TouringCarTimes rankings 2.0

Welcome to the second TouringCarTimes rankings! Lists and rankings are popular and we decided to introduce our own list. We rank the two most impressive drivers and/or teams and the most unimpressive driver/team.

–DTM–

– Tom Kristensen

He scored Audi’s first win at Oschersleben and is in the lead of the championship. Kristensen made everything right during the last race. At first it looked like he was going to suffer from Mercedes tactics, but a quick and smart change in his strategy secured his win. Roles have changed wihthin Audi, now it looks like Ekström will have to assist Kristensen for the title race this year.

– Alexandros Margaritis

Yes, he is still in the list! Margaritis continued to impress at Oschersleben. The Greek was in for a podium finish when he was forced to retire. As Margaritis put it him self – “This was the race of my life!” Keep it up Margaritis, the results will come!

– Fishy tactics

Audi used it at Eurospeedway and Mercedes used it at Oschersleben. The strategy is to put one of the teams slower drivers out on a longer pitstop strategy to hinder the leading man of the rival team. It is within the rules and it is up to every driver on track to get past. But still, don’t we want to see drivers winning because they are fastest, not because they had the best team mates blocking their rivals?

–WTCC–

– Yvan Müller

We had doubts on Yvan after the race at Magny-Cours. But after Brands Hatch they are long gone. Despite carrying 45 kilos of penalty weight the Frenchman won the first race with three of his team mates breathing down his neck during the entire race. Fifth place in the second race put him comfortably in the lead of the championship. Consistent results is the key to winning this championship!

– Alain Menu

Alain couldn’t hold his tears back after his win in the second race at Brands Hatch, and we understand him. This very talentful driver has been fighting hard in this new team. Finally the results are starting to come with third place at Monza and this win. Yes, there is still some work to be done with the car and they have some advantages from FIA, but they are not far behind the pace of SEAT and BMW.

– Alfa Romeo

The strategy seems strange from the Italian manufacturer. They didn’t want to compete with the 156 this year, but they left the same team running the same cars from 2005 without any development. SEAT, BMW and even Chevrolet have run away from them now. Their best result at Brands was seventh in the second race. It looks like we will see them officially next year, but what good does this year give Alfa Romeo?

—STCC–

– Robert Dahlgren

From bottom to top! We ranked the Volvo team with a after their dreadful performance Knutstorp. But after Gelleråsen it is the other way around. Dahlgren took pole, the team made a lightning quick pitstop which secured the win. The other teams fumbled their chances away while this team showed how to do it.

– David Björk

The newcomer remains on the list! Despite being only 22 years old and doing his first year in STCC, the results keep coming. He finished sixth at Knutstorp and repeated the result at Gelleråsen. Currently Björk is sixth in the championship and best BMW-driver overall! He is ahead of names like Rudholm, Göransson, Huisman and many more. Impressive to say the least!

– The pitstops for a number of teams

It was alot of talk before the season start about the pitstops, that they were going to be the key to success this year. But a couple of teams seem to have missed that.

Rudholms team managed to fumble away Rudholms chances to victory after missing to remove one of the pitstop indicators on his window, Ekblom ran over pitstop equipment which resulted in a drive-through, Göransson spun on the way in to the pits, Sandström drove over the white line after his team took ages to change his tyres, and the list goes on. No races will be won if the pitstops aren’t top notch!