Photo: BMW Media

BMW “not happy” with NGTC regulations

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BMW recently confirmed that they are going to continue supporting the S2000 regulations with the new 1.6 turbo engine for customer teams. But the new NGTC regulations set for the BTCC is something BMW is not happy with.
“We are obviously not happy that the BTCC in the UK takes a different path,” said BMW Motorsport boss Mario Theissen to motorsport-total.com.

The touring car scene of the world is currently in an unstable state with several different regulations turning up. FIA and WTCC are set for S2000 with the new 1.6 turbo engine, BTCC introduces the all-new NGTC regulations, STCC considers both NGTC and Solution-F and DTM is going to introduce all-new regulations from 2012.

The fact that both BTCC and STCC are moving away from S2000 is something BMW is not happy with.

“We find it hard to understand that the Swedes want to follow this path. It is quite clear that we will not build a new car for those regulations,” said Theissen.

Theissen instead opens the door to build a S2000 version of the next 3-series generation, set for launch in 2012, despite the fact that they have pulled out as a factory team in the WTCC.

“We are going to continue to support the S2000 class, as long as it is the leading regulations. We are going to consider a successor [to the current 320si E90] during the coming twelve months,” said Theissen.