[WTCC] 2014 WTCC speculation, rumours and news

[Metzo]

3 more cars entered for the TC2 class Link

[Bramzel]

That link also confirms Onyx is out

[Sjoestrem]

It's great to see more TC2 cars I guess we will see good fight in this category

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by Bramzel

That link also confirms Onyx is out

to be out first you must be in.

and they were never in.

[keviiinn]

I'm surprised to see a Cruze 1.6T in TC2. any half decent driver that Nika can get will dominate and that's no fun. I was hoping to see Franz Engstler back on the podium as an Independent winner this season.

[Canuck59NHL]

Sébastien Loeb fastest time during the first day(gap important in comparison with Honda).
We also learn that Loeb and Tiago Monteiro drove race cars(those that will be used for the championship).Gabriele Tarquini used the model test.

http://www.nextgen-auto.com/Citroen-...cia,74132.html

[Rubio]

http://www.motoryracing.com/wtcc/not...cia-wtcc-2014/

Very interesting interview with Ribeiro. Confirms Onyx was building Fords and it seems Ford blocked the project refusing to homologate the car.

Second, a 5th Honda is possible for the second half of the season. I would be very happy to see a 3rd factory one.

BTW, official WTCC website says Nika will confirm their car a bit later so it's quite possible they won't use a Chevy

[tenzo rs]

According to this test in Valencia Citroen will have no competition :/

[thetool]

Would it not have made sense to have encouraged the S2000 entrants to instead run in a strengthened ETCC which would have been cheaper and avoided them running around miles off the pace in the WTCC races?

Series where there is a clear main class with a few stragglers in a lower division behind never work very well. The WTCC would have been better with a 16 car new spec grid rather than 22 cars with 6 of them being the old S2000 cars.

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by thetool

Would it not have made sense to have encouraged the S2000 entrants to instead run in a strengthened ETCC which would have been cheaper and avoided them running around miles off the pace in the WTCC races?

Series where there is a clear main class with a few stragglers in a lower division behind never work very well. The WTCC would have been better with a 16 car new spec grid rather than 22 cars with 6 of them being the old S2000 cars.

That was the original plan, but if you read interviews from mid-last year, when they couldn't confirm 16 cars by a certain deadline (they only had ten without the Chevrolets), they had to allow the older S2000 cars.

Now, teams will have been working on plans to race those cars since they were told the class will exist, and it's not right to suddenly be told there are now enough cars in TC1, so go away, so the WTCC will clearly have one transitional year.

Admittedly it's not pretty, but it's not too dissimilar to what happened in the BTCC last year when they had a S2000 class which had on average 3-4 cars, and only one driver who actually did the whole season.

[Hazard]

Originally Posted by tenzo rs

According to this test in Valencia Citroen will have no competition :/

Citroen being strong is expected, but I should point out that photo is at 11am, so not representative of the entire day's test.

[iceman-1987]

really disappointing for onyx team. i was sure there was a reason if they could not announce their car. now we know that they renounce cause of ford.
anyway im curious about the fifth honda. I suppose it could be a japanese driver that will race in the last three round of wtcc.

anyway if we considerer the crisis, the new rules and the few time to develop the cars we can be satisfied about this grid.
16 cars TC1 plus 1 or 2 other cars that could join on the grid it's not so bad.
I expected some more cars in TC2. I understand that it's not more attractive the TC2 class but i didnt image to pass from the 24/25 cars TC2 of last year to just 6 in this year.

let's hope to hear positive news during the season about new other cars...

[I Rosputnik]

It's a pity about Ford, I would been curious to see how the Fiesta would have gotten on. Sure I would of preferred Focus saloons, but to honest Ford and WTCC have never seemed to worked well together. That makes it three attempts now.

On the other hand though, I hope this does not discourage Onyx from entering next year with a different brand.

Here is the original story if anyone is interested/

[iceman-1987]

Originally Posted by I Rosputnik

It's a pity about Ford, I would been curious to see how the Fiesta would have gotten on. Sure I would of preferred Focus saloons, but to honest Ford and WTCC have never seemed to worked well together. That makes it three attempts now.

On the other hand though, I hope this does not discourage Onyx from entering next year with a different brand.

Here is the original story if anyone is interested/

at this point they could try to make a partnership with seat if it woud be confirmed that they have planning to enter for the last races of this season before enter full time in 2015

[AxelF]

Seems like the Onyx-Team was not only a rumour or a fantasy... it was a real attempt, and with good drivers at start.

I cannot believe, that the team owner choose Ford again, after last bitter end in 2012.

I would rather try to talk some small or new manufacturer into WTCC, like chinese brand Quoros, which has recently shown a new model on Autosalon Geneva, which could need some advertising in Motorsport!!
Or talk to Fiat, they may have also needed "cheap" advertising (maybe they may only pay for homologation/entry fee!

I also cannot understand, why they choose small cars like Ford Fiesta!! Its the same like in WRC - no one buys a VW Polo because of his racing/rallying pedigree!
Small cars were bought because of cheap price and small size for european cities!
You should use the model, which is interesting for young people and families - mid size cars and linousines!!

[porsche962fan]

anyone noticed no Special Tuning on the entry list ? thought they would at least do TC2

guess perhaps ETCC cos no other places to run their old S2000 Leon

[porsche962fan]

Originally Posted by keviiinn

I'm surprised to see a Cruze 1.6T in TC2. any half decent driver that Nika can get will dominate and that's no fun. I was hoping to see Franz Engstler back on the podium as an Independent winner this season.

the Cruze was banned in TC2

[touring fan01]

Originally Posted by AxelF

Seems like the Onyx-Team was not only a rumour or a fantasy... it was a real attempt, and with good drivers at start.

last time that same team was in WTCC (under the name Arena) they were hopeless and then went bankrupt owing money to suppliers. now they try to start a new program under another name!

they announce a big 5 year WTCC program in January before even being allowed which car they can use only 12 weeks before start of season??! that is a fantasy!

[Sjoestrem]

Originally Posted by porsche962fan

the Cruze was banned in TC2

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2014/...2-competition/

Cruze is back, if I understand this article.

There will be no fun in TC2

[iceman-1987]

Originally Posted by Sjoestrem

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2014/...2-competition/

Cruze is back, if I understand this article.

There will be no fun in TC2

well i guess we must need about the driver of nika and of others team in tc2
before say that there is no fun.

for sure the cruze will be the most competitive car in tc2 class but then it will depend by the quality of the drivers.

[iceman-1987]

if you go on the website wtccblog.hu there is an interview to Ribeiro where (if i understood well) he talks about the possibility to create a sort of inferior class like is GP2 and GP3 with F1.

[FIRE]

Youtube clip Honda testing @ Valencia

Hope there will be no more aero parts added.

[S griffin]

I read that they were planning a change to the reversed grid.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Hope there will be no more aero parts added.

Agree.

[helmat]

According to Motorsport Total Sebastian Loeb did a 1:35.6 in Valencia and they were 1.3sec faster than the Honda.
I suspect that the Honda Team didn't show their full potential these days, but on the other hand it was "only" Loeb in the Citroen not Muller.
The Chevy's were only 1/20sec-1/30sec slower than the Hondas, that's really close for a car without any testing so far and not being driven by their fastest drivers.