The1996 International Touring Car Championshipwas the thirteenth season of premier German touring car championship and also only first and final season under the moniker ofInternational Touring Car Championship.It was forFIA Class 1 Touring Carsand it was contested byMercedes-Benz,Alfa RomeoandOpel.It was formed of theDeutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaftseries that ran both a short German & International-based series in1995.These were fused together to form the International Touring Car Championship (abbreviated to ITC). The eventual champion wasManuel Reuterdriving anOpel Calibra,andOpelwon the manufacturer's championship.
Season summary
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The Class 1 rules made sure that all cars had a pure-bred 2,5 L V6 racing engine, lots of electronics, and few things in common with the road cars, except Mercedes sticking to the standard RWD layout while the other two implemented AWD drivetrains. All three manufacturers were relatively equally-matched and competitive all season, with Opel's other winning drivers besides Reuter being the experiencedHans-Joachim Stuck,who took a double victory in Helsinki, and1994championKlaus Ludwigwho repeated the feat atNorisring.Alfa Romeo came second to Opel in the standings, with formerBenettonFormula One driverAlessandro Nanninitaking a convincing seven victories, including four-in-a-row midseason, to place third in the championship. Team-mate and compatriotNicola Larinicould manage just two wins late in a season blighted with retirements, meaning theFerraritest driver would not be a feature in the title battle.
Mercedes-Benzmay have finished third and last in the constructors standings, but were every bit as competitive as their two rivals. Reigning DTM & ITC championBernd Schneiderracked up four wins, including a double at Diepholz, en route to second in the championship, though 1995's DTM runner-upJörg van Ommenscored a solitary win in a lacklustre campaign. Their junior team-mates – futureStewartdriverJan MagnussenandIndyCar Seriesstar to-beDario Franchitti– also scored a win apiece in the first and last rounds of the series respectively. This meant the Scot placed a creditable fourth in the standings, whilst the Dane's mid-season defection toCARTalong with a number of retirements served to prevent him from challenging for the title. Others who impressed but failed to win a race included sometime Benetton andSauberdriverJJ Lehtofor Opel, young ItalianGiancarlo Fisichella,who combined an assured sophomore tin-top season for Alfa Romeo with a part-season for theMinardiF1 team, and formerPorsche SupercupchampionUwe Alzenwho completed the championship top ten by finishing in eighth for Opel.
Looking further down the field, ex-TyrrellandJordanF1 driverStefano Modenaendured an average season with Alfa Romeo, whilst fellow Alfa Romeo driver and formerBTCCchampionGabriele Tarquinisuffered from appalling luck which severely hampered his title tilt despite taking a convincing victory at Silverstone.Christian Danneralso disappointed for Alfa Romeo, whilst the respective team-mates of Reuter and Schneider –Le ManswinnerYannick Dalmasand former DTM championKurt Thiim– curiously also had torrid seasons. The latter was replaced at the end of the season, along with future F1 driverAlexander WurzandJason Watt,as all three manufacturers elected to enter a local driver each during the last two events at Interlagos and Suzuka. Among these,German F3regularMax Wilsonwas the most impressive, the Brazilian finishing second on home turf at Interlagos.
In the end, it was consistency that gifted Reuter the title – he scored points during the first fifteen races of the season, and only failed to do so six times all season. In comparison, Schneider failed to score nine times and Nannini twelve, despite both taking more wins with four and seven respectively as opposed to Reuter's three.
Despite boasting a tremendously strong driver line-up, consisting largely of former F1 drivers, ostensibly robust manufacturer support, and focus on well-balanced Class 1 rules with fast touring cars powered by high revving engines, the series suffered from poor media exposure and television coverage. In Germany, the success ofMichael Schumacherhad drawn attention and money towards Formula 1, which along with lacklustre spectator attendance figures meant there was comparatively little money coming into the series in comparison to the huge cost of running a 'Class 1' touring car. The series had moved away from popular German race tracks, like the Nürburgring Nordschleife, to venues abroad. This was exacerbated by two long intercontinental journeys to Interlagos and Suzuka, circuits located in countries where some of the competing road car models weren't actually sold. This meant thatAlfa RomeoandOpelannounced in September they would pull out at the end of the series, despite having hitherto committed themselves to compete until the end of 1997, and driven up costs with the use of 4x4. With Mercedes-Benz the only manufacturer remaining committed for 1997, the series was cancelled. AMG-Mercedes quickly shifted to the new FIA GT series and developed theMercedes-Benz CLK GTRin only 128 days, winning the series in 1997 and 1998 and effectively killing it with dominance. It wouldn't be until 2000 that a high powered touring car championship was resurrected, albeit as thenew DTMwhich was based firmly in Germany, using V8 powered race cars under bodyshells that looked like roadgoing 2-door coupes.
Teams and drivers
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Schedule and results
editDrivers Championship standings
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Bold– Pole | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
† Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.
Note:boldsignifies pole position,italicssignifies fastest lap. Grid order for race 2 was decided by the finishing order in race 1.
Notes
edit- Points System: 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 for the Top 10 drivers in each race. No extra points awarded.
Manufacturers Championship Standings
editFinal placings in the 1996 FIA Touring Car International Championship for Manufacturers were:[2]
| Pos | Manufacturer | HOC 1 
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HOC 2
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NÜR 1
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NÜR 2
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EST 1 
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EST 2
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HEL 1 
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HEL 2
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NOR 1
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NOR 2
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DIE 1
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DIE 2
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SIL 1 
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SIL 2
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NUR 1
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NUR 2
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MAG 1 
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MAG 2
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MUG 1 
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MUG 2
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HOC 1
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HOC 2
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INT 1 
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INT 2
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SUZ 1 
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SUZ 2
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Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Opel | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 349 |
| 2 | Alfa Romeo | 7 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 340 |
| 3 | Mercedes-Benz | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 305 |
| Pos | Manufacturer | HOC 1
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HOC 2
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NÜR 1
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NÜR 2
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EST 1
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EST 2
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HEL 1
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HEL 2
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NOR 1
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NOR 2
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DIE 1
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DIE 2
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SIL 1
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SIL 2
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NUR 1
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NUR 2
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MAG 1
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MAG 2
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MUG 1
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MUG 2
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HOC 1
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HOC 2
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INT 1
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INT 2
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SUZ 1
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SUZ 2
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Pts |
References
edit- ^The DTM/ITC had a 105%-limit to qualify for a race. Prutirat was the only driver ever to be caught by this.
- ^1996 FIA Touring Car International Championship for Manufacturers resultsRetrieved from web.archive.org on 24 December