifying Ability: 0.01
Passing: 0.9
Crash: 0.6
MinRacing Skill: 0.01
April 13:
Morning:
Weather: Dry

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

Power: 3 -> 0.75 * 3 = 2.25 (2 rounded)
Reliability: Worses by 20
Fuel Consumption: Worses by 0.002
Weight: Gains 0.2 * 2 = 0.4
Feedback:
Car is well balanced throughout stint, but has promidence to struggle with traction in late stint.
Car is reported to have weak rear grip at low speeds, and understeer at tight corners.
Car is really fast over a lap, but struggles with consistency with heavy fuel loads.

Toyota:
April 7:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Light Rain

N/A
April 8:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry
[img]https://i.imgur.com/GnFM540.png[/img9
N/A
Feedback:
Car suffers from understeer in the rain, and can easilly enter aquaplaning, as evidenced by Whale's crash in the wet sessions.
On the dry, the car is somewhat inconsistent: fast over 1 lap, but tends to worsen as the stint progresses.

Zakspeed:
April 19:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Light Rain

FWLiftParams: 0.0020 -> 1.25 * 0.0020 = 0.0025 -> 0.80 * 0.025 = 0.0020
RWLiftParams: 0.0005 -> 1.25 * 0.0005 = 0.000625 -> 0.80 * 0.000625 = 0.0005
BodyDragBase: 0.002 -> 1.25 * 0.002 = 0.0025 -> 0.80 * 0.0025 = 0.002
April 20:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

Power: 4HP -> 1.25 * 4 = 5HP -> 0.90 * 5 = 4.50HP (rounds to 5HP)
Reliability: Worses by 50
Fuel Consumption: Worses by 0.005
Weight: Gains 0.2*5 = 1kg
Feedback:
Car is reported to lack rear traction in the dry.
Car is reported to perform well in rain conditions.
Car is reported to suffer from torque distribiution under power.
Car is reliable and consistent over a stint.

Mazdaspeed Team Taisan:
April 11:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Light Rain

N/A
April 12:
Morning:
Weather: Light Rain

Afternoon:
Weather: Dry

FWLiftParams: 0.001 -> 1.25 * 0.001 = 0.00125 * 0.90 = 0.001125
RWLiftParams: 0.001 -> 1.25 * 0.001 = 0.00125 * 0.90 = 0.001125
BodyDragBase: 0.002 -> 1.25 * 0.002 = 0.025 * 0.90 = 0.00225
Feedback:
Car is reported to be unreliable.
Car is reported to suffer from understeer in late stint.
Car is reported to be consistent throughout the rest of the stint.
Car is missing some top speed and acceleration.
Car is reported to have good grip through corners.

[Miguel98]

Watkins Glen Report:

Weather:
Pre-Qualifying Qualifying: Dry
Pre-Qualifying: Dry
Qualifying: Light Rain
Feature Race: Dry
Sprint Race: Dry

Friday Morning Report:
Heat 1 Pre-Qualifying Qualifying:


Heat 2 Pre-Qualifying Qualifying:


Friday Afternoon Report:
Heat 1 Pre-Qualifying


Heat 2 Pre-Qualifying


Saturday Morning Report:
Qualifying Results:


Saturday Afternoon Report:
Feature Race Results:


Sunday Report:
Sprint Race Results:


Stewards Report:
N/A

Damage Report:
Vauxhall Cavalier chassis #1:
1 - 0%
2-3 - 10%
4-5 - 20%
6-10 - 30%
11-20 - 40%
21-40 - 50%
41-60 - 60%
61-80 - 80%
81-90 - 90%
91-100 - Totalled
Result: 48 - 60%

Injury Report:
Bernd Schneider:
1-5 - Ok
6-10 - Out for 1 race weekend
11-15 - Out for 2 race weekends
16-25 - Out for 4 race weekends
26-90 - Out for the rest of the season
91-99 - Career over
100 - Dead
Result: 18 - Out for 4 race weekends

Vauxhall must name a replacement until the 6th August 2019. Just like Baldi, he'll be payed Schneider's wage.

Note: because of the long travel between the USA and Lagos, no updates or testing will be allowed between these events. Wiki updated, budgets will be updated before running Lagos.

FISA to increase sucess ballast in WTCM
After the Watkins Glen, the FISA have announced that the sucess ballast applied to the top 8 in the World Driver Championship's will be modified.

"We found a good formula in the past year for the Group A, and decided to keep the values as they were, but after 3 race weekends, it's clear that ballast isn't having the same affect on performances and providing better racing as we would believe it would be. So we decided to change it a bit for Lagos, and return to the initial system applied in early 1989."

That being said, the new ballast system will look like this:
1st - 80kg
2nd - 70kg
3rd - 60kg
4th - 50kg
5th - 40kg
6th - 30kg
7th - 20kg
8th - 10kg

The teams were notified this week about changes, and team managers haven't expressed yet their reaction to the new ruling.

The WTCM next round will be held in Nigeria, in the Lagos International Circuit, and as the premier touring car circus goes to Africa, it's the surprise package of Silvio Bachot and Tauber that lead the championship, and is said that the privateer performance is being question by some manufacturers inside the paddock, while also security regarding some of new Super Tourers performance is being question after the second big accident in two consecutive weekends.

[Dom_Wings]

Vauxhall wishes Bernd Schneider a speedy recovery. Instead of the damaged #1 chassis, we will run the #3 chassis in Lagos.

The team would like to name John Cleland as his replacement for the next four rounds; shall he decline, then Altfrid Heger and Derek Warwick are next in line.

While Vauxhall Sport didn't comment about the success ballast change, they released a statement on 29 April urging Watkins Glen to improve its safety:

Vauxhall Sport press conference, Watkins Glen, 29 April 1991
"As you may have seen or noticed, Bernd has suffered a heavy accident in the Outer Loop section which was similar to Masahiro Hasemi two years ago. I don't know what Watkins Glen is waiting for. You brake heavily after that long straight and if something wrong happens, you hit the wall hard like Bernd just did. For Watkins Glen to stay on the WTCM calendar in 1992, we urge them to add some kind of chicane before the Outer Loop to slow the cars down and limit the damage in case they crash at Outer Loop. We are not willing to risk the safety of the drivers.

It's not just in the WTCM though, there have been a few big accidents during the NASCAR races here as well, so they really have to do something now."

[Miguel98]

Vauxhall wishes Bernd Schneider a speedy recovery. Instead of the damaged #1 chassis, we will run the #3 chassis in Lagos.

The team would like to name John Cleland as his replacement for the next four rounds; shall he decline, then Altfrid Heger and Derek Warwick are next in line.

While Vauxhall Sport didn't comment about the success ballast change, they released a statement on 29 April urging Watkins Glen to improve its safety:

Vauxhall Sport press conference, Watkins Glen, 29 April 1991
"As you may have seen or noticed, Bernd has suffered a heavy accident in the Outer Loop section which was similar to Masahiro Hasemi two years ago. I don't know what Watkins Glen is waiting for. You brake heavily after that long straight and if something wrong happens, you hit the wall hard like Bernd just did. For Watkins Glen to stay on the WTCM calendar in 1992, we urge them to add some kind of chicane before the Outer Loop to slow the cars down and limit the damage in case they crash at Outer Loop. We are not willing to risk the safety of the drivers.

It's not just in the WTCM though, there have been a few big accidents during the NASCAR races here as well, so they really have to do something now."

Cleland is under contract for Vauxhall in the BTCC. He accepts.

[Pinkd56]

Mercedes Benz would like to add their support to Vauxhall's calls for reform of the Watkins Glen circuit. When competitors are having horrific accident after horrific accident, something must be done.

[Gertrand Bachot]

These new ballast rules are utter wank. They [the FIA] come up to us and say "oh, we want competition in our series" and then when they get actual competition, with an independent team taking it to the big manufacturers, they get all wet and start making rules up to reduce the competition and bail the manufacturers out. At Tauber we have proved that you don't need to be a major manufacturer to win races, and the FIA is unhappy about that.

[FortiWinks]

These new ballast rules are utter wank. They [the FIA] come up to us and say "oh, we want competition in our series" and then when they get actual competition, with an independent team taking it to the big manufacturers, they get all wet and start making rules up to reduce the competition and bail the manufacturers out. At Tauber we have proved that you don't need to be a major manufacturer to win races, and the FIA is unhappy about that.

BMW backs our customer team on the ruling over the new success ballast, we believe that we are just lucky to have a great car and driver lineup with a good customer service which has encouraged privateers like Silvio here as we run 1-2-3 in the championship.

What we will do though is send our test driver Joachim Winkelhock out for a two day test at the Nürburgring GP circuit to focus on driver development.

[Miguel98]

These new ballast rules are utter wank. They [the FIA] come up to us and say "oh, we want competition in our series" and then when they get actual competition, with an independent team taking it to the big manufacturers, they get all wet and start making rules up to reduce the competition and bail the manufacturers out. At Tauber we have proved that you don't need to be a major manufacturer to win races, and the FIA is unhappy about that.

BMW backs our customer team on the ruling over the new success ballast, we believe that we are just lucky to have a great car and driver lineup with a good customer service which has encouraged privateers like Silvio here as we run 1-2-3 in the championship.

What we will do though is send our test driver Joachim Winkelhock out for a two day test at the Nürburgring GP circuit to focus on driver development.

Not allowed. Only after Lagos.

[FortiWinks]

Darn, didn’t see that line there initially, sorry Miguel!

[Pinkd56]

This Mazda is absolutely hopeless, I can't keep doing this at all.

[Miguel98]

Lagos Report:

Weather:
Pre-Qualifying Qualifying: Monsoon
Pre-Qualifying: Dry
Qualifying: Dry but with a shower to hit the track early in the session
Feature Race: Dry
Sprint Race: Light Rain

Friday Morning Report:
Heat 1 Pre-Qualifying Qualifying:


Heat 2 Pre-Qualifying Qualifying:


Friday Afternoon Report:
Heat 1 Pre-Qualifying


Heat 2 Pre-Qualifying


Saturday Morning Report:
Qualifying Results:


Saturday Afternoon Report:
Feature Race Results:


Sunday Report:
Sprint Race Results:


Budgets and wiki have been updated. I'll update driver tiredness soon enough.

You can update and test between Lagos and Donington Park.

Plans and updates can be posted until the 15th August 2019.

I'll be gone until the 18th August, so you'll only get results for that after that date! See you soon!

[SeedStriker]

USD will buy a realiability and a dowforce upgrade

[Dom_Wings]

Vauxhall will repair the #1 chassis and invest in an overall upgrade and a reliability upgrade.

[CaptainGetz12]

A fantastic drive by Roberto. Here's to many more successful runs with the Galant!

Ralliart will perform testing at Donington Park over 2 days:

June 1:
Akihiko Nakaya
Aerodynamic Development

June 2:
Akihiko Nakaya
Aerodynamic Development

[FortiWinks]

BMW threatens withdrawal from WTCM

BMW have released a statement to the WTCM commission saying that if the rules on success ballast don't revert to the old rules for at least the rest of this season they will consider pulling the plug on their factory programme.

This has come after mixed results from the team in round 4 of the championship at the Lagos International Circuit with the team gaining a couple of podiums for the weekend off the back of brilliant drives from Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto and German Marc Hessel.

The manufacturer have given support to privateer Silvio Bachot’s push to bring the original ruleset back as BMW believes that their customer program is the best available out there and the team shouldn’t be penalised for having a good car.

A spokesman for the German manufacturer also said “we signed up to this season with the rules set in black and white but now because we are 1-2-3 in the championship we now get penalised for it? It would be like if mid match they reset the game because Boris Becker was up 6-2 on the number 103 in the world, it’s just stupid frankly.”

We will go testing with Joachim Winkelhock at the Nürburgring GP circuit as planned during the last race

June 1:
Joachim Winkelhock
Driver Development

June 2:
Joachim Winkelhock
Driver Development

We will invite Bachot to join us if he is interested in some testing.

[Dom_Wings]

Günther Irmscher: "BMW are essentially running three factory cars"

After recent remarks from BMW that they would pull out their factory from the World Touring Car Masters after 1991 citing recent success ballast changes, Irmscher Automobilbau founder Günther Irmscher hit back with a statement of his own.

"While I do express my support for BMW about the complaints towards the FIA with the return of the 1989 ballast system, I am unsure on why they decided to let a privateer team buy a factory car without any sort of de-tune. It almost looks as if BMW are running three factory cars, not to mention they also get manufacturer points through Tauber. If Team Schnitzer want to lose the title to an independent, they can definitely do it, but we are considering extraordinary measures. Fortunately for BMW, they don't have to worry about Bernd (Schneider, who is currently out with an injury) for the rest of the season."

Whether that would mean the Vauxhall factory team would possibly release their upgrades to all privateer Opel Vectras or not, Irmscher declined to comment.

[Gertrand Bachot]

Todt echoes BMW sentiment
Peugeot Sport Director Jean Todt has echoed the sentiment of Tauber, BMW and Günther Irmscher over the FIA's decision to revert to the 1989 ballast rules mid-way through the World Touring Car Masters season.

Speaking to a French journalist, Mr Todt said: "BMW and Bachot is absolutely right to object to this ridiculous ballast rule. As you can see from the Lagos result, the rule was plainly obviously designed to effect BMW, with their cars nowhere compared to the Vauxhalls. It is unsporting and sets a rather dangerous precedent for future rule choices."

Mr Todt also said: "If the FIA want to introduce this ballast rule they should really leave it until the off season. That would give the teams time to prepare for this and won't blatantly effect a certain party. In the meantime, they should introduce the old ballast rules immediately for the rest of the 1991 season. If they do not, and continue to make sweeping, reckless, blatantly targeted rules out of the blue in the middle of a season then I am afraid we may have to follow BMW and cease our factory efforts in this series."

The World Touring Car Masters season returns from the 7th June at Donington Park.

Peugeot will test at Paul Ricard with Jean-Pierre Jabouille.
June 1:
Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Engine Development

June 2:
Jean-Pierre Jabouille
Aerodynamic Development

Bachot would like to accept BMW's offer of a test session.

Tauber will buy 2 overall upgrades.

[FortiWinks]

Lamm laughs off Irmscher criticism
BMW Team Schnitzer Director Charly Lamm has laughed off criticism of Schnitzer’s M3 program from Günther Irmscher over the team not penalising customer cars.

Speaking to a AMuS, Lamm said: "BMW is absolutely right to not penalise our customer teams. As you can see from the championship standings we are in front of our British rivals thanks to the efforts of Silvio Bachot which might not have been the case had we added extra weight or “detuned” our customers, especially with the ridiculous ballast rule which was designed to affect our good work and bring the Vauxhalls back to us, knowing Günther there’s probably a chance that he requested these changes to help his beloved Vauxhalls and is trying to cover it! (laughs).

The battle between BMW & Vauxhall will continue in a few weeks time when the World Touring Car Masters season returns from the 7th June at Donington Park.

Just adding some spice to this rivalry!

[Pinkd56]

"I don't think we have to say anything that hasn't already been said. It's been clear for many years that WTCM management has been subservient to BMW since the beginning of the championship and it's good to see everyone else waking up to what we've had to deal with for the past three years."

[Rated]

Zakspeed will join BMW during their test at the Nürburgring on June 1st and 2nd.

June 1
Klaus Ludwig - Engine development

June 2
Klaus Ludwig - Aerodynamic development

[kevinbotz]

TWR Volkswagen will conduct two mid-season tests at Silverstone over the weekend.

June 1:
Hans-Jurgen Abt
Power

June 2:
Hans-Jurgen Abt
Power

TWR will also pay £6,000 to Mazdaspeed Team Taisan, in accordance with the terms stipulated.

[Pinkd56]

Mercedes Benz would like to swap Hans-Joachim Stuck with Andrea Geisler for the next three rounds on a trial basis.