Those of you following Chevrolet news for the last few years might remember the Bowtie’s commanding participation in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC). For all intents and purposes, Chevy totally annihilated the series with its three WTCC-spec Cruzen, and then pulled out of the series, as there was little point in having a motorsports effort with cars consumers couldn’t buy as a result of GM’s decision to pull Chevrolet out of Europe. Fortunately, after a brief hiatus, Cruze racing is back in The Old World.
This time around, Chevrolet is not running the effort. Instead, the season is organized by a new and independent series called the Chevrolet Cruze Eurocup. The series spans 5 events and 10 races (two races per event) held at the following venues:
- Slovakiaring (Slovakia)
- Red Bull Ring (Austria)
- Hungaroring (Hungary)
- Most (Czech Republic)
- Brno (Czech Republic)
Equality for the drivers is accomplished via a “rotation system” that makes drivers change cars after every race. In addition, the winners are awarded prize money as well a test drive in SEAT Leon ETCC race car.
More information is available at the Chevrolet Cruze EuroCup Website as well as the series’ Facebook page.
Comments
Still a totally pointless and wasted money pursuit, on the basis that only the Camaro and Corvette are officially available in Europe.
At least sponsorship of Manchester United FC reaches a global viewing audience twice weekly!
This series is not supported by Chevrolet, so I wouldn’t exactly characterize it as a “totally worthless and wasted money pursuit”…
Never was able to find out any specs or details on the engine/car used in the WTCC. It was an interesting series to watch and the Cruze was uually competitive.
Doug — here’s a brief amount of info on the engine in the Cruze WTCC:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2011/03/team-chevrolet-readies-cruze-wtcc-new-engine-for-2011-season/