Drivers you would like to see in WTCC

[helterskelter]

Which drivers would you like to see in Wtcc? Who would you give a chance to if you were a team boss?
At the moment I can't find anyone attractive in the indies, but I can't wait to see Boardman prove himself to understand if he deserves a works drive.
From other series, Oscar Nogues is one of those I would like to see in Wtcc. Murray would also be interesting, but probably he would be a lot like Farfus, being fast but often screwing it all up. Colak would be good, too
Definitely Turkington and Giovanardi from Btcc, maybe even Mat Jackson, though he needs a few more years to be completely mature and deserve a place.
Also, a few ex-Formula One drivers, just to make them see how touring cars are really difficult to drive, even if they don't think so. People like Zonta, Enge and a few more would be interesting to see

[werner]

Duncan Huisman would be good to see in a BMW.
Ryan Sharp has some unfinisched business in the Wtcc. His only year in a privateer Honda was very promising, and in other series he has proven to be a great driver.
Jason Plato, just to see him fight Muller once again.
Robert Doornbos, because I'm a great fan of him. He a hard fighter, he's a very enthousiast nice guy and he is from my hometown Rotterdam. He's doing a good job nowadays in A1-GP, and he probably goes to race in the IRL this year. I'd rather see him in Wtcc, since I don't like oval-racing that much.
Jan Magnussen: a great driver, and a great name.
Takuma Sato: that would boost the interest in wtcc in Japan.
Luca Rangoni: a shame that he is gone. Spectacular and fast driver.

[Pettersson]

If I was a team boss for a WTCC campaign, I would buy two BMW's and put Rikard Göransson and Mat Jackson behind the wheel. I might also try and get Kenny Bräck to do some selected races.

It would also be nice to see where Matt Neal would be on the grid. Some Asians would be nice too. Jack Lemvard would be one name, he did great in the few ADAC Procar races he drove (and also in ATCS but there wasn't much of a challenge to win TBH).

[the sniper]

I really wanted to see James Thompson and Takuma Sato in works Honda Accords...

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Eoin Murray, Gavin Pyper, Vincent Radermecker, Warren Hughes, Paul O'Neill, Shaun Watson-Smith, Colin Turkington, Gareth Howell, Dan Eaves, Kelvin Burt, Mattias Andersson, Duncan Huisman, Edward Sandström, Daniel Haglöf, Jimmy Johansson - take your pick.

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

Eoin Murray, Gavin Pyper, Vincent Radermecker, Warren Hughes, Paul O'Neill, Shaun Watson-Smith, Colin Turkington, Gareth Howell, Dan Eaves, Kelvin Burt, Mattias Andersson, Duncan Huisman, Edward Sandström, Daniel Haglöf, Jimmy Johansson - take your pick.

I would take Murray, Turkington and Huisman. Huisman is great in Macau, just fantastic.
I'll tell you what, let's play a game: each of us chooses a team to be the imaginary boss of, and can confirm the driver(s) he has in the team plus add one more. Who would you pick?
I say I'm Bart Mampey and I obviously keep Priaulx and, to avoid the two drivers fighting for the title against each other, I would let Rangoni, Turkington and Jackson race on the second car. Then I'd pick the one who satisfied me the most and give him a chance to have a full works BMW seat.
You can also pick indipendent teams or create a new one from scratch, in which case you only have 1 car available.
Ah, btw, I agree about Doornbos and Ryan Sharp, except that they would both need a year of learning before being competitive, especially the dutchman, as it's not easy to go from Formulae to Touring Cars. And Ryan would need to get back to the hardest TC and workd hard to be fully competitive as he can be.

[Bramzel]

Of course I'd be going nationalistic, and I'd pick Equipe Verschuur to run me either a pair of Chevy Cruze's for Tom Coronel and Jaap van Lagen, or a pair of BMW's for Jeroen Bleekemolen and Duncan Huisman I'm slightly aiming towards the first combo I think.

[helterskelter]

Originally Posted by Bramzel

Of course I'd be going nationalistic, and I'd pick Equipe Verschuur to run me either a pair of Chevy Cruze's for Tom Coronel and Jaap van Lagen, or a pair of BMW's for Jeroen Bleekemolen and Duncan Huisman I'm slightly aiming towards the first combo I think.

I said that if you choose a new team you only have 1 car, so you have to choose!
Btw, I like Bleekemolen.

[Aslak Vind]

Jan Magnussen, he drove at Macau a few years ago supporting Andy Priaulx. He has also driven a few WTCC rounds, back in his Peugeot days.

Jimmy Johansson could also be a good pick!

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

I said that if you choose a new team you only have 1 car, so you have to choose!
Btw, I like Bleekemolen.

As I said, I'd probably pick the first combo

[werner]

Equipe Verschuur has done a lot with Renault, so why not let them run a pair of Laguna's. Even better: 3 full worksbacked Lagunas. Driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen, Fernando Alonso and whoever wins the French Cliocup.

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by werner

Equipe Verschuur has done a lot with Renault, so why not let them run a pair of Laguna's. Even better: 3 full worksbacked Lagunas. Driven by Jeroen Bleekemolen, Fernando Alonso and whoever wins the French Cliocup.

Equipe Verschuur can run a lawnmower and make it win They were a big part in Van Merksteijns victory at LeMans, and are running around 30 cars each season in the various championships. They've got plenty experience to run most cars. A Renault would never be my car of choice as I find them to ugly for words

[stedevil]

From STCC, apart from already mention Göransson, I think Björk, Dahlgren and Ekblom certainly could hold their own. From DTC I've also yet to see Nykear being mentioned. Just put him in a FWD and Im sure he would by far not make a fool of himself either.

Oscar Nogues however I'm not sure I would like to see anywhere, let alone WTCC. From this years ETCC I think its clear that
1) He is too slow (eg Engström, not even making my STCC cut, clearly outperformed Nouges)
2) His ego can't handle being passed by a better driver and prefers to use dirty tricks to take them out instead.

[Matt]

Michael Galati, and John Espenlaub. Oh, and maybe Pierre Kleinubing.

[brands hatch]

i would probably pick from the british series....plato or jackson

[Pettersson]

Originally Posted by Matt

Michael Galati, and John Espenlaub. Oh, and maybe Pierre Kleinubing.

That's true, an american would be a great addition to WTCC. One of the Realtime guys would surely do good, and maybe Altenburg too. Maybe Auberlen in a BMW with Turner Motorsport backing?

[Matt]

If you could reel Peter Cunningham out of retirement, I'm sure he could give some of those guys a real run for their money. The same with Randy Pobst.

[PorscheFanNo1]

Yeh, Pobst could drive any car and beat most of the guys in WTCC I reccon, that would be my pick from over there for sure. You're also right that Björk, Göransson, Dahlgren and Ekblom would be the logical pick from STCC to take a stab at WTCC, Eklom drove ETCC in 2002 and did quite well.

[helterskelter]

Yes but I didn't like Ekblom when he partnered Priaulx on the BMW. Anyway don't be too sure that a newcomer, whenever talented, would be fast straightaway. It takes a year of learning, at least, for the most talented... Look at Giovanardi, for instance, in 2006 he learned and started winning from 2007 on, and he was Giovanardi, not a slow guy...!

[brucelok2003]

I may pick up some guys from DTM: Ralf Schumacher, Mathias Lauda, Katherine Legge, Susie Stoddart and Oliver Jarvis.

[Pettersson]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

Yes but I didn't like Ekblom when he partnered Priaulx on the BMW.

But you also need to know that he was only hired for helping Andy, not score results for himself. But he did well in qualy at Anderstorp, but he helped Andy instead. Why do you think he only raced at Anderstorp, Monza and Macau? Both have long straights and slip stream is important to do well in qualy. That's why he was hired (and previous connections with RBM and BMW Motorsport also helped I guess). It was the same with Jan Magnussen at Macau the year before, he was only there to help Andy who didn't have a team mate to slip stream. At least Ekblom got a juicy paycheck from BMW .

Well, enough on that! Is there any type of car that Randy Pobst hasn't been in? He is a jack of all trades for sure.

[werner]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

Yes but I didn't like Ekblom when he partnered Priaulx on the BMW. Anyway don't be too sure that a newcomer, whenever talented, would be fast straightaway. It takes a year of learning, at least, for the most talented... Look at Giovanardi, for instance, in 2006 he learned and started winning from 2007 on, and he was Giovanardi, not a slow guy...!

Don't forget the Astra he drove in 2006 was a lousy car. It took him a few weekends to get on par with Chilton, but already in the second half of 2006 he was way faster than Chilton, always fighting for podiums and taking a win in Knockhill.
But then we are speaking of Giovanardi, who might be one of the very best touringcardrivers in the world and the BTCC wich has less world-class competitors compared to the WTCC.

[stedevil]

Originally Posted by helterskelter

Yes but I didn't like Ekblom when he partnered Priaulx on the BMW. Anyway don't be too sure that a newcomer, whenever talented, would be fast straightaway. It takes a year of learning, at least, for the most talented...

Yes, you are definitly at a disadvantage from being behind on track knowledge vs the opposition.

But eg Ekblom finished 6th in his one and only year in ETCC (2002). And there are some pretty impressive names behind his in the championship standings that year. Coronel, Gene, Huisman, Colciago, Tarquini...

So he is not exactly a inexperienced and his bad placements when teaming with Priaulx is purely down to him doing 1 specific task only, help P score as much as possible.

[AxelF]

I would be also very patriotic, and would also outrun all of you guys in form of marketing hype and speed...

I would pick a pair of BMW 320si and would choose Sabine Schmitz and Claudia Hürtgen!!!

Even if they don't get the pole position, they would be on the cover of the magazines as the "all-girl-team"...

[werner]

I agree with you about Sabine Schmitz. Since her appeareances on the Top Gear show she is known al over Europe. Huertgen is not very good marketing-material IIRC.
Anyway, I'd hate to see people in the WTCC based on gender. Leave that to the DTM please.