WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 22 Sep 2018, 09:34

Foreword

Welcome to the second season of the Women’s Touring Car Championship, in which we’ll try to find out who could possibly become Rahel Frey’s biggest and most dangerous rival. The Swiss Audi driver herself has gathered new strength over the winter break and is now more than ready to battle for the championship title once again. She has also thrown in some names when asked about her immediate rivals: „Susie will be very strong, Cyndie as well. Hard to say how good the new BMW will be, but if it is a hit, Beitske might also become a threat this year.“

We will also get to see how good the new Opel Vectra V8 GTS Evo will be. It’s out of the question that it will be better than its predecessor – even a lawn mower is better than last year’s Opel! But how good exactly will it be? The final upgrade on last year’s car has enabled Jasmin Preisig to snatch yet another podium finish at the final round after some truly disappointing outings. Will the new car win races yet?

A few new drivers are also making their debut this season: Julia Landauer for BMW, and Catharina Felser for Mercedes-Benz. Their predecessors, Lindsey Adams and Alessandra Neri, have meanwhile found shelter in the Women’s GT Junior Cup, driving for BMW and Ferrari respectively.

I’m hyped already, and I hope you are as well!

OOC: Nothing much has changed from last season. I’ve improved the driver.ini once again, which should provide us with an even stiffer competition, if things go as planned. Each brand still comes with its fair share of technical strengths and weaknesses, just like last season.

However, the biggest change will happen between this season and the next (Season 3). I’m going to take the WTCC global from Season 3 onwards, because I have downloaded so many interesting tracks over time that could never be used in a german championship alone. A few of them will already make an appearance this season. The individual rounds are also supposed to have approximately the same race distance, around 95 to 100 km. That would cancel out tracks like Oulton Park, Norisring, and Pau, which have given us great races so far, but I think I can make exceptions and keep the most interesting rounds on the calendar.

Depending on the situation, the amount of drivers each brand fields each season may also vary from year to year. Right now, they’re all evenly matched with 5 ladies per brand, but that might change in later seasons due to the overall strategy each brand has, e. g. Opel supporting the factory-backed Chevrolet foray into the Women’s GT Masters, etc.

The Fictional Universe Index

Since every series I’m currently running is connected to each other through the fictional timeline I’ve created, I believe it’s best to post an index linking to all the different series in the opening post of each thread, which should make research on certain events, drivers, teams, and the overall timeline much easier.

Just to clarify: This fictional universe is a non-canon one! Therefore it contains no references to canon events in the Andrea Sassetti forum or any other non-canon events in the 18-metre debut forum, unless said event is explicitely mentioned in one of my series. This also means that driver performances from anything else than the series connected to my fictional universe or real-life events listed on either driverdb.com or ewrc-results.com do not count towards my stat calculations.

The following index will be updated by me anytime a new entry is made to the fictional timeline.

Season 1
Women’s Touring Car Championship (WTCC)
Women’s GT Junior Cup

Season 2
Women’s Touring Car Championship (WTCC) (you are here)
Women’s GT Junior Cup

Season 3
Women’s Touring Car Championship (WTCC)
Women’s GT Junior Cup
Women’s GT Masters

Season 4
Coming soon...

Then, without further delay, let’s move on to the official pre-season test sessions at Dijon-Prenois!

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 22 Sep 2018, 09:47

Test Session 1, Saturday

Beautiful spring weather greeted teams and drivers for the official pre-season tests at Dijon-Prenois. As the reigning WTCC champion, Rahel Frey opened the new season by being the first driver on the track, setting a lap time of 1:25.909.

Not much had changed during the winter break. Only two new faces could be seen in the paddock: One was Catharina Felser, who had replaced Alessandra Neri at Mercedes-Benz. The Italian had jumped ship to the Women’s GT Junior Cup, driving for Ferrari and hoping for some better results to add to her name.

The other rookie was Julia Landauer, who replaced fellow American Lindsey Adams at BMW. Unlike Neri, who was let go by Mercedes-Benz entirely to seek her fortune under a new banner, Lindsey Adams had been transferred to the Women’s GT Junior Cup by BMW’s Head of Motorsports Annette Meeuvissen herself. „Lindsey needs more time to grow, and the WTCC is not the ideal place for that.“

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01.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:25.633
02.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:25.690
03.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:25.841
04.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    1:25.856
05.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              1:25.882
06.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    1:25.899
07.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             1:26.001
08.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             1:26.027
09.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             1:26.133
10.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    1:26.148
11.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    1:26.151
12.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             1:26.170
13.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              1:26.222
14.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             1:26.304
15.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             1:26.333
16.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              1:26.367
17.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             1:26.372
18.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel             1:26.404
19.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             1:26.438
20.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              1:26.669

Test Session 2, Sunday

BMW had reportedly improved their reliability during the winter break, but was forced to reduce power in order to do that, if rumors were to be believed. And that’s a big IF, seeing how Claudia Hürtgen dominated Saturday’s test session with ease, and she still held on to second place on Sunday. Beitske Visser also wasn’t far behind, while Julia Landauer had already bested Tasmin Pepper and Yolanda Surer, who both have a season worth of experience in the WTCC behind them.

Most Opel drivers still struggled for pace, while Melanie Schulz and Jasmin Preisig could be found in the top ten all weekend long. Compared to last season’s official tests where they hardly made it into the top ten at all, this is quite an improvement. Hopefully, this level of competitiveness can be maintained and maybe even improved throughout the season by the Opel crew.

Audi’s Head of Motorsports, Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, had taken full control of the WTCC operation during the winter break and replaced Leena Gade as Team Principal. Gade had become the team’s new Technical Director and Race Engineer for Rahel Frey. Ullrich clearly wanted to improve the performance of all his WTCC drivers by giving Gade the final say on the team’s overall setup strategy for each race. It is unknown whether Gade sees her new job as a relegation or as a promotion.

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:25.671
02.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:25.737
03.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:25.863
04.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              1:25.876
05.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    1:25.877
06.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             1:25.979
07.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             1:26.010
08.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             1:26.092
09.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    1:26.131
10.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             1:26.163
11.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    1:26.168
12.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    1:26.199
13.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              1:26.222
14.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             1:26.300
15.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             1:26.315
16.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              1:26.344
17.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             1:26.357
18.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel             1:26.386
19.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             1:26.424
20.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              1:26.643

Of course, there’s much more to talk about, so stay tuned for the official driver presentations coming up next!

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 26 Sep 2018, 09:31

Rahel Frey – The ever-optimistic girl from Switzerland had everything a proper champion needs: skill, speed, a good and reliable car, and also the small ounce of luck that some of her rivals, namely Cyndie Allemann and Vanina Ickx, lacked. Rahel benefited from the technical mishaps of her competitors (Oulton Park), but she was also capable of leading dominantly from start to finish when she had to (Red Bull Ring). She is a worthy and very down-to-earth champion, and now she has the chance to defend her title in style.
Race Engineer: Leena Gade (this season)

Julia Landauer – Many experts believe her to be nothing more than a short-term stand-in for Ashley Freiberg, yet Julia Landauer is more than meets the eye. BMW Team Principal Annette Meeuvissen is not known for making short-sighted decisions, so we must expect Ms. Landauer to be up to this task, otherwise she would’ve never been given this chance. And if she manages to beat fellow youngster Tasmin Pepper, then it might be the girl from South Africa who gets shown the door by the end of this year and not Landauer.
Race Engineer: Drew Blickensderfer (this season)

Michela Cerruti – She deserves the utmost respect for even making it through the first half of the season, given how poisonous the working relationship between her and her former race engineer must have been. A driver with less will to fight would’ve probably already quit to seek her fortune elsewhere. But Cerruti signed with AMG Mercedes-Benz to become WTCC champion, so here she is, ready for her second season with the team. It might be her last, if it turns out to be another dud. If Mercedes-Benz doesn’t deliver what they promised, Cerruti might jump ship to a team that can keep its promises.
Race Engineer: Francesco Nenci (since the 2nd half of Season 1)

Louise Cook – This girl is a future champion, no doubt about that! 2nd place in her very first WTCC race is not something anyone could pull off. It got quite rocky for Louise after that, simply because she got hit hard by a string of quite demoralising technical failures. Luckily for the young Briton, she never doubted her own abilites, and as soon as she had overcome the deep valley of retirements, she started gathering some more points by the end of the season. Rightfully, her contract was extended for two more years, and that should definitely be enough time to see Louise blossom into a steady podium finisher.
Race Engineer: Fabien Jung (since Season 1)

Maria de Villota – She almost looked like a fish out of water all season long. Her homerace at Jarama was a perfect representation of her entire season. „I put too much pressure on myself“, Maria later admitted. „I wanted to give the crowd something to cheer for.“ 3 lonely championship points in 12 rounds can’t convince anybody of the Spaniard’s right to remain in the WTCC. This year, she got partnered with Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky instead of the more experienced Vanina Ickx, which might take a little bit of pressure off of Maria’s shoulders.
Race Engineer: Laurent Fedacou (since Season 1)

Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky – She had quite the satisfying first season. Mikaela learned a lot from her mentor Katherine Legge and got more and more reliable as the season progressed, even scoring 2 championship points on the narrow streets of Pau. This season we should see her finish in the points more often, and the fact that she got partnered with Maria de Villota instead of Katherine Legge proves that Audi’s new Team Principal Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich deems the young Swede worthy of leaving driving school behind her for good.
Race Engineer: Nina Oswald (since Season 1)

Catharina Felser – When she first read her name on the side of her new WTCC car, Felser was quite moved by that sight. But she definitely deserves this chance. Rumors have it that she impressed the test crew at Hockenheim so much last season that they insisted on Ellen Lohr signing Felser straight away. The Vodafone-AMG-Mercedes-Benz was found at the back of the grid quite regularly last season – something that’s about to change in the not too distant future.
Race Engineer: Markus Röhrich (this season)

Beitske Visser – Rookie of the Year, 4th in the drivers’ standings, 1 win and 2 fastest laps. That is what I call impressive for a newbie. And in comparison to how many times her teammate Claudia Hürtgen got the bad end of the stick, Visser only had three retirements throughout the entire season. All due to engine failures, mind you, not a single one was her fault. One would expect a lot more debris from a rookie. Visser stated that her goal for this season is the championship title, and that is a statement we have to take seriously. If BMW gets their game together, we might actually see the young Dutch woman turn her dream into reality.
Race Engineer: Alexander Stehlig (since Season 1)

Charlotte Berton – Season 1 was not a good year for Berton. The Opel Vectra GTS V8 was a dog of a car, and despite her best efforts to pass as many competitors at the start as possible time and time again, Charlotte finished the season with only one lonely championship point to her name. And she finished it in a car made even worse by a supposed upgrade near the end of the year. The new Opel Vectra GTS V8 Evo is heralded as a huge step in the right direction, and if these rumors are true, Berton is going to be seen snatching points on a much more regular basis.
Race Engineer: Jacques Hendrikse (since Season 1)

Lena Strycek – Last season’s nightmare of a car made her star pale in comparison to most other rookies on the grid, even though her lap times were never too far off. And although she was still at the back of the grid in pre-season testing, it was obvious that she made a huge leap forward in terms of pace, even besting BMW driver Yolana Surer by more than 2 tenths of a second. Lena should also profit from the new Opel Vectra V8 GTS Evo, if the car is as good as rumored, and at least one championship point should be well in range.
Race Engineer: Franco Chiocchetti (since Season 1)

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 26 Sep 2018, 09:44

Melanie Schulz – That was a difficult first season for the talented German. Seemingly outclassed by teammate Jasmin Preisig, struggling for pace all season long. Well, I’m afraid you need glasses, if that was all of the picture you saw. True, Jasmin Preisig delivered quite the show, but Melanie Schulz was never far off, and the second half of the season can’t be counted at all, simply because Schulz was mostly busy developing Opel’s new car. So, if the new Vectra GTS V8 Evo is better than last year’s car (which shouldn’t be that hard), it’s mostly thanks to Melanie Schulz’s efforts.
Race Engineer: Jürgen Jungklaus (since Season 1)

Jasmin Preisig – There could be a bigger winner than champion Rahel Frey, one that might be overlooked with ease. Jasmin Preisig produced results that should have been impossible, given the „quality“ of last year’s Opel. 6th place in the drivers’ championship, 19 points, and 1 fastest lap even! We might see Jasmin fight for podiums or even wins this year, but Melanie Schulz and Charlotte Berton have something to say about that as well. If things go well for the Opel squad, we can expect them fighting tooth and nail for not only points and podiums, but for the #1 status within the team itself.
Race Engineer: James Goodfield (since Season 1)

Susie Stoddart – Vice Champion, 4 wins, 54 championship points. Not bad for someone believed to be the weakest link in the Mercedes-Benz driver line-up. Unfortunately, last season did not only showcase her true potential, but her limitations as well. She fought back mid-season and was almost able to turn things around, but while Rahel Frey still had some resources left and thus got stronger with each round during the final stage of the season, Susie instead began to falter until she inexplicably and completely failed to deliver in the season finale. On a track she had won on before, no less.
Race Engineer: Romy Mayer (since Season 1)

Claudia Hürtgen – We can only imagine her level of frustration with last season’s BMW engine. So many possible good results killed off by technical failures. Hürtgen had just as many engine failures as Pepper, Adams, and Surer, but while those three were hardly ever seen near the points, Hürtgen’s retirements actively hurt the team. The upgraded BMW is rumored to be far more reliable, but in order to guarantee that, the engine department was forced to reduce the engine speed range, which ultimately resulted in a less powerful unit. Let’s see what that amounts to in the end...
Race Engineer: Valentino Conti (since Season 1)

Tasmin Pepper – One race in particular underlined her talent big time: the 7th round on the demanding Nordschleife of the Nürburgring, a track Tasmin Pepper had never raced on before. It was the perfect choice to renew Pepper’s contract for another year. She has proven to be a future points finisher, and this season might see her make the breakthrough. But she has to best fellow youngster Julia Landauer as well, and that might become a rather difficult task, especially if Landauer isn’t the short-term stand-in for Ashley Freiberg many treat her as.
Race Engineer: Florian Rinkes (since Season 1)

Cyndie Allemann – Her true potential is yet untapped, but could already be glanced upon last season. 4 pole positions, all of them tarnished by either a technical failure or the simple fact that Cyndie had to shield teammate Susie Stoddart from Rahel Frey. Depending on how well Susie’s mental wounds from losing the championship have healed over the winter and how strong de facto team leader Michela Cerruti truly is this year, Cyndie could suddenly find herself in the lucky situation of being able to profit from her pole positions for once.
Race Engineer: Anna Stäbe (since Season 1)

Laura Suvanto – Her second season for Opel does not offer many interesting perspectives for the young Finn. The team is most likely going to focus on their lead drivers Berton, Schulz, and Preisig. But if Suvanto gets some more opportunities like last season, she might add some more championship points to the 6 she has already gathered. 3 points at Gardemoen, 1 at Oulton Park, and 2 more at the final round on the Schleizer Dreieck. This is quite the formidable résumé given the material Suvanto had to work with.
Race Engineer: Ossi Oikarinen (since Season 1)

Yolanda Surer – She was truly lucky to have had Lindsey Adams as her teammate, otherwise a lot more people would have noticed how underwhelming Surer’s performance really was. But now Adams has been replaced by Julia Landauer, and unless Yolanda Surer shows some decent results this season, she’s probably next to be shown the door. There are enough suitable replacements already scraping their feet: Ashley Freiberg, Keiko Ihara, and – if rumors are believed to be true – Michela Cerruti.
Race Engineer: Antonio Cuquerella (this season)

Katherine Legge – She definitely had to sell herself short last season. There were only a few spotlights Kathy was able to set. One at the Norisring, her most beloved track on the entire calendar (her own words). And the overall competitiveness of rookie Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky can also be accredited to Kathy’s formidable mentoring. All in all, Legge did a solid job. Period. Audi’s Head of Motorsports Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich sees it the same way. That’s exactly why she is now partnered with Vanina Ickx. These two should form a fearsome duo, capable of storming all the way to the top. The only question is: Will they still like each other after such a stressful season?
Race Engineer: Florian Modlinger (since Season 1)

Vanina Ickx – Just a little ounce of luck, and Vanina Ickx would have produced far better results than she did. Instead, she tried to force her luck and almost took out teammate Rahel Frey twice last season. Both times were absolutely unnecessary and not helpful in any way. Vanina needs to cool down and look at the facts at hand: She drives an Audi – a car capable of winning the championship –, she has much more racing experience than most of her teammates, and unlike last season, now all eyes are on Rahel Frey as the new champion. That should take a lot of pressure off of Vanina and give her ample time to focus on what she’s best at: racing!
Race Engineer: Mathieu le Nail (since Season 1)

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 29 Sep 2018, 09:09

Qualifying

Quite unusual for a self-declared „german“ championship to begin in South Africa, but if the rumors are to be believed, the WTCC won’t be all too „german“ from next season onwards anymore. The series organizers are planning on expanding the amount of different countries to be visited, while at the same time bringing the overall race length up to approximately 95 to 100 kilometres.

Local heroine Tasmin Pepper was visibly excited to showcase her racing skills in front of her home crowd. She was realistic enough to not think of winning here, even though she knew the racetrack like the back of her hand, but she hoped for a points finish at least. She had made noticable progress all year long and tried to learn as much as she could from her more experienced teammates. Not only she herself, but also her team now expected Pepper to make the next step.

Claudia Hürtgen underlined the top form she had already been in during the pre-season tests at Dijon-Prenois. „This season has to be better than last one. We have worked all winter long on our reliability issues, and we have to be up front right from the start, if we want to win the title this year.“

Rahel Frey remained unbeaten in qualifying and took pole position from Cyndie Allemann, who told reporters after the session: „I helped Susie last season wherever I could. She has had a much better start than I had. Maybe this season, I will be the one catching the better start.“

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:21.963
02.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:22.091
03.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    1:22.101
04.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:22.170
05.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              1:22.209
06.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             1:22.395
07.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    1:22.397
08.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             1:22.398
09.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    1:22.422
10.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    1:22.491
11.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             1:22.526
12.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             1:22.534
13.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              1:22.548
14.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             1:22.699
15.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             1:22.700
16.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              1:22.727
17.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             1:22.806
18.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel             1:22.854
19.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             1:22.903
20.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              1:22.987

Race Report

She didn’t – at least not in South Africa. Cyndie was beaten by Rahel Frey right at the start and had to settle for second place after a head-to-head rush into Crowthorne Corner. But Frey was on the inside of that corner and finally got the upper hand when she and Allemann headed for Barbeque Bend.

Opel driver Jasmin Preisig was already in 9th position after a tremendous start, where she outbraked both Mercedes-Benz of Cook and Felser at Crowthorne. Local heroine Tasmin Pepper on the other hand had quite the abysmal start and fell back to 19th position. She eventually retired on lap 20 with a defect oil pump.

Cyndie Allemann’s race prematurely ended on the 4th lap, when the visibly disappointed Mercedes driver retired with massive engine misfires. Teammate Susie Stoddart inherited second place from Allemann, but was already 6.616 seconds behind Rahel Frey, who went on to lead in her dominant fashion to the chequered flag. Susie Stoddart held second place, but was unable to close in on Frey at any point, which turned this whole race into a rather boring event.

The most impressive drive came from rookie Catharina Felser, who managed to work her way up to 6th place through a string of clever overtaking and outbraking maneuvres which clearly underlined her driving skills.

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             177.6 km/h   9 Points
02.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz       7.636     6 Points
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW                10.080     4 Points
04.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW                12.899     3 Points
05.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz      16.493     2 Points
06.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz      19.602     1 Point
07.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel               24.255
08.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi               25.379
09.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz      26.337
10.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel               29.368
11.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi               30.090
12.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW                31.381
13.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi               32.355
14.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel               38.083
15.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi               38.896
16.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel               41.414
17.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW                43.434
18.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel               45.169
DNF)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              Oil Pump
DNF)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    Engine Misfire

FASTEST LAP:

       1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:22.647

Drivers’ Championship

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi              9 Points
02.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz     6 Points
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW               4 Points
04.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW               3 Points
05.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz     2 Points
06.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz     1 Point

Constructors’ Championship

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01.)  Audi                 9 Points
02.)  Mercedes-Benz        9 Points
03.)  BMW                  7 Points
04.)  Opel                 0 Points

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 29 Sep 2018, 09:17

Qualifying

After her quite dominant outing in South Africa two weeks prior, Rahel Frey seemed more than determined to repeat her performance from Kyalami on the Dutch coast. But this time around, her competition had become somewhat stiffer after Melanie Schulz pushed her Opel to second place on the grid and thus gave proof that the developments on the new car were truly successful.

And that is only half the story, because until the 40 minute mark Schulz held on to pole position with ease. Rahel Frey had to make final changes to her setup before she was able to pip Schulz at the post – or pole in this case. „Pole would have been fine, but seeing how well I can hold up, I might be able to fight for a win here“, Schulz later told reporters, who at first snickered at that thought. They clearly remembered Opel’s abysmal performance from last season and didn’t believe for a second that the worst team of Season 1 could have made such a huge improvement over one lonely winter.

24 hours later, they would stop snickering and start believing.

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:28.113
02.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             1:28.161
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:28.178
04.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              1:28.245
05.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:28.259
06.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    1:28.262
07.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    1:28.444
08.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             1:28.446
09.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             1:28.453
10.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    1:28.480
11.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             1:28.484
12.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    1:28.516
13.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              1:28.525
14.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             1:28.543
15.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             1:28.629
16.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             1:28.717
17.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              1:28.718
18.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel             1:28.762
19.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             1:28.801
20.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              1:29.115

Race Report

Already, the Zandvoort race started differently than any other race before it: Melanie Schulz took the lead from Frey, Hürtgen, Allemann and Visser. Vanina Ickx had quite the perfect start as well and passed the Mercedes duo of Stoddart and Cerruti down the straight to Tarzanboocht.

Susie Stoddart had clearly overslept the starting procedure and lost another position to Louise Cook, who overtook her teammate on the inside of the Tarzanboocht. Two corners later, at Scheivlak, Stoddart was also passed by Julia Landauer and thus relegated to 9th position.

Melanie Schulz could not really pull away at the front, but between second-placed Rahel Frey and third-placed Claudia Hürtgen, there was already a gap of almost 2 seconds. Frey also set the fastest lap of the race (1:28.988) on lap 4, but did not try a passing maneuvre on Schulz, because the twisty Zandvoort circuit aided the Opel driver in her attempt to hold on to the lead as long as she could.

Schulz managed to keep Frey at bay on the long finish straight, where the Audi was clearly faster than the Opel, but pulled away slightly in the corners, where the Opel was obviously superior. The distance between Schulz and Frey remained constant at 0.338 seconds, and TV commentators started asking the logical question: How long would Schulz be able to keep up this dance on the razor’s edge?

The hope of Claudia Hürtgen managing to close in on Frey and increase the pressure on the Audi driver remained unfulfilled long into the 10th lap. Hürtgen kept close by, but not close enough to attack Rahel Frey, especially since Hürtgen herself was already entangled in a fierce battle for third position with Cyndie Allemann.

Lap 11 saw Julia Landauer retire with an engine failure, an all too familiar problem that seemed to plague Beitske Visser as well. The first misfires came during lap 15, and on lap 25 Visser retired in the pits, already blowing smoke out of the back of her car. When she retired, she was dead last and one lap down.

Rahel Frey had taken her time to plot her final attack on Melanie Schulz, and it came on the very last lap when both cars headed down the finish straight. Frey closed in, shot out of the Opel’s slipstream and crossed the finish almost side-by-side with Schulz. Unfortunately for Frey, she was still in second place when she crossed the line. Schulz was completely surprised by that attack, as she stated afterwards: „I never thought she would try it. Thank god it didn’t work. I would have been devastated if I had lost the race on the final metres.“

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01.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             169.2 km/h   9 Points
02.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi                0.018     6 Points
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW                 1.029     4 Points
04.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz       2.683     3 Points
05.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi                6.406     2 Points
06.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz       9.635     1 Point
07.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz      10.656
08.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz      12.208
09.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz      14.937
10.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi               18.979
11.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel               21.894
12.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi               22.444
13.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi               22.712
14.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW                23.970
15.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel               25.645
16.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW                27.281
17.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel               29.288
18.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel               31.009
DNF)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              Engine
DNF)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              Engine

FASTEST LAP:

      17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:28.850

Drivers’ Championship

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             15 Points
02.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel              9 Points
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW               8 Points
04.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz     6 Points
05.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW               3 Points
06.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz     3 Points
07.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz     3 Points
08.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi              2 Points
09.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz     1 Point

Constructors’ Championship

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01.)  Audi                17 Points
02.)  Mercedes-Benz       13 Points
03.)  BMW                 11 Points
04.)  Opel                 9 Points

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 02 Oct 2018, 09:46

Qualifying

This time around, two Opel drivers could be found in the top ten on Saturday. Zandvoort winner Melanie Schulz conquered 4th position, and teammate Jasmin Preisig held on to 6th place against a desperate Susie Stoddart, who had to be content with 7th place in the end. „Opel was a joke last year!“, said the Scotswoman. „How is it possible that I have so much trouble beating them in qualifying this season?“

After Rahel Frey held on to pole position for most of the session, she was beaten by Claudia Hürtgen around the 24 minute mark. Hürtgen was quite fond of the Finthen Airfield, especially since she had already conquered pole position a year prior. „Well, last year the race was a dud for me. I hope that this year is going to be much better.“

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01.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:09.399
02.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:09.414
03.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              1:09.526
04.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             1:09.542
05.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:09.543
06.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             1:09.548
07.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    1:09.639
08.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             1:09.667
09.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    1:09.757
10.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    1:09.759
11.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             1:09.770
12.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    1:09.772
13.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              1:09.798
14.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             1:09.878
15.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             1:09.879
16.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             1:09.882
17.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              1:09.890
18.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel             1:09.901
19.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             1:09.943
20.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              1:10.116

Race Report

Claudia Hürtgen completely botched her start and was then struck by bad luck, when she tried to hinder Cyndie Allemann from slipping through. Hürtgen found herself on the green and struggled badly to get back into the race. Beitske Visser, on the other hand, had the start of her life and took the lead from Rahel Frey, who had to back down at the first turn in order to avoid a collision with the BMW.

Susie Stoddart had overslept the start once again and tried to crowbar her way up the ranks. That resulted in a spin, which also took out a few of her competitors as well. Aside from Audi driver Katherine Legge, Stoddart eliminated her own teammates Louise Cook and Catharina Felser and was quite apologetic afterwards.

The new order on lap 3 was: Visser, Frey, Allemann, Hürtgen, Cerruti, and Ickx. The best-placed Opel at that point was Jasmin Preisig in 7th position, after teammate Melanie Schulz spun off on the second lap while holding on to 5th position.

On lap 5, Vanina Ickx passed Michela Cerruti for 5th position. Cerruti could bounce back on lap 7 and relegated Ickx to 6th position again.

Beitske Visser’s engine expired on the penultimate lap of the race, after the BMW driver had led superior since the start. Rahel Frey inherited the lead and the win: „Of course I’m happy, but I’d rather have battled for the lead instead of getting it handed to me on a silver platter.“

Beitske Visser stormed into the BMW motorhome after the race and was not available for interviews.

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             124.8 km/h   9 Points
02.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz       2.736     6 Points
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW                 4.929     4 Points
04.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz      12.999     3 Points
05.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi               14.643     2 Points
06.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel               16.616     1 Point
07.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel               25.435
08.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi               26.666
09.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW                43.121
DNF)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              Engine
DNF)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             Spun off
DNF)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              Accident
DNF)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             Accident
DNF)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             Accident
DNF)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              Engine
DNF)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             Accident
DNF)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    Collision
DNF)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    Collision
DNF)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    Collision
DNF)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             Collision

FASTEST LAP:

      15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:09.832

Drivers’ Championship

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             24 Points
02.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              12 Points
03.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel              9 Points
04.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz     9 Points
05.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz     6 Points
06.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz     6 Points
07.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi              4 Points
08.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW               3 Points
09.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz     1 Point
10.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel              1 Point

Constructors’ Championship

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01.)  Audi                28 Points
02.)  Mercedes-Benz       22 Points
03.)  BMW                 15 Points
04.)  Opel                10 Points

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 03 Oct 2018, 12:35

Qualifying

Two wins and one second place for title defender Rahel Frey, and still no true rival in sight. Claudia Hürtgen, ever the busy points finisher, had so far only gathered half of Frey’s total and seemed to once again lack the car necessary to win races.

Things didn’t seem to be changing at Keimola, with Rahel Frey unbeatable in qualifying yet again. And although Cyndie Allemann was hot on her heels, the Mercedes driver had to be content with 2nd place in the end.

Much more interesting than the qualifying, however, were the behind-the-scenes rumors that had already started: Chevrolet had announced that they wanted to field a works effort in the upcoming Women’s GT Masters Cup, and if these rumors were to be believed, they wanted to sign Melanie Schulz and Jasmin Preisig as two of their factory drivers.

Chevrolet engineers were quite impressed by the hard work both drivers had invested in developing the new Opel WTCC car, and seeing how many reliability issues the new Chevrolet Camaro GT3 showed during unofficial testing at Sebring, both Schulz’s and Preisig’s expertise as relentless development drivers will be desperately needed to get the Camaro race-ready.

But would either Schulz or Preisig trade a potential race winner in the WTCC for a barely race-ready straggler in the GT Masters Cup?

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:20.499
02.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:20.620
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:20.651
04.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    1:20.676
05.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              1:20.683
06.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             1:20.879
07.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             1:20.882
08.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    1:20.924
09.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             1:20.989
10.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             1:21.018
11.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    1:21.019
12.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              1:21.107
13.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    1:21.109
14.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              1:21.161
15.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             1:21.173
16.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             1:21.262
17.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel             1:21.285
18.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             1:21.470
19.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             1:21.694
20.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              1:21.786

Race Report

Cyndie Allemann was able to outpace both Rahel Frey and Claudia Hürtgen right from the start and dove into Eteläkaare as the leader. Vanina Ickx had a brilliant start as well and outbraked third-placed Claudia Hürtgen at the Eteläkaare, taking 3rd place from the BMW driver. Beitske Visser came 5th.

Further down the field, Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky had quite the impressive start herself. At the end of lap 1, she was already up in 9th position, coming from 15th on the grid. Yolanda Surer had had her own quantum leap and now held on to 12th place.

On the second lap, Vanina Ickx passed teammate Rahel Frey for second place. Hürtgen managed to do the same a few laps later and was also able to swiftly pull away from the Audi. Over the course of a single lap, the gap between Hürtgen and Frey grew to almost half a second!

While Hürtgen closed in on Vanina Ickx, Beitske Visser saw her chance to gain a position, attacked Frey and passed by. „For some strange reason, the handling was off“, said Frey after the race. „Maybe the set of tyres I used? It felt like driving in the snow. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t work around it.“

On lap 6, Susie Stoddart had closed in on Rahel Frey in 5th position, who had already fallen behind Visser by almost a second. Frey’s tyres somewhat regained grip around the 8th lap, so much so that Frey was able to gain on Beitske Visser once again and attack the BMW at the Saunalenkki. By that maneuvre, Frey won back 4th position from Visser.

Unimpressed by all that, leader Cyndie Allemann set one personal fastest lap after the other and had already opened up a gap of 4 seconds to Vanina Ickx in second place. But the Swiss Mercedes driver was once again hit by bad luck, when she started to slow down drastically on lap 19. She radioed in engine trouble, which finally put her Mercedes out of commission on lap 20. By then, Allemann had already been relegated to 10th place.

Vanina Ickx inherited the lead, but had to fight tooth and nail not to be passed by the visibly faster Claudia Hürtgen during the final stage of the race. Ickx managed to keep the BMW at bay and take the chequered flag, with Frey completing the podium line-up.

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01.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             145.6 km/h   9 Points
02.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW                 1.010     6 Points
03.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi                2.256     4 Points
04.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW                 2.917     3 Points
05.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz       3.269     2 Points
06.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz       5.753     1 Point
07.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi               15.690
08.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel               18.376
09.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW                19.388
10.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel               23.067
11.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW                33.345
12.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz      33.451
13.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi               39.610
14.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel               39.746
15.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW                41.886
16.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz      43.618
17.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel               45.717
18.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel               46.982
DNF)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    Engine
DNF)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             Valve

FASTEST LAP:

      17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:21.101

Drivers’ Championship

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             28 Points
02.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              18 Points
03.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             13 Points
04.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel              9 Points
05.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz     9 Points
06.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz     8 Points
07.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz     7 Points
08.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW               6 Points
09.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz     1 Point
10.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel              1 Point

Constructors’ Championship

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01.)  Audi                41 Points
02.)  Mercedes-Benz       25 Points
03.)  BMW                 24 Points
04.)  Opel                10 Points

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 09 Oct 2018, 09:49

Qualifying

Despite her recent setback, Cyndie Allemann was not one to give up so easily. „Kinda reminds me of my mid-season desaster last year. I was also robbed of quite a few wins back then“, she told reporters shortly after arriving at Nürnberg. „When I finally got out of that predicament, I was stronger than ever before, even though I had to back down a few times in favour of Susie’s title chances.“

Katherine Legge wrote another love letter to the Norisring by setting the third-fastest time around the 30 minute mark. She had high hopes for another points finish on the twisty and rather demanding track: „I won my first championship point here last year. Maybe I’ll be in for some more tomorrow.“

Legge was relegated to 6th position during the dying minutes of the qualifying, but was still in a very good mood. Not so much Rahel Frey, who got beaten by Susie Stoddart at the very last minute. Beitske Visser managed to conquer 5th place on the grid: „I could’ve won last year, if my engine hadn’t given up prematurely. Who knows? Perhaps it’ll work out for me this year.“

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01.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz      53.343
02.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi               53.500
03.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz      53.716
04.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi               53.729
05.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW                53.768
06.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi               53.777
07.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz      53.904
08.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW                53.999
09.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz      54.040
10.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi               54.051
11.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel               54.113
12.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi               54.162
13.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW                54.177
14.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel               54.208
15.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel               54.282
16.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW                54.295
17.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel               54.333
18.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel               54.396
19.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz      54.429
20.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW                54.569

Race Report

Susie Stoddart shot in the lead as soon as the lights went out. Rahel Frey tried to stop Cyndie Allemann from passing by, but to no avail. Cyndie was already on the inside and thus had the upper hand going into the infamous Bilsteinkehre. Through a spin, Stoddart lost the lead to teammate Allemann, and re-entered the race in 4th position after a well-done 180. Vanina Ickx and Katherine Legge held on to positions 2 and 3 respectively.

Stoddart retired on lap 6 after crashing into the barriers. „Something broke, the car suddenly became uncontrollable“, a visibly shaken Susie said after the race.

On lap 7, Rahel Frey had an encounter of the third kind, when Beitske Visser suddenly shot past her at tremendous speed in the Bilsteinkehre. „I wasn’t prepared for an attack. I don’t know what Beitske saw, but it was definitely no gap, ’cause there was none.“ Visser crashed into Frey and took both out of the race. While the BMW had to retire on the spot with a broken suspension, Frey was able to get her damaged Audi back up to speed and re-enter the race in 7th position.

Frey passed Julia Landauer on lap 14 and was already back in the points. Claudia Hürtgen had passed Katherine Legge in the meantime and started chasing after the leading duo of Allemann and Ickx, who were already entangled in a fierce battle for the lead. Allemann made a mistake at the Bilsteinkehre on lap 19, which almost resulted in her crashing into the barriers. This unwanted detour left Allemann down in 8th position.

On lap 21, Allemann overtook Julia Landauer for 7th position and immediately closed in on Laura Suvanto in 6th place. The order at that point was: Ickx, Hürtgen, Legge, de Villota, Frey, Suvanto, Allemann. Cyndie was held off by the slower Opel of Suvanto, which not only gave Julia Landauer a chance to close in on the two, but also made the rookie from America believe she could pass two competitors in one clean swipe. It was a risky and far too overconfident maneuvre, which ultimately led to Landauer losing control of her BMW at the Dutzendteichkurve and crashing into Allemann. „She should learn how to drive first before trying something so stupid!“, Cyndie fumed after the collision had left both her and Landauer stranded.

On lap 26, Claudia Hürtgen attacked Vanina Ickx at the Bilsteinkehre and took the lead. Legge immediately began pressuring teammate Ickx, but hesitated to risk an overtaking maneuvre. „I just wanted Vanina to stay close to the BMW“, Legge stated. Rahel Frey had outbraked Maria de Villota in the meantime and was now in 4th position, but already more than 15 seconds behind Katherine Legge in 3rd.

Louise Cook passed Maria de Villota on lap 31 after she had already done the same with Laura Suvanto a few laps prior. At the front, both Ickx and Legge went past Claudia Hürtgen at the Bilsteinkehre. But due to Legge being on the inside of the hairpin, she even outsmarted her own teammate and took the lead, with Ickx second and Hürtgen a close third.

Maria de Villota retired on lap 37 with suspension damage and was furious about the loss of 6th place and the much-desired championship point that would have come with it. „Points are hard to come by“, the Spaniard stated. „And that one had my name on it!“

On lap 39, the final lap of this round, the gap between the leading Audi duo and Claudia Hürtgen in third place was already 5 seconds, but the battle for the lead was still on. Vanina Ickx was not content with second place after she had led the race for such a long time and kept pressuring teammate Katherine Legge relentlessly. Then she made her final passing attempt at the Bilsteinkehre and took the lead from Legge.

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01.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             149.6 km/h   9 Points
02.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi                0.248     6 Points
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW                 5.854     4 Points
04.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi               16.222     3 Points
05.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz      19.284     2 Points
06.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel               43.131     1 Point
07.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel               51.029
08.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             -1 Lap
09.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             -3 Laps
DNF)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             Suspension
DNF)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    Collision
DNF)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              Collision
DNF)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    Accident
DNF)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    Accident
DNF)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             Suspension
DNF)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              Collision
DNF)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             Accident
DNF)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              Accident
DNF)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              Accident
DNF)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    Accident

FASTEST LAP:

      20  Katherine Legge              Audi               54.336

Drivers’ Championship

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             31 Points
02.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             22 Points
03.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              22 Points
04.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel              9 Points
05.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz     9 Points
06.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz     8 Points
07.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz     7 Points
08.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi              6 Points
09.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW               6 Points
10.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz     2 Points
11.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz     1 Point
12.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel              1 Point
13.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel              1 Point

Constructors’ Championship

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01.)  Audi                59 Points
02.)  BMW                 28 Points
03.)  Mercedes-Benz       27 Points
04.)  Opel                11 Points

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 14 Oct 2018, 09:21

Qualifying

The motoring press still longed for a title contender other than Rahel Frey, who had driven in her very own league up to this point, it seemed. Many fans feared that the Swiss Audi driver would cruise to the title unopposed – a not too unrealistic fear, considering Frey’s current standing in the drivers’ championship. The only other two drivers likely to pose any kind of threat at this moment were Claudia Hürtgen and Vanina Ickx.

And Claudia Hürtgen underpinned her title aspirations by securing another pole position at Oulton Park. Vanina Ickx, on the other hand, got the really bad end of the stick. Beitske Visser had passed the Opel of Lena Strycek on the finish straight, but seemingly overlooked Vanina Ickx, who just came out of the pitlane. Visser collided with Ickx and also took out Strycek in the process.

Though all three ladies escaped their wrecked cars unharmed, none of them was able to set a valid lap time on that day. The track was also jammed due to the collision, and it took the track marshals over half an hour to remove the wrecks and the debris.

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01.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              1:34.999
02.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             1:35.273
03.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:35.411
04.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    1:35.690
05.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    1:35.796
06.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi             1:35.877
07.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz    1:36.215
08.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz    1:36.384
09.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW              1:36.424
10.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              1:36.442
11.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel             1:36.537
12.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel             1:36.559
13.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi             1:36.560
14.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel             1:36.603
15.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi             1:36.713
16.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel             1:36.945
17.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW              1:37.367
18.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW              -:--.---
19.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             -:--.---
20.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel             -:--.---

Race Report

Rahel Frey won the start, while Cyndie Allemann took second place from Hürtgen. Michela Cerruti came 4th, Susie Stoddart 5th, and Louise Cook 6th. Tasmin Pepper had an abysmal start and was down to 12th position. Beitske Visser had already conquered 14th position at the start, while Vanina Ickx got stuck in traffic and could only pass Strycek and Surer for the moment.

Michela Cerruti overtook Claudia Hürtgen at Knickerbrook and took third position from the BMW driver, right behind Frey and Allemann. Beitske Visser continued her impressive hunt further down the grid and passed Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky at Druids Corner.

On lap 2, Susie Stoddart passed Claudia Hürtgen for 4th position. Tasmin Pepper had won back 11th place from Jasmin Preisig in the meantime. Vanina Ickx overtook Laura Suvanto on lap 6 and was now in 16th position. By that point, Beitske Visser’s foray had also come to an unexpected and quite abrupt halt, as the Dutch woman found herself unable to pass Jasmin Preisig, while also coming under pressure from a visibly faster Vanina Ickx, who suddenly appeared in the BMW’s rear mirrors.

Ickx had passed teammate Åhlin-Kottulinsky earlier and attacked Beitske Visser on lap 9, going past on the finish straight. On lap 10, Ickx went past Jasmin Preisig at the Island Bend and took 13th place from the Opel driver.

At the front, Catharina Felser passed Claudia Hürtgen on lap 11 and took 6th position. On lap 12, Julia Landauer’s engine began to give out, which forced the young American to steer into the pits, where she retired soon after. On lap 13, Vanina Ickx went past Melanie Schulz at Knickerbrook and took 11th place. Her next victim was teammate Maria de Villota, who saw Vanina Ickx appear in her rear mirrors the very next lap.

Meanwhile, Katherine Legge had closed in on Claudia Hürtgen and was looking for a suitable corner to try an overtaking maneuvre in order to win 6th place from the BMW driver. On lap 17, Vanina Ickx’s nose was already up de Villota’s exhaust pipes, but even if she could pass her teammate before the chequered flag, she would still go unrewarded for her truly impressive drive. But de Villota was quite in the mood to fight for her position and drove a blocking line, which enabled her to keep Vanina Ickx at bay. „I can totally understand where Maria is coming from. We don’t have a team order at Audi, so there was absolutely no reason for her to let me pass. It’s not like we were fighting for points anyway.“

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             164.7 km/h   9 Points
02.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz       2.793     6 Points
03.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz       8.476     4 Points
04.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz      11.535     3 Points
05.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz      14.469     2 Points
06.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW                17.202     1 Point
07.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi               18.598
08.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz      26.037
09.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW                30.111
10.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi               35.640
11.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi               35.939
12.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel               40.525
13.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW                43.044
14.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel               43.434
15.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi               44.576
16.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel               50.268
17.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel               51.449
18.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW                52.626
19.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel               55.925
DNF)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW              Engine

FASTEST LAP:

      17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    1:36.526

Drivers’ Championship

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi             40 Points
02.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW              23 Points
03.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi             22 Points
04.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes-Benz    15 Points
05.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes-Benz    11 Points
06.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes-Benz    11 Points
07.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel              9 Points
08.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi              6 Points
09.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW               6 Points
10.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes-Benz     3 Points
11.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes-Benz     2 Points
12.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel              1 Point
13.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel              1 Point

Constructors’ Championship

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01.)  Audi                68 Points
02.)  Mercedes-Benz       42 Points
03.)  BMW                 29 Points
04.)  Opel                11 Points

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 16 Oct 2018, 09:17

Welcome to the WTCC

Since I’m assuming that those of you who would like to join have done some research on this series beforehand, let’s move on right to your new job description:

You are brought on board your preferred works team as Team Manager, responsible for: Quality control and upgrades (cars), for which you will get a season’s budget / driver contracts / sponsorship contracts / and team strategy. While you will have to answer to your higher-up, the motorsports director of your preferred brand, you will also have more than enough free choice to make important decisions without too many interferences from your employer – especially when you’re doing a good job!

Some decisions are out of your control, but you shouldn’t worry about those, because they’re usually for the benefit of the campaign. This series also does not incorporate too many aspects of traditional pen-and-paper RPG, because that would complicate things unnecessarily.

Since this season has reached its mid-season break point already, just treat the remaining 6 rounds as an extended test session for your management skills.

Before we can start, I’d like everyone who’s keen to join fill out the following form:

Player: (your forum name)
Fictional Alias: (your character’s name and gender)
Brand Preference: (Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Opel)
* Team Name: (fictional team name, no sponsor names)
* Driver Preferences: (which of the current drivers you’d like to have in your team)

*: These last two points are only here for the possibility that more than 4 players want to join. As I was unable to estimate the general interest for the WTCC from the comments I’ve received so far, I wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

Should only 4 players want to join in total, the last two points become obsolete. Each player will then be in charge of the entire works team of his/her preferred brand.

You can bring over your fictional character from the Women’s GT Masters, if you like to. Once that series has gotten back on track, we can still figure out a good way to make this all fit into the narrative. I’m very grateful to those willing to stick with me, so it’s highly possible that you will get overarching benefits from your WTCC experience once the Women’s GT Masters is alive and kicking again.

Our deadline for this is the 31st of October!

RedEyes504 · Post by **RedEyes504** » 26 Oct 2018, 09:16

Player: RedEyes504
Fictional Alias: Vitaly Stepanenko, male
Brand Preference: Mercedes-Benz
* Team Name: Stepanenko Racing Systems
* Driver Preferences: 1) Stoddart 2) Cook 3) Allemann 4) Cerruti 5) Felser

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 29 Oct 2018, 06:33

Player: AustralianStig
Fictional Alias: Steffi Schmidt, female
Brand Preference: Audi
* Team Name: Dark Saturn Racing Team
* Driver Preferences: TBD (Will post these once confirmed if we are running a new or existing team)

Alexandra · Post by **Alexandra** » 11 May 2021, 09:30

The Future of the WTCC

Long time no see, I know. Let’s just say I had to force a few things in my life back in order, which took me a lot longer than I had anticipated. But now everything is as good as it can be and I feel ready to continue where I have left off.

Or almost, as I don’t feel ready to manage another series just yet. That’s a privilege I have to earn again after the untimely demise of the Women’s GT Masters in 2018. But right now is definitely not the time to attempt that. Thus I’m revoking any team entry for the WTCC until further notice. I’d really love to continue this series the way I had originally intended to. But if you enjoy what you’ve read so far, you’re more than welcome to leave a comment anytime you like! I’d be happy to hear what you have to say about this project.

I had already worked on most of the remaining rounds in late 2018. I’m sure, after some minor adjustments here and there regarding the overall continuity I had tried to establish back then, I can easily continue bringing you the same quality of race reports as before, maybe even a wee bit better. And who knows? By the time I feel ready to take on the mantle of series manager once again, I hopefully have enough WTCC material posted to act as a slightly different in-game continuity than the one I had in mind back in 2018.

While I’m most certainly not going to continue the latest edition of the Women’s GT Junior Cup after its inaugural season, the WTCC has really grown on me – not just because it’s my first series posted on this forum to ever get a second season! And I don’t suppose that I’m obligated in any sort or form to be the „Women’s GT Girl“ for all eternity.

As you might remember from my 2018 Women’s GT Junior Cup, I had also made a transition from one image hosting site to another. The one I had used for the WTCC until now can’t link the full view of my headers to our forum, only giving us this weird 640xSomething resize. The new one, however, is capable of giving us the full view, so I’ll switch to that from now on.

I’ve also slightly redesigned all of the old headers, so a bit of everything has changed, I guess. That should be all bts stuff for now, everything else will unfold before your very own eyes, as the WTCC continues its second season, heading towards a hopefully brighter future than some of my other projects on here have done.

I hope you find this little passion project worthy of your time once more. And if I manage to stay on this forum longer than just a few months at a time, things should finally come together more smoothly without demanding an almost three year wait just for me to get from point A to point B.

Oh yes, about my posting schedule: There isn’t any. I had really stressed myself out in the past trying to post as much material in as short a time as possible. No need to repeat that mistake. I want to give each and every race report my all, I want to have fun with this project and I want to give my readers something worth their time, something to get invested in, something to last longer than just one or two seasons.

With all that being said, here’s to more in the not-too-distant future!

Sincerely yours,

The Artist Formerly Known As Turbogirl.

Alexandra · Post by **Alexandra** » 15 May 2021, 13:23

Qualifying

With another victory at Oulton Park, Rahel Frey had already amassed a total of 40 championship points, while her closest rivals (Hürtgen and Ickx) were too far behind to be even considered a real threat at this point. And this year’s seventh round also promised nothing new on the western front. Rahel Frey secured pole position ahead of Cyndie Allemann and Susie Stoddart.

Vanina Ickx managed to get into the Top 5, but was sandwiched between Michela Cerruti and Melanie Schulz, who were also keen on grabbing a podium on raceday. Local heroine Maria de Villota, who was about to drive her final home race for Audi in the WTCC, struggled for a suitable setup and ultimately had to be content with 17th.

Opel had presented their latest version of the Vectra V8 GTS a week before the race. „With this upgraded model, Opel is going to become even more competitive in the near future“, the journalists were told. The new Vectra V8 GTS was heralded as having massively improved aerodynamics, overall pace and handling capabilities.

One could understand the surprise on everyone’s faces when none of that was visible during qualifying. Melanie Schulz conquered 7th place from Katherine Legge and Beitske Visser. And while Jasmin Preisig wasn’t too far behind, the rest of the Opel squad was still found in the lower midfield or even, in Lena Strycek’s case, holding up the red lantern. Another overhyped upgrade that couldn’t deliver what it had promised?

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01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi A4 WTCC            1:34.959
02.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    1:35.041
03.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    1:35.113
04.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW M3 WTCC             1:35.130
05.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    1:35.154
06.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi A4 WTCC            1:35.168
07.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel Vectra V8 GTS      1:35.227
08.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi A4 WTCC            1:35.355
09.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW M3 WTCC             1:35.369
10.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel Vectra V8 GTS      1:35.424
11.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    1:35.462
12.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW M3 WTCC             1:35.588
13.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    1:35.675
14.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel Vectra V8 GTS      1:35.679
15.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel Vectra V8 GTS      1:35.703
16.)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW M3 WTCC             1:35.732
17.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi A4 WTCC            1:35.734
18.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi A4 WTCC            1:35.818
19.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW M3 WTCC             1:35.900
20.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel Vectra V8 GTS      1:36.059

Race Report

Susie Stoddart won the start ahead of Rahel Frey and Cyndie Allemann. Michela Cerruti managed to take 4th position from Claudia Hürtgen, while a brilliantly started Katherine Legge took 5th place. Claudia Hürtgen completed the point ranks in 6th position.

Due to a detour through the green, Claudia Hürtgen fell back to 11th place, while at the front Cyndie Allemann passed Rahel Frey for second. Katherine Legge then outbraked Michela Cerruti and took 4th place right behind teammate Frey.

Tasmin Pepper retired on lap 3 after an accident. At this point in the race, Jasmin Preisig was clearly the fastest car on the grid, which didn’t matter yet, because she was still only in 8th place. All eyes were on Cyndie Allemann, who already increased the pressure on the leading Stoddart.

Vanina Ickx suffered a broken valve on lap 6 and was forced to retire from 6th position, which was then inherited by Melanie Schulz. Jasmin Preisig had passed Catharina Felser a lap before and was now in 7th place, slowly closing in on Schulz. It became obvious, that the new upgrades Opel had brought to Jarama were indeed a huge leap forward in terms of overall pace and handling.

Melanie Schulz overtook Michela Cerruti on lap 7, taking 5th place in the process. Cerruti started driving a blocking line immediately after that, because Jasmin Preisig was already closing in fast and would start attacking the Mercedes driver for positions on lap 8. Charlotte Berton had won 11th place from Julia Landauer in the meantime and was then closing the gap to Claudia Hürtgen steadily.

Preisig missed her braking point during an overtaking maneuvre on Cerruti in front of her on the 9th lap and was forced to leave the racing line, just to avoid a detour through the gravel, which enabled Catharina Felser to win back her original position from the Opel driver.

On lap 12, Melanie Schulz passed Katherine Legge for 4th position and managed to reduce the gap to third-placed Rahel Frey from almost 5 seconds to a mere second in only 4 more laps. Schulz overtook Frey down the finish straight on lap 17 and started gaining on the Mercedes duo of Stoddart and Allemann immediately after that. Schulz even set the fastest lap of the race at that point.

In the meantime, Lena Strycek was struggling with a dying engine. She was over 1 minute behind the leading Stoddart and still 25 seconds behind Yolanda Surer in 19th position.

Catharina Felser retired on lap 22 due to suspension damage. Jasmin Preisig inherited 7th place in the process and managed to gain on Michela Cerruti once more. The very same lap, Lena Strycek unintentionally became the center of criticism when she found herself unable to move out of Cyndie Allemann’s way in time to be lapped. Thus she unintentionally blocked the faster Mercedes in the slow Pegio, which enabled Melanie Schulz to close in on the two and pass them both on the outside of the adjacent Monza corner. „I never wanted to cause that kind of trouble“, Strycek later said. „But what was I supposed to do? Vanish into thin air?“

Rahel Frey suffered a flat tyre on lap 23 and thus spun off into the gravel, whilst Susie Stoddart was having engine misfires, which ultimately led to her retirement a mere lap later. The order at the front was: Schulz, Allemann, Legge, Preisig, Cerruti, Hürtgen.

The final overtaking maneuvre of this race was performed by Jasmin Preisig on lap 25, when she passed Katherine Legge for 3rd position. Thus the seventh round of this season ended with another victory for Melanie Schulz, who had been unable to score any more championship points ever since her maiden win at Zandvoort. „It’s an amazing feeling to finally be able to fight for wins again“, Schulz said at the press conference. „The second half of this season ought to be a promising one for the team.“

Code: Select all

01.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel Vectra V8 GTS      127.7 km/h   9 Points
02.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes AMG C-Coupé       8.628     6 Points
03.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel Vectra V8 GTS        15.404     4 Points
04.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi A4 WTCC              20.628     3 Points
05.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes AMG C-Coupé      21.401     2 Points
06.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes AMG C-Coupé      24.555     1 Point
07.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW M3 WTCC               28.662
08.)   9  Charlotte Berton             Opel Vectra V8 GTS        30.947
09.)   2  Julia Landauer               BMW M3 WTCC               33.059
10.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel Vectra V8 GTS        35.198
11.)   6  Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky    Audi A4 WTCC              36.876
12.)   5  Maria de Villota             Audi A4 WTCC              39.848
13.)  19  Yolanda Surer                BMW M3 WTCC               41.421
14.)  10  Lena Strycek                 Opel Vectra V8 GTS      -1 Lap
DNF)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    Ignition
DNF)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW M3 WTCC             Accident
DNF)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi A4 WTCC            Tyre Damage
DNF)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    Suspension
DNF)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi A4 WTCC            Valve
DNF)  16  Tasmin Pepper                BMW M3 WTCC             Accident

FASTEST LAP:

      11  Melanie Schulz               Opel Vectra V8 GTS      1:34.496

Drivers’ Championship

Code: Select all

01.)   1  Rahel Frey                   Audi A4 WTCC            40 Points
02.)  15  Claudia Hürtgen              BMW M3 WTCC             23 Points
03.)  21  Vanina Ickx                  Audi A4 WTCC            22 Points
04.)  17  Cyndie Allemann              Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    21 Points
05.)  11  Melanie Schulz               Opel Vectra V8 GTS      18 Points
06.)   3  Michela Cerruti              Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    13 Points
07.)  14  Susie Stoddart               Mercedes AMG C-Coupé    11 Points
08.)  20  Katherine Legge              Audi A4 WTCC             9 Points
09.)   8  Beitske Visser               BMW M3 WTCC              6 Points
10.)  12  Jasmin Preisig               Opel Vectra V8 GTS       5 Points
11.)   7  Catharina Felser             Mercedes AMG C-Coupé     3 Points
12.)   4  Louise Cook                  Mercedes AMG C-Coupé     3 Points
13.)  18  Laura Suvanto                Opel Vectra V8 GTS       1 Point

Constructors’ Championship

Code: Select all

01.)  Audi                71 Points
02.)  Mercedes-Benz       51 Points
03.)  BMW                 29 Points
04.)  Opel                24 Points

Alexandra · Post by **Alexandra** » 16 May 2021, 10:22

This summer break started off with very good and very interesting news on the constructors’ front: After just having announced that the WTCC will go global from Season 3 onwards, literally turning it from just a Women’s Touring Car Championship to an outright World Touring Car Championship (for women), the series organizers have already received two new entries for Season 4.

Volvo and Toyota are about to start development on new touring cars in line with the Class-1-Rules used by the WTCC since Season 1. Both constructors will need an entire season to build, test and develop their new flagship silhouette cars, which leaves the WTCC with the four already established constructors for another year.

And what a busy year it is going to be, seeing as the race calendar has grown from 12 to 16 rounds over the course of only two seasons. Now that it has become a World Championship, the WTCC will visit racetracks all over the globe. Rounds in Argentina, Mexico, USA and Australia have already been confirmed.

Many of the younger and more inexperienced drivers will have to learn a huge amount of new racetracks in just a few months tops. Speaking of drivers: Some interesting news on that front have already become public. Maria de Villota is no longer part of the Audi squad after this season. Rumors have it, she has received an offer from a Formula 1 team and has been more than eager to take the opportunity. (OOC: I think it’s time to let those who have already left us rest in peace. Adiós, Maria, you will forever be missed.) Suitable replacements for her could be Gosia Rdest or Fabienne Wohlwend, both currently part of Audi’s young driver program.

We’ll see no changes on the driver front at Mercedes-Benz, but instead on the management front, as Ellen Lohr will not renew her contract as Team Manager and wants to shift her focus to oldtimer rallyes instead. A more than fitting successor has already been found: After stepping down from her role at Williams Grand Prix due to a change of ownership, Claire Williams was immediately signed as the new Team Manager for Mercedes’ foray into the third WTCC season.

Claire is taking over a powerhouse of a team and a car capable of winning races and even the constructors’ championship, as has been proven in Season 1. There has been an upgraded version announced for Season 3, which should make an even bigger impact than the current one. And since the Mercedes driver squad will stay consistent this time around, Cyndie Allemann, Louise Cook, Catharina Felser and especially Susie Stoddart will be able to focus entirely on winning the drivers’ title next year.

Speaking of Susie: Where are the Everly Brothers, when you need them? There is a certain Scotswoman who could use a good „wake up, little Susie, wake up“. It seems as if Season 1 has taken quite the toll on Susie Stoddart, who hasn’t produced a single podium finish since the season opener at Kyalami. Ever since then, her best and (so far) only results have been a disappointing 5th at Keimola and an underwhelming 4th at Oulton Park. She also had two DNF’s, certainly, but one of them, the retirement at Mainz-Finthen, has been due to her own fault, the result of her abysmal start – something she already had trouble with at Zandvoort, which ended in her not managing to finish in the points at all.

Claire Williams is on the search for a #1 driver, Susie! If you’d like to endear yourself to her, you’ll need a few more recent results to back it up. Those from last year have begun to pale in comparison to what you’re currently producing. And although her race results so far were tarnished by a lot of technical failures and one collision caused by Julia Landauer, your teammate Cyndie Allemann appears to be the superior driver in your team at this very moment.

The Audi management is also currently undergoing some major changes, as Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich is ready to retire for good and will undoubtedly leave a huge gap to fill. The higher-ups at Audi Motorsport are still on the hunt for a successor. Meanwhile, all drivers but Maria de Villota have been retained for another season. So far, none of them has really failed to deliver, thus the management saw no reason to cut anyone loose prematurely.

Opel has already confirmed both Schulz and Preisig for another year, and no one truly doubts Charlotte Berton is going away anytime soon, even though she might still not be as reliable of a points finisher as many had hoped. Laura Suvanto has already added another championship point to her account, which should underline her potential as well. So far, only Lena Strycek hasn’t delivered at all. But Team Manager Rena Blome assures us that „we know fully well what we can expect from Lena. She has proven to be a race winner. All she lacks is experience. She simply needs more time.“

Which brings us swiftly to BMW and the unforseeable amount of time their current car will need in order to transform into the race winner everyone thought it would be. Management has already confirmed Beitske Visser and Claudia Hürtgen for another season, but that’s all we know for certain. Landauer, Pepper and Surer are still in negotiations at this point, and none of them has shown a stellar performance yet. The waiting list for a WTCC cockpit at BMW is long: Ashley Freiberg, Aurora Straus, Francesca Linossi, Samantha Tan, rumors even mention Simona de Silvestro! But what good would all this raw driving talent really do, as long as the car is this unreliable and undoubtedly incapable of winning races on its own? There’s a lot to be done over the winter break, and everyone at BMW knows it.

One final note before we take our well-deserved mid-season break: The contract with Dijon-Prenois has not been renewed. Instead, the Mainz-Finthen Airfield will host the pre-season tests from next season onwards, as it is no longer part of the official season calendar.

Many things are about to change in the near future, so please stay tuned for the second half of Season 2 and the ongoing search for a worthy adversary to current championship leader Rahel Frey.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 17 May 2021, 16:59

2018 was several years ago now, but there are several events that happened that year that are still very vivid in my memory. A year that will be hard to forget.

I will have to reread this thread to bring this back to the forefront of my memory. I remember enjoying this thread, I just need to bring it into focus and remember the details. An opportunity to enjoy it for a second time!

Alexandra · Post by **Alexandra** » 17 May 2021, 18:44

dr-baker wrote:2018 was several years ago now, but there are several events that happened that year that are still very vivid in my memory. A year that will be hard to forget.

I will have to reread this thread to bring this back to the forefront of my memory. I remember enjoying this thread, I just need to bring it into focus and remember the details. An opportunity to enjoy it for a second time!

I'm so happy you still enjoy reading this!

Please don't push yourself on catching up, you'll have more than enough time to do so, as I'm not planning on posting more than one round each week, maybe even less, now that I'm also finishing the Women's GT Junior Cup season (out of obligation, but hey, at least I'm doing it).

When that's finally done, I will put the Women's GT to rest (for now) to focus solely on the WTCC, and I'm already pretty hyped where this series might lead us...

Grand Prix Rejects

WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2

WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2

WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Pre-Season Tests

WTCC - Official Season 2 Preview (Part 1)

WTCC - Official Season 2 Preview (Part 2)

WTCC - Round 01 - Kyalami

WTCC - Round 02 - Zandvoort

WTCC - Round 03 - Mainz-Finthen

WTCC - Round 04 - Keimola

WTCC - Round 5 - Norisring

WTCC - Round 6 - Oulton Park

WTCC - Player Instructions (Part 1)

Re: WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2

Re: WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2

Re: WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2

WTCC - Round 7 - Jarama

WTCC - Season 2 - Mid-Season Break

Re: WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2

Re: WTCC - Women's Touring Car Championship - Season 2