Ban diesel in WTCC now!

The rules allowing diesel engines have been present in the World Touring Car Championship for a while. But it was not until last year at Anderstorp that SEAT became the first to use them. The success was imminent. Yvan Muller finished sixth in the premiere race with the TDi Léon and won the following race at Oschersleben. Muller even came close to winning the championship in 2007.

SEAT fielded three cars in 2007 with diesel engines, but for this season the Spanish manufacturer has got no less than five diesel-powered cars – all their own factory entries.

The domination of the diesel-cars became especially clear during the Mexican race at Puebla. SEAT finished 1-2-3-4-5 with their diesel-powered Léons. The other manufacturers, BMW and Chevrolet, expressed their concerns before the race that the supercharged engines would have an advantage given the altitude at which the track is located.

Chevrolet-driver Alain Menu confirmed his frustration over over the diesel-powered cars:
“The diesel-cars can go slowly through the corners and then just stamp on the gas at the exit and immediately take four or five car lengths,” said Menu.

The cost of competing in the WTCC has long been a dire subject. The introduction of diesel has pushed the cost even higher. BMW are known to be preparing a diesel engine to be able to respond to SEAT’s dominance, many euros will be consumed there.

Amazingly enough in the WTCC there is no limit for the turbo pressure. The FIA Touring Car Bureau have decided to instead monitor the turbo pressure from race to race and reserving the right to limit and change the pressure at any time.

This I would say is the main problem for the WTCC: Inconsistency.

A World Touring Car Championship should be the pinnacle of Touring Car Racing. Not a championship with three manufacturers where each manufacturer is competing under a different set of rules.

– BMW have a petrol engine with rear-wheel-drive and a h-gearbox.
– SEAT have a diesel engine with front-wheel-drive and a sequential gearbox.
– Chevrolet have a petrol engine with front-wheel-drive and a sequential gearbox.

Since the WTCC is a FIA-sanctioned World Championship I think it is fair to compare it to other major championships, regardless of type.

How would people react if for example in the Olympic Games Germany were allowed to use rollerblades in 100 meters while the USA had to jump on one leg because they won the last event?

An extreme comparison perhaps, but that is the reality in the WTCC. And it is the last thing the championship needs at the moment.

Touring Car Racing is always going to need dispensations, I hear people say. Of course! It is difficult to build equal cars when they are so different in their base road car structure. But it is certainly not impossible and it most definitely does not have to be as difficult as it is in the S2000-rules which WTCC runs under.

But the WTCC, with the FIA Touring Car Bureau, is making it even more difficult when they are handing out dispensations all over the place:

– Flat floor
– Different valve rules
– Different gearboxes
– Turbo charged engines without boost limitation

The list goes on…

The sanction of diesel engines could be the final nail in the coffin for the S2000-rules and/or the WTCC. The crowd wants stable rules which are easy to understand. Look at other successful sports, motorsport related or not, like Formula One, V8SC, Football, Hockey and more where the rules stay very stable and the crowds thrive.

Imagine how the situation for the teams are to explain to sponsors, specators, partners and so on that: “Yes, I won the race but I had a completely different engine, gearbox, drivetrain compared to the guy that I beat and for the next race I am going to get 60 kilos in my car because I did a better job than my competitors.”

A class like that is never going to get recognition in the wide audience. People often wonder why there are so few spectators, so few main stream media reporting, few major awards that notice the many titles that Andy Priaulx has taken, and so on.

WTCC needs stable, understandable and relatively cheap rules to become the great championship it has the potential to be. But currently the championship and rules are far from it.

The first step must be to ban diesels! The only thing it has brought in is increased costs, bigger differences between the cars and unspectacular racing/cars!

Who is Johan Meissner
The Swede Johan Meissner is 25 years old and founded TouringCarTimes in 1995. Currently he works as press officer for the STCC-team Flash Engineering and Carrera Cup Scandinavia. A die hard Touring Car-head with an almost disturbing interest for the sport.