ETCC cars set to vacate the circuit during the last part of qualifying

The European Touring Car Cup cars are going to skip the last 30 minutes of the combined WTCC and ETCC qualifying session this afternoon at the Nürburgring as part of a gentleman’s agreement due to concerns over the speed differential between the WTCC’s TC1 and the ETCC’s second tier Super 1600 class cars.

The usual three-part qualifying format has been dropped this weekend due to the unusual nature of the Nürburgring Nordschleife in favour of an extended 60-minute session, and with the ETCC field combined with the WTCC’s this weekend for the first time, the organisers recognised the potential for trouble in qualifying and have arranged an agreement between the ETCC and WTCC teams.

WTCC general consultant Eric Neve confirmed to TouringCarTimes that the FIA realised that even though a high speed differential was commonplace in sportscar racing at the Nordschleife, the WTCC drivers have much less time to overcome a disadvantaged grid position. It was also unfair to the S1600 class drivers, who would be forced to maintain focus on closing traffic throughout qualifying in order to not hold up the WTCC drivers, with the best laps of a S1600 car some two minutes slower than the ultimate lap seen from Citroën’s Yvan Muller so far this weekend.

As a result, in the 60-minute session, the WTCC drivers will head out first to set their banker laps with the ETCC cars released behind them, before the WTCC cars return to the pit lane and prepare for the final 30 minutes on the track alone while the ETCC cars continue around until the halfway mark.

However, the agreement doesn’t stand should inclement weather impact qualifying.