The DTM visits one of its long time venues, the Norisring, for Round 5 of the 2007 DTM season. In the eight previous races, there have been 7 different winners. The only repeated conquest was by Gary Paffett in 2004 & 2005. 3 former winners will be on the grid, Paffett, Bernd Schneider, and Bruno Spengler.
Schneider is coming off his first win of the year at Brands Hatch and has moved to third with 17.5 points. DTM leader Martin Tomczyk was second last round and holds a slim 2 point advantage over his Audi team mate Mattias Ekström. The pair is looking to give Audi their first win at the Norisring since 2002.
Paul di Resta tumbled from the championship lead down to fourth after going off course and not finishing at Brands Hatch. Defending race winner Bruno Spengler would like to jump start his campaign with a podium, or maybe even a win. Click here for complete points standings through 4 rounds.
The series will welcome back Tom Kristensen after a 3 race absence due to a violent crash at Hockenheim. Kristensen will be back in the #7 Audi A4 07
For a list of winners at the Norisring, click here. Don't forget to check out all the action at www.dtm.de.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
IRC Ypres Westhoek Rally Preview
The IRC Travels to Belgium for Ypres Rally for round 3 of the 2007 season. The rally takes place June 22nd & 23rd and will be the first venture onto tarmac for the IRC competitors. The drivers will have to shake off over a month of rust and be on their toes in the potential tricky conditions.
A large contigent of Super 2000 cars will be in action. The Abarth Grande Puntos of Andrea Navarra (points leader), Volkan Isik, Corrado Fontana, Michael Solowow, Pieter Tsjoen and Umberto Scandola look to keep the marque ahead of Mitsubishi in the manufacturer's standings. Other S2000 teamms include Volkswagen (Freddy Loix and Tomasz Czopik in the Polo S2000's IRC debut) and Peugeot with six 207's for Nicolas Vouilloz, Enrique Garcia Ojeda, Bernd Casier and others.
Others among the entry list of 107 include the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX's of Renato Travaglia, Larry Cols and Dimitar Iliev. Other notables include Simon Jean-Joseph in a Citroen C2, Dani Sola in a Honda Civic, Urmo Aava in a Suzuki Swift and Kris Princen in a Renault Clio R3.
In the points chase Navarra leads Vouilloz (winner in Turkey) by 8 points and Ojeda by 12. With over 20 IRC entrants in this year's event, points will be much more difficult to come by.
This is the second inclusion in the IRC for Belgium Ypres. Check out the 2006 results or Rally Stats on my webpage.
Stay tuned to the Official IRC website or Ypres website for all the action this weekend.
A large contigent of Super 2000 cars will be in action. The Abarth Grande Puntos of Andrea Navarra (points leader), Volkan Isik, Corrado Fontana, Michael Solowow, Pieter Tsjoen and Umberto Scandola look to keep the marque ahead of Mitsubishi in the manufacturer's standings. Other S2000 teamms include Volkswagen (Freddy Loix and Tomasz Czopik in the Polo S2000's IRC debut) and Peugeot with six 207's for Nicolas Vouilloz, Enrique Garcia Ojeda, Bernd Casier and others.
Others among the entry list of 107 include the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX's of Renato Travaglia, Larry Cols and Dimitar Iliev. Other notables include Simon Jean-Joseph in a Citroen C2, Dani Sola in a Honda Civic, Urmo Aava in a Suzuki Swift and Kris Princen in a Renault Clio R3.
In the points chase Navarra leads Vouilloz (winner in Turkey) by 8 points and Ojeda by 12. With over 20 IRC entrants in this year's event, points will be much more difficult to come by.
This is the second inclusion in the IRC for Belgium Ypres. Check out the 2006 results or Rally Stats on my webpage.
Stay tuned to the Official IRC website or Ypres website for all the action this weekend.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
DTM & SWC in action this weekend
Both series are in action this weekend, with DTM round 4 and Race 5 of the season for the Speed World Challenge GT Series.
DTM
Last round, at EuroSpeedway went to Mercedes as they swept the top four positions, and 7 of the 8 points scoring spots. Audi looks to rebound in England with the second DTM race at Brands Hatch. Last season Audi's Mattias Ekström was victorious and is looking to repeat that feat and jump back into the championship lead.
So far, after three races, we have seen eight different drivers claim the nine available podium positions. The only driver with multiple podiums is DTM newbie, Paul di Resta. Thanks to back-to-back runner up finishes, the Brit leads the DTM with 20 points. Ekström, Gary Paffett and Martin Tomczyk all have 12 points, and EuroSpeedway winner Mika Häkkinen and defending DTM champ Bernd Schneider have 10 points. Click here for complete points standings through 3 rounds.
Injury Update: Markus Winkelhock will continue to drive #7 Audi A4 DTM 07 in place of injured Tom Kristensen. Last round, Winkelhock was unable to finish the race in his debut with the team.
For a list of winners at Brands Hatch, click here. Don't forget to check out all the action at www.dtm.de.
SWC
After 2 races in less than a week, the Speed World Challenge GT teams have been able to regroup as the series heads to the halfway mark, Round 5 at Watkins Glen. It will be the first trip by the series to the famous road course.
Two old faces will pop up this weekend, with Chip Herr making a return to the series, driving the #90 entry for Tiger Racing and Jeff Altenberg making his first start since 2002. Altenberg will drive the #13 Woodhouse Auto Family Dodge Viper. He has to work hard to keep up the good momentum of the team, which has scored 3 top tens with 3 different drivers, including Kasey Kahne's 6th place finish at Charlotte.
Andy Pilgrim, fresh of victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway, has surged to the championship lead, with his team mate Lawson Aschenbach 12 points behind in 2nd overall. Their 1-2 finish in round 4 boosted Cadillac in to the lead of the manufacturer's title chase, by one point over Chevrolet.
The K-Pax Porsches of Randy Pobst and Michael Galati are 3rd and 5th in the championship respectively and both are hungry to return to victory circle. Miller Motorsports Park winner Tommy Archer is sandwiched between them in fourth place coming into round 5.
Eric Curran, 2 time winner this year and the early points leader, looks to bounce back from back-to-back DNF's. Those setbacks saw his lead of 22 points over Pilgrim turn into a 28 point defecit and he tumbled to sixth in the standings. His team mate Sonny Whelen looks to build on his 8th place finsish at Lowe's.
Click here for complete points standings through 4 rounds. Check out the action from Watkins Glen at www.world-challenge.com.
DTM
Last round, at EuroSpeedway went to Mercedes as they swept the top four positions, and 7 of the 8 points scoring spots. Audi looks to rebound in England with the second DTM race at Brands Hatch. Last season Audi's Mattias Ekström was victorious and is looking to repeat that feat and jump back into the championship lead.
So far, after three races, we have seen eight different drivers claim the nine available podium positions. The only driver with multiple podiums is DTM newbie, Paul di Resta. Thanks to back-to-back runner up finishes, the Brit leads the DTM with 20 points. Ekström, Gary Paffett and Martin Tomczyk all have 12 points, and EuroSpeedway winner Mika Häkkinen and defending DTM champ Bernd Schneider have 10 points. Click here for complete points standings through 3 rounds.
Injury Update: Markus Winkelhock will continue to drive #7 Audi A4 DTM 07 in place of injured Tom Kristensen. Last round, Winkelhock was unable to finish the race in his debut with the team.
For a list of winners at Brands Hatch, click here. Don't forget to check out all the action at www.dtm.de.
SWC
After 2 races in less than a week, the Speed World Challenge GT teams have been able to regroup as the series heads to the halfway mark, Round 5 at Watkins Glen. It will be the first trip by the series to the famous road course.
Two old faces will pop up this weekend, with Chip Herr making a return to the series, driving the #90 entry for Tiger Racing and Jeff Altenberg making his first start since 2002. Altenberg will drive the #13 Woodhouse Auto Family Dodge Viper. He has to work hard to keep up the good momentum of the team, which has scored 3 top tens with 3 different drivers, including Kasey Kahne's 6th place finish at Charlotte.
Andy Pilgrim, fresh of victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway, has surged to the championship lead, with his team mate Lawson Aschenbach 12 points behind in 2nd overall. Their 1-2 finish in round 4 boosted Cadillac in to the lead of the manufacturer's title chase, by one point over Chevrolet.
The K-Pax Porsches of Randy Pobst and Michael Galati are 3rd and 5th in the championship respectively and both are hungry to return to victory circle. Miller Motorsports Park winner Tommy Archer is sandwiched between them in fourth place coming into round 5.
Eric Curran, 2 time winner this year and the early points leader, looks to bounce back from back-to-back DNF's. Those setbacks saw his lead of 22 points over Pilgrim turn into a 28 point defecit and he tumbled to sixth in the standings. His team mate Sonny Whelen looks to build on his 8th place finsish at Lowe's.
Click here for complete points standings through 4 rounds. Check out the action from Watkins Glen at www.world-challenge.com.
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