Photo: ETCC Media

Six event calendar for 2016 will include the Nordschleife

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The Nürburgring Nordschleife has been added to the 2016 European Touring Car Cup calendar, which will again feature six events. The ETCC will also combine the Super 2000 classes (TC2T and TC2) and the TCN2 class (formerly the SEAT León Eurocup class) into one tier, with the Super 1600 class as the second tier.

The Hungaroring (Hungary), Brno (Czech Republic), Zolder (Belgium) and Pergusa (Italy) rounds have been dropped, with replacement rounds at the Nürburgring Nordschleife (Germany), Vila Real (Portugal), Magny-Cours (France) and Imola (Italy), with just Paul Ricard and the Slovakiaring remaining from the 2015 calendar.

The first four events will take place with the World Touring Car Championship. The ETCC will also feature increased coverage with online streaming from 2016, as well an increased prize fund of 150,000 EUR in partnership with tyre supplier Yokohama and logistical support from Eurosport Events to attend the double points mid-season event at Vila Real.

“Our challenge was to keep the ETCC’s popular venues like Paul Ricard and Slovakia Ring but add new tracks to provide variety and, above all, a really exciting challenge for the drivers,” said Head of Eurosport Events François Ribeiro.

“There are limited opportunities for touring car drivers to race on the full-length Nürburgring Nordschleife but the ETCC provides two. We also hope the first street race in the modern era of the ETCC at Vila Real will also be popular, as will Magny-Cours and Imola.”

The ETCC will also add 15 minutes to the Saturday Free Practice session, and drop Sunday’s warm-up, in-line with the WTCC, while the qualifying format will now mirror the WTCC’s with the top ten reversed for race one, instead of the top eight race one result reversed for the second race.

FIA European Touring Car Cup 2016 calendar

Date – Event
April 3rd – Paul Ricard, France (with WTCC)
April 17th – Slovakiaring, Slovakia (with WTCC)
May 28th – Nürburgring Nordschleife, Germany (with WTCC)
June 12th – Vila Real, Portugal (with WTCC)*
July 10th – Magny-Cours, France (with GT Tour)
October 2nd – Imola, Italy (with Formula 3)

* Double points event