STCC 2002 gossip

[JMeissner]

STCC 2002 gossip

STCC 06/11/01

So, what is up for the Swedish Touring Car Championship 2002? Well, one thing is for
sure, the championship will run under Super Touring rules. But apart from that and the calendar (you
can find the STCC 2002 calendar under the STCC news section) there is still much uncertain about the
rest.

Volvo

Volvo will most likely continue with a two-car team. But lately rumours has started that the STCC deal
is under threat since the latest development for the ETCC and Volvo. No drivers has been mentioned,
Janne "Flash" Nilsson is ofcourse a hot tip, but his involvement in the ETCC, again, might affect this.
Volvo earlier this autumn ran a test with some young and promising Swedish drivers in contest for a
STCC 2002 season seat. Mattias Andersson, Pontus Mörth, Jens Edman, Jan Lindblom were there with
a few others.

Nissan

Nissan has already confirmed their retirement from the STCC and Elgh
Motorsport, who ran the cars during the STCC 2001 season, are belived to have
sold the two Primera's. Elgh Motorsport will most certainly commit to the
ETCC 2002 and it is uncertain if we will see them at all in the STCC 2002.

Audi

All of the Audi-cars will probably stay in the STCC. Since almost no other
championship in the world allows 4WD Super Touring cars there is little
possibillity for them to leave Sweden. Kristoffersson Motorsport are belived to
stay with their two-car team. Same driver line up, Tommy Kristoffersson and
Roberto Colciago, for the 2002 season is a hot tip but with a question mark for
Roberto Colciago with the ETCC 2002 in mind.

Opel and Vauxhall

Opel will extend their STCC programme for the 2002 season. This year (2001)
they had only one car with Pontus Mörth behind the wheel. For the 2002 season
one additional car will be run alongside Pontus Mörth's. No driver is mentioned
for the second car yet, but stay tuned! Picko Troberg Racing will continue as
well, but with three cars this time. Two cars run 100% by the team and a third
one which they rent for a specified cost. Have a look at their homepage for
more info, you might be interested in renting the third car? For the two other
cars what drivers the team will hire is still wide open.

Honda

Honda and Hubert Racing is retiring from the STCC due to lack of budget. There
is no word where the two old Honda's are going yet, but keep in mind that there
are many Honda Accord's avalible since there is no use for Super Touring
Honda's in the ETCC no longer. JAS Engineering, who ran the ETCC cars this
year, has at least three cars ready for sale.

Alfa Romeo

The same goes for the Alfa Romeo 156 Super Touring cars. Team Nordauto, who
ran the 156's in the ETCC this year, has got a bounch of cars for no use. It is
unlikely that Alfa Romeo Sweden will make anything of it due to lacking funds.
But it remains to see if any privateer tries it.

One might wonder why the BTCC 2000 Ford Mondeo's never reached the STCC.
The cars had alot of potential and would with no doubt have a good chanse in
the STCC 2002. Picko Troberg Racing tried to get support from Ford Sweden to
run them in the STCC 2001 but with no luck. The cars were sold to the UK
where they were run in a saloon car championship (for old touring cars).
Johan Meissner
johan@meissner.se