Alfa Romeo in 1998 BTCC

[cos]

The other day whilst seaching for something I stumbled on the 1998 BTCC entry list, and was surprised to see that Alfa Romeo had entered two cars for the season - this is how BBC Ceefax reported it:

The official entry list for the 1998 British Touring Car Championship has been announced. There are 24 drivers on the list, with 18 of them nominated by works teams. The biggest surprise comes from Alfa Romeo, who have ex-Formula One driver Nicola Larini and Fabrizio Giovanardi in their line-up.
…
56 N Larini - It - Alfa 156
57 F Giovanardi - It - Alfa 156
…

They obviously never turned up in the BTCC, and I've got a feeling those two raced in the German SuperTouring equivalent for 1998. Can anyone shed some more light on this?

[Whitestar]

If i remember right i think they were here in Alfa 155s and there were two teams of Alfas. One british one italian.

[redshoes]

From a season review I wrote at the time

Alfa Romeo had entered a pair of new 156’s for Nicola Larini and Fabrizio Giovanardi in the BTCC, the German STW-Cup and the Italian Superturismo series, with the intention of completing a full season in Italy and one or two races in both Britain and Germany.

The Italian series started the year in turmoil, with the factory teams threatening to withdraw and start a breakaway series if their concerns over promotion and media coverage weren’t addressed. After the first 2 rounds had been run a new promoter was hired, who brought in a number of changes including a totally revised race schedule. These changes left an Italian race scheduled on the same August weekend as the BTCC’s Thruxton meeting which Alfa had originally planned to attend. Alfa were forced to postpone their BTCC appearance until the end of season Silverstone rounds, however that too turned out to be far from practical. With races in Italy the weekends before and after Silverstone and the Italian championship still to be decided Alfa felt that they could not risk the overseas trip.

[touringlegend]

Yes, unfortunate circumstances but this is something I feel shouldn't be out of the ordinary now for WTCC teams to make guest appearances in the BTCC rounds. Wouldn't it be great to see Schnitzer and Alfa Romeo come to Brands Hatch and fight it out with TD and Vauxhall !

[kmchow]

Yeah, rumors of car appearances were rampant during the old ST days.

The VW Bora supposed to be race in select BTCC and possibly STW races as well? Ditto for Volvo in the STW and (Daimler) Chrysler Stratus in the STW/BTCC. Sighh...sadly, none of those ever came to fruitation. Or an ex BJR/ASTC Audi appearing in the NATCC as well. Or Hyundai/Kia racing in the BTCC?? Imagine if those all happened??

[racer69]

BJR was rumoured to run works Audi's in the NATCC in 1996, and Greg Murphy was linked to a few drives there as well. BMW Motorsport Australia wa also linked to plans in the NATCC.

None of them happened. Both teams were also linked to efforts in Asia (BJR as late as 1999), but they never happened either.

1998 was supposed to be a banner year for Super Touring, strong national championships, the return of the World Cup in Helsinki, Finland, and the Bathurst 1000 at the end of the year. Unfortunatly it turned into the beginning of the end of ST.

[kmchow]

Originally Posted by racer69

BJR was rumoured to run works Audi's in the NATCC in 1996, and Greg Murphy was linked to a few drives there as well. BMW Motorsport Australia wa also linked to plans in the NATCC.

None of them happened. Both teams were also linked to efforts in Asia (BJR as late as 1999), but they never happened either.

1998 was supposed to be a banner year for Super Touring, strong national championships, the return of the World Cup in Helsinki, Finland, and the Bathurst 1000 at the end of the year. Unfortunatly it turned into the beginning of the end of ST.

Yes, '98 would have been an incredible year for the NATCC if it happened. Audi finally appeared in '99 in our GT series. I never knew BMW was interested is having an entry run by BMW Motorsport Australia? Were they the only ones with spare cars? I heard a rumor about PTG possibly considering fielding a car or two? Then there were the pair of stillborn Toyota Camrys.