Photo: ETCC Media

TC2T BMW teams unhappy with Chevrolet weight advantage

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The three teams fielding the BMW 320 TC in the TC2T class at Paul Ricard this weekend were unhappy with the weight advantage given to the front-wheel drive Chevrolet Cruzes of Campos Racing under the European Touring Car Cup’s technical regulations.

The two Chevrolets were able to run at a minimum weight of 1,170kg, with all front-wheel drive TC2T cars permitted to run at this weight, but the BMW 320 TC, being rear-wheel drive, was forced to run at 1,200kg, despite that last season in the WTCC, the BMWs competed at a minimum of 1,130kg throughout much of the season while RML’s Chevrolets ran on full compensation weight of at 1,190kg.

“I’ve put in a request to the committee, and I hope they will do something,” said Engstler Motorsport Team Manager Kurt Treml to TouringCarTimes. “They want this to be the feeder series to the WTCC, but with what they’re doing they’re going to destroy everything.”

The Liqui Moly Team Engstler team fielded three cars during the weekend in the ETCC, two BMW 320sis in the normally aspirated TC2 class and a single BMW 320 TC for Franz Engstler in TC2T, but withdrew the car after the warm-up after they discovered an issue with the turbo, and didn’t want to risk the car in an event where they didn’t feel they could compete due to the weight discrepancy.

In the WTCC, in an identical BMW 320 TC running at 1,150kg, Engstler’s best lap was a 1:35.027, which was just a few thousandths shy of Igor Skuz’s qualifying time, but his 1,200kg ETCC car was half a second slower in qualifying.

“The Chevrolet cars are really in another class,” said last year’s S2000 runner-up Mat’o Homola to TouringCarTimes, driving the ex-Stefano D’Aste BMW 320 TC. “They’re at 1,170 kilos, it’s an ETCC rule and I don’t think it’s a good rule, as in WTCC the Chevrolet cars were the highest weight.

“In ETCC, we’re at 1,200kg and Chevrolet is 1,170kg, which is totally the opposite way around, and they have a two second advantage, so I hope the rule will change. Whether that’s that we can reduce weight or the Chevrolets increase, as it’s really uncompetitive for the spectators. In the rain we had a chance, but on a dry track they are uncatchable.”

The ETCC doesn’t use car model based compensation weight like the WTCC, but instead driver based success ballast, meaning Campos driver Nikolay Karamyshev should carry a weight penalty of 41kg at the Slovakiaring (20kg for scoring the most points +1kg for each point score), with Igor Skuz on +35kg, making them just heavier than the BMWs at the next event.