http://www.autoblog.com/2010/12/06/bmw-pulls-out-of-world-touring-car-championship/ I'm not sure I like this... BMW seems to be wishy-washy with motorsport right now. I hate seeing this particular turn of events transpire after leaving F1 as well. How are they going to sell me on the 3-series after this! It sure shows how much of an influence Mario Theissen had... _J
Hardly anyone in their core markets is interested in the WTCC. They're IIRC entering DTM big time, which appeals to more of their customers - even if the DTM cars don't have anything to do with their road cars.
I can fully understand why BMW would abandon WTCC. They have been badly treated in this series lately, with the exclusion of Priaulx, and the loss of the 2010 title on technicality. Let's face it, BMW is the fly in the ointment in WTCC: they are the only one left with rear wheel drive, and at equal weight are faster and better than any of the opposition: SEAT, Chevrolet or Honda. WTCC has created a handicap formula to penalise BMW and played with it to deny success most of the time. The last straw was a retro-active ban on BMW because of a sequential gearbox that became banned, as an after thought. Priaulx should have been 2010 WTCC champion, and that's hard to swallow at BMW. Since WTCC prefers to cater for front-wheel drive and preferably Diesel car, it is not a good environment for BMW. I understand why they want to leave. WTCC isn't an interesting series anymore. There are other series for them to shine, like DTM in future, and FIA GT where they are quite competitive too, as in ALM series.
DTM has Audi vs. Mercedes at this moment right? Any other marques? BMW wants to join? If that's the case I'd be following DTM (I love BMW).
There have been enquiries about DTM from several car manufacturers: Citroen considered it, so did Huyndai, I believe. BMW is going for it. DTM is supposed to link with Japan GT Championship in future, and attract a Japanese car maker too - Toyota? Finally, DTM wants also to link with NASCAR to run the series at some US events, and Cadillac could be interested in joining too.
IIRC there are some spy shots about somewhere. DTM is also rumored to be in talks to run one round here in the U.S. at some future point.
Didn't SuperGT try the same, some 5-6 years ago?? When JGTC changed their name to SuperGT to become more international.. Try to gain some popularity... But I guess the NASCAR crowd is tough
SuperGT did at least one exhibition race in the US, at California Speedway IIRC. I don't know if they were "testing the waters"'for a bigger presence in NA, or just humoring the manufacturers.
with their coming entry into DTM - currently the most exciting racing series IMHO- it makes a lot of sense to get out of WTCC
It always makes sense to desert a series where the rules are continuosly changed to make you non-competitive. In the sequential gearbox saga, though, BMW shot themselves in the foot. Taz Terry Phillips
