Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (translated as German Racing Championship ) or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series. It is regarded as a predecessor of the current DTM as Germany's top national series.
22-621: The DRM began in 1972 as a Group 2 touring car and Group 4 GT racing series for cars like ( BMW 2002 ) and ( BMW Coupé ), in addition to the Deutsche Rundstrecken-Meisterschaft [ de ] (German circuit racing saloon car championship). In these years, the same or similar cars were also entered in the European Touring Car Championship . Races were run separately as big Division 1 (for 2 to 4 liter) and small Division 2 (under 2 liter) in
44-547: A model into either group. Technical modifications beyond those allowed for Group 1 cars were permitted in Group 2. The British Saloon Car Championship was open to Group 2 cars each year from 1961 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1973. Group 2 was the specified category for the European Touring Car Challenge from 1963 to 1967 and the cars were also eligible alongside Group 5 special touring cars in 1968 and 1969. It
66-462: A sprint format. In 1977, Group 5 cars were admitted into the series, making the series better supported with Group 5 cars than the World Championship of Makes they were intended for. These fast and spectacular turbocharged cars with wide fenders and wings were initially popular, but they were proved to be expensive with each round struggling to bring in more than 10 cars for each class during
88-563: The BMW M3 Evo and Ford Sierra RS500 that dominated the grids and results. The Macau Grand Prix 's Guia Race , the Spa 24 Hours and the 24 Hours Nürburgring were the only international touring car races during those years. With the success and popularity of Supertouring in many national championships, the FIA organised the one-round Super Touring World Cup for these cars, between 1993 and 1995. In 1996,
110-530: The FIA . Group 2 was replaced by Group A in 1982. The FIA established Appendix J regulations for Touring and GT cars for 1954 and the term Group 2 was in use to define Touring Cars in the Appendix J of 1959. By 1961 Appendix J included specifications for both Group 1 Series Touring Cars and Group 2 Improved Touring Cars with a minimum production of 1,000 units in twelve consecutive months required to allow homologation of
132-521: The 1978 season. At the same season, it became clear that a turbo-charged engine was a necessity to maintain competitiveness, especially in Division 2. Not even a weight increase (up 885kg from 735kg) for the 1979 season could prevent this. In 1979, the Rennsport Trophäe (Racing Trophy) was introduced for the cheaper original series protagonists, the Group 2 and 4 cars. It consisted of combined races with
154-457: The 3 victories each by Giovanardi and Larini, but lost the title to Giovanardi due to several retirements that he had during the season. In 2002, due to high costs FIA decided to let Super Touring make way for the new class Super 2000 and named the new series FIA ETCC, using Super 2000 rules. This new category provoked much interest and saw participation from Alfa Romeo 156 GTA and BMW 320i , Volvo S60 and SEAT Toledo Cupra . Alfa Romeo won
176-622: The DRM until 1981. In 1982, following the FIA rule changes, new Group C sportscars (along with existing Group 6 ) replaced the Group 5 machinery at the renamed International Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft. Meanwhile, the Rennsport Trophäe held separate races and events in 1982 and 1983, except for the 1982 ADAC Eifelrennen at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. In 1984, with just three races held, organisers used three WEC ( World Endurance Championship ) races as additional IDRM point races. Also,
198-533: The FIA promoted the DTM , which already had races outside Germany in its calendar, to International Touringcar Championship (ITC), but once more escalating costs ended the series after two seasons. In 2000, the Italian Superturismo Championship was promoted to Euro STC . The series was made up mostly of Italian drivers from the former Italian Campeonato Superturismo and teams plus some other coming from
220-500: The FIA replaced Groups 1 and 2 with Group N and Group A . The first one was mainly ignored by the ETCC entrants, all cars going the Group A route. BMW and Alfa Romeo prepared regular touring cars for the championship, but it was the big-engined Tom Walkinshaw Racing prepared Jaguar XJS and Rover 3500 Vitesse that would be more competitive in the years to come, fighting against the BMW 635 CSi ,
242-568: The German Super Tourenwagen Cup . In the first season of Euro STC, six rounds were in Italy while the other four were in Austria, (A1 Ring), Hungary (Hungaroring), Czech Republic (Brno) and Slovenia (Ljubljana). The series was very balanced with four drivers winning five races apiece (Giovanardi, Kox, Morbidelli and Colciago) with four manufacturers (Alfa Romeo, Honda, BMW, Audi). At the end of
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#1732885155870264-531: The Népliget (People's Park) in Budapest counted towards the ETCC, which was won by German Peter Nöcker and his Jaguar. In 1968, the regulations were changed to allow Group 5 cars to participate, however these highly modified Special Touring Cars would only be eligible for two years. In 1970 the series name was changed from European Touring Car Challenge to European Touring Car Championship . Group 2 again became
286-464: The Rennsport Trophäe was replaced by the DPM ( Deutsche Produktionswagen Meisterschaft ), run with Group A cars. 1985 was the final year of the now called DSM ( German : Deutsche Sportwagen Meisterschaft , lit. 'German Sportscar Championship'), with just one race was held at Norisring , the rest of them held in conjunction with the popular Interserie . This meant CanAm entered from
308-711: The best representatives from national championships running to Super 2000, Super Production and Super 1600 regulations in the Baltic States, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Starting in 2010 the ETCC will once again become a multi event racing series. Four events of two races each are set to be held in Portugal, Italy, Austria and Germany at the Circuito Vasco Sameiro in Braga,
330-437: The first two championships with Fabrizio Giovanardi and Gabriele Tarquini while in the last season the title was won by Andy Priaulx and his BMW. The series became popular with the public due to the intense competition and Eurosport live broadcasts. For this reason in 2005, the ETCC was promoted to WTCC status. The European Touring Car title was given from 2005 until 2009 to a once a year European Touring Car Cup , with
352-757: The latter series, as it had always been, had to be counted for points The series would be replaced by the Group C -only Supercup in 1986 . At that time, the less expensive DTM ( German : Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft , lit. 'German Touringcar Championship') had taken over as Germany's most important racing series. Since 2005 the AvD the AvD organizes a "Revival Deutsche Rennsportmeisterschaft" race at his great "Oldtimer Grand Prix". Group 2 (racing) The Group 2 racing class referred to regulations for cars in touring car racing and rallying, as regulated by
374-437: The principle category although Group 2 regulations were now much more liberal in nature than the old Group 2. Following the 1973 oil crisis the next two seasons had few entrants. It was only in 1977 that the situation was normalised with the return of factory teams. Rules allowed Group 2 and Group 1B "National" cars to compete together, with BMW 3.0 Coupé CSL and Capri RS remaining the most competitive entries. In 1982,
396-419: The turbocharged Volvo 240T and Ford Sierra Cosworth as well as (from 1986) Australian manufacturer Holden and its V8 powered Commodore . The championship was cancelled after the end of the 1988 season, due to escalating costs (a one-off World Touring Car Championship in 1987 also exacerbated the problem). By then, the FIA had allowed "Evolution" models to be homologated, and it was special cars such as
418-504: The year Giovanardi was able to win the title beating Kox in last round. In 2001, this series became the FIA 2001 European Super Touring Championship , with an extra class for Super Production cars alongside the main Super Touring class. As the former year also this one was very fought and attractive riveting thanks to the battle between Alfa drivers' Giovanardi and Larini and Honda driver Tarquini. Tarquini won 9 of 20 races, compared with
440-502: Was again the premier category when the series was renamed as the European Touring Car Championship for 1970 and continued to be so until it was replaced by Group A for 1982. The Sports Car Club of America ’s Trans-American Sedan Championship was contested by Group 2 touring cars from its inception in 1966 through to the 1972 season. European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship
462-540: Was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA . It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World Touring Car Championship , and replaced by the European Touring Car Cup between 2005 and 2017 when became also defunct. The European Touring Car Challenge , as it was originally known,
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#1732885155870484-480: Was created in 1963 by Willy Stenger at the behest of the FIA. Cars competed under FIA Group 2 Improved Touring Car regulations which allowed a variety of touring cars of different sizes and engine displacements to race together, from the small Fiat 600 and Mini to the large Jaguar Mark 2 and Mercedes-Benz 300SE In 1963 races and hillclimbing events at Nürburgring , Mont Ventoux , Brands Hatch , Mallory Park , Zolder , Zandvoort , Timmelsjoch and even in
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