2008 ETC Cup Entry List released
The entry list for the FIA European Touring Car Cup 2008 at Salzburgring, Austria, has been released. 33 cars and drivers from 15 different countries are on the list. 10 different manufacturers are represented: BMW, Chevrolet, Citroën, Ford, Honda, Opel, Peugeot, SEAT, Toyota and Volkswagen. 21 cars are of S2000 specification, 6 cars of Super Production specification and 6 cars of S1600.
There are around eight to ten drivers that should be able to fight for the win. Reining champion Michel Nykjær is for sure one of them. He will get strong competition from his home land Denmark in form of Jens Reno Møller, Honda Accord, and Kristian Poulsen, BMW.
The neighbors Sweden bring three strong entries. Tomas Engström finished second last year in the ETC Cup and brings an ever stronger Honda Accord to the race. Engström is joined by fellow Swedes Flash Engineering with STCC-champion Richard Göransson and team mate Jan “Flash” Nilsson.
SEAT Eurocup-champion Oscar Nogués will be in the fight for the win in his SUNRED-prepared SEAT Léon. Nogués drove the WTCC-race at Pau as a prize for winning races in the SEAT Eurocup.
Another WTCC-driver is Franz Engstler in his Liqui Moly Team Engstler-prepared BMW 320si, who should be a strong front runner.
There are a number of other strong runners in the 21 car strong S2000 field that also should be able to get in the top fight like Alexander Lvov (not the Lvov who ran in STCC 2008), Philip Geipel, Peter Rikli and more.
The entry list for this year is the second biggest so far since the start of the ETC Cup in 2005.
Both races will be televised on Eurosport international on Sunday, October 19th: Race 1 live at 12.00 (noon) and Race 2 delayed at 18.30 (times are CET).
FIA European Touring Car Cup 2008 – Entry List
1 S2000 Michel Nykjær (DEN) Chevrolet Lacetti Chevrolet Motorsport Danmark 2 S2000 Tomas Engström (SWE) Honda Accord Engström Motorsport 3 S2000 Richard Göransson (SWE) BMW 320si Flash Engineering 4 S2000 Alexander Lvov (RUS) Honda Accord Golden Motors 5 S2000 Andrey Smetsky (RUS) Honda Accord Golden Motors 6 S2000 Oleg Petrishin (RUS) BMW 320i Liqui Moly Team Engstler 7 S2000 Oscar Nogués (ESP) SEAT León SUNRED Engineering Development 9 S2000 Jan Nilsson (SWE) BMW 320si Flash Engineering 10 S2000 Kristian Poulsen (DEN) BMW 320si Poulsen Motorsport 11 S2000 Jens Reno Møller (DEN) Honda Accord Hartmann Honda Racing 12 S2000 Franz Engstler (GER) BMW 320si Liqui Moly Team Engstler 14 S2000 Mikko Eskelinen (FIN) BMW 320si GTM Finland 15 S2000 Wolfgang Treml (AUT) Opel Astra GTC Kissling Motorsport 16 S2000 Philip Geipel (GER) Toyota Auris Yaco Racing 17 S2000 Charlie Geipel (GER) Toyota Corolla T-Sport Yaco Racing 18 S2000 Janis Horeliks (LAT) Honda Civic Type-R JH Motorsport 19 S2000 Urmas Kitsing (EST) BMW 320si Saksa Auto AMK 20 S2000 Peter Rikli (SUI) Honda Accord Rikli Motorsport Equipe Bernoise 21 S2000 Sergey Krylov (RUS) Ford Focus Sport-Garage 22 S2000 George Tanev (BUL) BMW 320si Petrol GT Racing Team 27 S2000 César Campaniço (POR) BMW 320si Liqui Moly Team Engstler 52 SP Egons Lapins (LAT) Honda Integra Type-R Spice Racing Team 53 SP Paulius Krukauskas (LTU) Honda Integra Type-R Zaibelis 54 SP Fabio Fabiani (ITA) BMW 320i F. Motorsport 55 SP Imerio Brigliadori (ITA) BMW 320i F. Motorsport 56 SP Dmitriy Dobrovolsky (RUS) Opel Astra Coupé Aimol Racing 57 SP Nikolay Karamishev (RUS) Volkswagen Golf IV Sport-Garage 72 S1600 Ralf Martin (GER) Ford Fiesta TLM Team Lauderbach Motorsport 73 S1600 Carsten Seifert (GER) Ford Fiesta ST NK Racing Team 74 S1600 Jens Löhnig (GER) Citroên C2 VTS Roscher Racing 75 S1600 Andrii Kruglik (UKR) Ford Fiesta TLM Team Lauderbach Motorsport 76 S1600 Guido Thierfelder (GER) Peugeot 207 Sport ETH Tuning