After a long 4 year wait the ISTC World Championship is finally here but the 11th running of touring car’s biggest prize is off to a tense start as impending bad weather looks set to dictate the running of the 4 day event. With the majority of drivers expressing their dislike of the dots added to a number of corners to meet the rule requirement of being 60% different to that which drivers tested on, EFRA did manage to get the full support of team managers to allow the iconic circuit to run in its original layout only for this to be rejected by the organising club. The next issue for drivers was the packed Day 1 schedule that will end with the running of the first of the six rounds of qualifying. The opening day of the Worlds is normally a much slightly more relaxed affair with drivers easing themselves into things with just controlled practice runs. The rules also state the timetable can’t be altered from what was originally published.
While today is dry in Gubbio, the weather is set to turn tomorrow with heavy rain en route and set to hang around. In an attempt to get everyone at least one dry round a new schedule was issued with Q1 bringing the day to a late finish. With the arrival of the rain comes the next issue – wet tyres. At the time of writing the track did not have wet tyres but did confirm 100 set would be delivered, a number well below the requirements of the drivers. As Lucas Urbain explained each drivers is entitled to purchase three sets of tyres, but this is not possible. The fact that no ‘wet tyre’ was specified for the race no drivers could ensure they had a set with them. With the tyres impounded between qualifiers, the French driver said it is going to be impossible set up the cars without having a spare set of the much heavier wet tyres.
Another topic of confusion is the listed race schedule that shows Sunday as a rain day. EFRA’s Electric Section Chairman Chris Hardisty explained this was an error by the club steaming from the their nitro background. Nitro Onroad Worlds have always listed an additional ‘rain day’ but this is not the case in Electric. Asked if the racing would continue in the rain, Hardisty said the only reason racing would be halted is on the grounds of safety, lightening one such reason they would stop the event. Unfortunately while exciting to see the World Championships, these early issues have taken the edge of hype and excitement of the Worlds return with one drivers saying he ‘needs a whiskey’ already and we had even reached lunch time! Hopefully once everything settles the focus can turn to the battle on track be it dry or wet.
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