STUDIO UNO

ESTORIL IS READY TO HOST THE SECOND EDITION

OF THE FIA EUROPEAN TOURING CAR CUP

Thirty drivers, coming from 13 European countries, and at the wheel of 12 different

types of car from 10 different makes, will gather next week at Estoril’s Autódromo

Fernanda Pires da Silva to compete in the second edition of the FIA European Touring

Car Cup.

The FIA European Touring Car Cup is reserved for cars complying with the FIA Super

2000 and Super Production technical regulations. Drivers’ titles will be awarded for each

of the two categories.

AN FIA EVENT BACK TO ESTORIL AFTER THREE YEARS

The 2006 FIA European Touring Car Cup will be the first FIA event held on the 4.18 km

Estoril racetrack since the 2003 FIA European Touring Car Championship.

The event is promoted by the Portuguese company Maxima Rotaçao and patronised by

the Federação Portuguesa de Automobilismo e Karting (FPAK); the organisation also

involves the Associação de Comissários de Desportos Motorizados do Estoril (ACDME).

Promotion and organisation have been supported by the Instituto de Turismo de Portugal

(ITP) and the Região de Turismo da Costa do Estoril.

NATIONS CUP AWARDED FOR THE FIRST TIME

In addition to the two FIA European Touring Car Cups for Super 2000 and Super

Production drivers, the FIA Touring Car Nations Cup will be awarded for the first time at

Estoril.

This title will be awarded to the National Sporting Authority (ASN) whose drivers have

scored the highest number of points in the two races of the 2006 FIA European Touring

Car Cup.

The best two cars entered by competitors belonging to same ASN will be taken into

consideration for the Nations Cup’s classification.

Should this Cup have existed last year, Sweden would have won it in Vallelunga, scoring

24 points and edging Italy by only one.

WTCC FORMAT FOR THE EUROPEAN CUP

Compared to the first edition, that was held on October 15, 2005 in Vallelunga, Italy,

the second European Cup fully adopts the World Touring Car Championship format: two

30-minute free practice sessions and one 30-minute qualifying session on Saturday;

15-minute warm-up and two 50 km back-to-back races on Sunday. The grid for the

second race is determined by the results of the first race, with the top-eight in reverse

order.

Cars of both eligible categories – Super 2000 and Super Productions – will race

together.

Two 60-minute test sessions will be held on Friday, October 20.

EURO 200,000 PRIZE MONEY AT STAKE

Competitors of the FIA European Touring Car Cup will race on Yokohama control tyres.

The Japanese tyre Manufacturer and the company promoter KSO have put in a strong

effort to confirm the Yokohama Trophy’s prize money, which will again award a total of

euro 200,000.

Euro 150,000 will be distributed among the first twelve drivers classified in the Super

2000 Cup. The winner will receive euro 25,000, while the second and third classified

drivers will win 20,000 and 15,000 respectively. Euro 50,000 are at stake for Super

Production Cup’s competitors, with a first prize of 15,000.

LIVE BROADCAST ON EUROSPORT

Eurosport International will broadcast both the FIA European Touring Car Cup races live

Race 1 will be televised from 16.10 and Race 2 from 17.20. Last year’s races from

Vallelunga were covered live by Eurosport 2 that will repeat the Estoril races on Sunday

night from 23.15 (all times are CET).

The FIA European Touring Car Cup will also be aired live on SIC (Portugal), 7TV (Russia),

ETV (Estonia) and Nuvolari (Italy).

Eurosport will also release through Reuters free-of-charge news access of the event.

WIN A CHEVROLET MATIZ AND OTHER PRIZES!

One Chevrolet Matiz is the first prize in a lottery that will be held on Sunday at Estoril

among all the spectators in possession of a valid entrance ticket.

Other prizes at stake are two Pioneer GPS, three Apple iPods and 30 DVDs of the Pixar

movie “Cars”.

The draw will happen after the end of the FIA European Touring Car Cup podium

ceremony.

ZANARDI AND PORTEIRO WITH BMW ITALY-SPAIN

Once again Alessandro Zanardi will be the star of the FIA European Touring Car Cup.

After he finished third in last year’s edition at Valellunga – claiming victory in the first

race – the Italian driver entered in the 2006 edition. He will be at the wheel of a BMW

320si run by BMW Team Italy-Spain, the very same car in which he claimed a dominant

win at Istanbul in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

The Italy-based team have also entered a second car in the Portuguese event, for the

23 year old Spaniard Félix Porteiro who faces his Touring Car debut. Porteiro comes

from his first GP2 season after he was successful in karting and the World Series by

O’BRIEN AND SHARP TO RACE FOR GR ASIA

FIA WTCC independent team GR Asia will run their two SEAT León cars at Estoril. Last

Sunday in Valencia, the team directed by Paul Ridgway clinched the WTCC

Independents’ Trophy with Tom Coronel.

However their drivers in the ETC Cup will be Ryan Sharp and Emmet O’Brien. Sharp (27

year old from Scotland) and O’Brien (25 from Ireland) have both taken part in the WTCC,

racing for JAS Motorsport and Wiechers-Sport respectively. The Scotsman claimed an

outstanding third overall in Puebla at the wheel of his Honda Accord.

Both, Sharp and O’Brien had their first test in the León last Monday in Valencia.

SEAT SPORT UK COMPETE WITH TWO CARS

Last year Jason Plato in the SEAT Sport UK SEAT Toledo Cupra came very close to

winning the S2000 Euro Cup. In Vallelunga the Briton emerged victorious in the second

race and finished runner up to Richard Göransson in the final classification.

This year Plato and SEAT Sport UK make a second attempt, with the new SEAT León.

The name of the team’s second driver has not yet been unveiled.

Plato is currently placed second in the British Touring Car Championship and this

weekend in Silverstone – together with team-mates James Thompson and Darren Turner

– he will try to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship for SEAT.

LOCAL DRIVER HUGO GODINHO WITH CHEVROLET

Switzerland-based team Maurer Motorsport entered two Chevrolet Lacetti cars in the

S2000 Cup. The team have recently clinched the German Procar title with Vincent

Radermecker.

At Estoril the 39 year old from Belgium – who boasts an impressive touring car CV,

including three Belgian titles and two seasons in the British Touring Car Championship –

will be teaming with local driver Hugo Godinho (30), the only Portuguese to take part in

the Cup.

In the last decade Godinho has emerged as one of the best players in the Portugues

Open de Velocidade, claiming titles in the Renault Clio and Mazda cups; at Estoril his

car will be backed by General Motors Portugal.

WEST COAST RACING TO DEFEND S2000 TITLE

Swedish team West Coast Racing will defend the Super 2000 title they won last year in

Vallelunga with Richard Göransson.

The team directed by Dick Jönsson will run only one BMW 320i in Estoril, for the 27 year

old Robin Rudholm. The driver, who won the national Porsche Carrera Cup in 2004,

joined the team at the beginning of 2006, alongside WTCC competitor Duncan

Huisman. On his first full season in the Swedish Touring Car Championship he classified

A TRIO OF EXPERIENCED DRIVERS FROM SWEDEN

Three other drivers represent the Swedish Touring Car Championship, probably the most

competitive national series for S2000 cars. They are Tomas Engström with his Honda

Accord Euro R, Carl Rosenblad in the Elgh Motorsport BMW 320si and Eurosport

Sweden motorsport commentator Mattias Andersson at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo

156.

Engström who was quite unlucky last year in Vallelunga, being involved in a collision at

the start of the first race, finished fifth in the 2006 STCC.

FINNISH TOURING CAR CHAMPION JOINS THE CUP

Ari Laivola, the newly crowned Finnish Touring Car champion, will also race at Estoril.

The 42-year old from Finland will be at the wheel of a SEAT Toledo Cupra run by the

Sarlin Race Tech team, which he drove to clinch the Finnish title in the Super 2000

Race series.

After being classified fourth in the 2005 championship, during the current season

Laivola claimed two race victories – at Alastaro and Kemora – and secured the title with

a 28-point margin ahead of Keijo Ahonen. Laivola took part in last year’s FIA ETC Cup,

RUSSIA TO SEND A DOZEN DRIVERS

The largest group of drivers comes from Russia. Eleven competitors of the Russian

Touring Car Championship plus Rustem Teregulov – a competitor in the German Procar –

will make the field in Portugal. Four of them in the S2000 class and eight in the Super

Production.

Both, the newly crowned Russian Touring Car champion Vladimir Labazov and the former

champion Mikhail Ukhov will be at the wheel of BMW 320i; like Teregulov. The fourth

S2000 driver is Alexey Dudukalo in an Audi A4.

Among the Super Production drivers are former RTCC champion, Alexander Lvov, and

Sergey Krylov, who finished runner up in last year’s Super Production Cup.

BMW CARS WITH DIFFERENT GEARBOXES

The BMW 320i coming from the Swedish championship are slightly different from the

others. As a matter of fact Rosenblad and Rudholm use an X-trac 6-speed sequential

gearbox, while the other BMW drivers have the 5-speed “H” pattern gearbox.

This means that Rosenblad’s and Rudholm’s cars will be 30 kilos heavier than the other

BMWs, for a minimum weight of 1170 kg including the driver.

THE PRESIDENT OF SAN MARINO NSA IS A RACER!

Stefano Valli from San Marino will take part in the Super Production Cup at the wheel of

a BMW 320i run by the Zerocinque Motorsport team.

It’s interesting to point out that Valli is not only an excellent amateur driver – and a

regular competitor in the Italian Superturismo Championship – but also the president of

FAMS, the National Sporting Authority of the small Republic on the Adriatic sea.

BALTIC STATES REPRESENTED BY KULLI AND HORELIKS

Raimo Kulli from Estonia and Janis Horeliks from Latvia come from the Baltic Touring Car

Championship, also known as North European Zone (NEZ).

They will both compete in the Super Production Cup, Kulli in a Škoda Octavia and

Horeliks in a Honda Integra Type-R.

PHILIP GEIPEL: THE YOUNGEST DRIVER OF THE FIELD

driver of the field at the Euro Cup in Estoril.

German Procar championship. The event in Estoril will not be their first international

outing as they have already taken part in the World Touring Car Championship meeting

at Brno.