Chevy pulls out of WTCC

[Alex1911]

http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=7837

[LeSunTzu]

They must be afraid of Honda

[burnout01]

Originally Posted by LeSunTzu

They must be afraid of Honda

That was the first thing I said when I heard about this.

But it's a shame.

[Totenkopf]

So, no Alfa (from ages now, I know), no official Chevy (let's hope for some semi-official decent teams), old Seat's, semi-official old BMW's, semi-official Ford's, superslow Volvo's......

It will be official Honda vs official Lada; what a duel........

Next year even the various Italian touring champs (which have the oldest, slowest and poorest car fields in Europe) will be more interesting......

[kamikaze666]

Good, chevy not in the same class as the rsst of the field, now go get that championship coronel

[Alex1911]

Bamboo is likely to continue with the Cruzes , so they will be Chevies on the grid in 2013

[Andy81]

Originally Posted by Totenkopf

It will be official Honda vs official Lada; what a duel........

Seat is supposed to be coming back as a full factory effort. But i don't think that's 100%. Just very likely.

All the more reason why you need to make sure private teams can compete, and that it's attractive to small teams. Like not having lots of flyaway races where there's no demand for the racing or the cars. (India looks to be getting a race next year and still no British round )
The swap to 1.6 engines probably wasn't a good move either with them being more expencive than the old engines.

[Trebor901]

So next year will be Ford, Honda and Lada? Hope RML find a new manufacturer to take to either BTCC or WTCC they are probably the best at building and developing touring cars

[Andy81]

Originally Posted by Trebor901

So next year will be Ford, Honda and Lada? Hope RML find a new manufacturer to take to either BTCC or WTCC they are probably the best at building and developing touring cars

Ford are not a full factory team, Arena do recieve help from Ford but they are still a privateer team.
So it's effectivly Seat - Honda - Lada.
But neither Seat or Lada have confirmed a 2013 entry. They are still just 'probable'
+1 on RML though, they are too good a team to not be involved. I just hope they encourage a manufacturer to enter one of the touring car championships.

[KindaUnstuck]

Same to see Chevrolet go, but I guess with the current situation of them being the only works team and pouring a lot of money into the program compared to the SEAT and BMW runners it probably makes sense for them to spend the money elsewhere and maintain a presence through Bamboo, and possibly Nika or RML if they can find the budget.

As long as the WTCC ends up with a manufacturer or 2 for next year in an official capacity (possible Honda, Lada and/or Ford or SEAT) then it's probably not too bad for the series in the short term.

The worry is probably a few years down the line when the independents can't afford to keep the current calendar going long-term as it's not very sponsor friendly with the lack on rounds in Western Europe and too many flyaways and the BMW 320 TC and SEAT Leon cars are even older than they are now, considering they are based on cars from 6/7 years ago already with no new, viable replacements for teams like Engstler or Wiechers to run if they are still around.

[OhioSpeed]

Im not big on all the fly away races in the wtcc either. 3-4 is enough. But 6 or 7.

[def123]

Losing Chevrolet, the only manufacturer in the series is certainly a big blow for everyone involved, although it could be a chance for new manufacturers to join, if they see that the dominant car's finally gone.

Originally Posted by KindaUnstuck

The worry is probably a few years down the line when the independents can't afford to keep the current calendar going long-term as it's not very sponsor friendly with the lack on rounds in Western Europe and too many flyaways and the BMW 320 TC and SEAT Leon cars are even older than they are now, considering they are based on cars from 6/7 years ago already with no new, viable replacements for teams like Engstler or Wiechers to run if they are still around.

I couldn't agree more with you!
Of course it sounds nice to have a world championship that actually visits most continents, but you also have to consider the high costs doing that. Fact is, that most teams in the WTCC are based somewhere in Europe, most (if not all) sponsors are based in Europe and their biggest market remains Europe. Visiting the new or growing markets of Asia and Southern America may sound great, but the interest in the series there is pretty low.
So what's the point of going there?

The big, global companies have such a high marketing budget, that they can easily find another way of spending it, that actually reaches more people than the WTCC. It's smaller companies that'd think of a less attractive series, where they could become a large sponsor, but judging by the amount of sponsors overall in the WTCC, it doesn't seem very attractive to both small and big companies.
Someone really has to think, how they could improve that situation.

[FlyeThemoon]

I Wanna Renault....laguna for replacemet.