| Category | Touring cars |
|---|---|
| Country |  Italy |
| Inaugural season | 1987 |
| Drivers' champion |  Niels Langeveld |
| Teams' champion | Target Competition |
 Current season | |
The Italian Superturismo Championship (Campionato Italiano Superturismo) is Italy's national motorsport series for touring cars. It was established in 1987 and its drivers' title has been held by such notable drivers as Le Mans winners Emanuele Pirro and Rinaldo Capello, and two-time Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi.
Established in 1987 under Group A rules the series saw champions like Johnny Cecotto, Roberto Ravaglia and Nicola Larini winning the title before switching to Supertouring regulations in 1993. The first season of D2 Class saw the battel between Roberto Ravaglia with BMW 318i, Fabrizio Giovanardi with Peugeot 405 and Gabriele Tarquini with Alfa Romeo 155. The title was won by Ravaglia who was able to score points in every race although Giovanardi and Tarquini won many races in the second part of the season and tried to recover the initially gap.
The following year saw the debut of the Audi with the model Audi 80 Quattro who won in 1993 French Supertouring Championship with Frank Biela. The Audi 80 Quattro was immediately competitive and thanks to 6 wins and 5 seconds place Emanuele Pirro won the 1994 Italian Superturismo Championship against the Alfa driver Antonio Tamburini.
In 1995 Audi replaced the old Audi 80 Quattro with the new A4 Quattro. The new model was dominant winning 14 races on 20. Once again the title went to Emanuele Pirro.
The 1996 saw the triple battle between Rinaldo Capello with A4 Quattro and the 2 ex F1 drivers Emanuele Naspetti and Johnny Cecotto both with BMW 320i. After a promising first half of the season with 6 victories in 10 races, Rinaldo Capello had to defend from the 2 BMW Drivers who won 9 races on 10 in the second half of the season. The final Round in Vallelunga elected Rinaldo Capello as Italian Champion although the big effort of BMW who raced with 6 cars.
In 1997 Audi was burdened with 30kg extra by FIA who also banned the 4WD from the 1998. The consequence was a low competitivity of the two Audi drivers. After 3 years the Italian Title was won again by BMW who took the revenge from 1996 with Emanuele Naspetti who achieved 10 races, 7 second places and 1 this place in a total of 20 races.
In 1998 the Italian Supertouring had to face many problems. Due to a controversial decision the historical Promoter Salerno Corse was replaced by the Sponsor Service. The new promoter decided to make one sprint race of 50km and one endurance race of 100km. Alfa Romeo and Nordauto Engineering (the team that became N.Technology) had run the Alfa Romeo 155 during the 1993–1997 years but wouldn't win the series until they introduced their Alfa Romeo 156 model in 1998. Fabrizio Giovanardi won in that car both in 1998 and 1999.
In the 1999 Audi withdraw officialy to focus on Le Mans Project letting just Alfa and BMW to fight for the title.
Due to lack of cars the serie was definitevly abandoned in the end of 1999 to allow the creaction of Euro STC in 2000.
The cancellation of the FIA Super Production championship in 2002 would mean the resumption of the Superturismo championship, albeit now under Super Production rules and named the Superproduzione. The SP cars were in many ways less advanced than the Super 2000 relatives in the ETCC. Salvatore Tavano won the 2003 Superproduzione season in an Alfa Romeo 147. The championship became an all-147 series in 2004 won by Adriano De Micheli. The season saw a very low number of entries with between four and six participants each weekend.
The ETCC became the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in 2005. At the same time the Superturismo was truly revived with Super 2000 rules. Alessandro Zanardi would win the first season in a BMW 320i. In 2006 SEAT joined the championship as a full works team with two Leóns driven by Roberto Colciago and Davide Roda. Colciago won the title ahead of returning 1997 champion Emanuele Naspetti in a BMW 320i.
In 2007 the championship changed its promoter to Peroni Promotion and was renamed ITCC (Italian Touring Car Competition). [1] However, grids were small as several teams moved to the WTCC and the Superstars Series, and the series was merged with the Peroni-run Driver's Trophy midway through 2008.
For the 2016 season, the championship adopted TCR regulations for the main class.
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Manufactures statisticsSee alsoRelated Research Articles Emanuele Pirro is an Italian racing driver who has raced in Formula One, touring cars and in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which he has won a total of five times. Two times Italian Karting Champion, Formula Fiat Abarth Champion (1980), two times Italian Touring Car Champion, two times Italian Overall Champion and German Touring Car Champion (1996), he also achieved records in endurance racing that place him amongst the best in the discipline, including; five wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, two times ALMS Champion, two times winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, three times winner of Petit Le Mans, winner of the 24 Hours Nürburgring (1989), two times winner of the Macau Guia Race and two times winner of the Goodwood RAC Historic TT. He has taken part in over 500 official national and international races.  Gianni Morbidelli is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 70 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 11 March 1990. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 8.5 championship points. He currently competes in the TCR International Series. Emanuele Naspetti is a racing driver and entrepreneur from Italy. Gary Patrick Ayles is a British racing driver.  The FIA World Touring Car Championship was an international touring car championship promoted by Eurosport Events and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It has had several different incarnations, including a single season in 1987 as the World Touring Car Championship and most recently a world championship (WTCC) that has run between 2005 and 2017. Following the 2017 season, an agreement was reached for the FIA WTCC to become FIA WTCR and use the TCR technical regulations.  Fabrizio Giovanardi is an Italian racing driver. During his career he has won ten touring car titles, including European and British crowns making him the most successful touring car driver worldwide. He has spent the majority of his career racing for Alfa Romeo and Vauxhall. The European Touring Car Championship 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.  Schnitzer Motorsport was a motorsport team based in Freilassing near Munich, Germany. From the early days of its establishment, the team mostly operated an automobile racing squad for BMW, and had remarkable results in touring car and sports car racing. The team would often run the cars for BMW under the name of "BMW Motorsport". In 2012, the team operated the DTM team for BMW under the name of "BMW Team Schnitzer".  Roberto Ravaglia is an Italian former racing driver, who currently runs ROAL Motorsport, who operate a Chevrolet operation in the World Touring Car Championship. Before retiring in 1997, he was one of the most successful touring car racing drivers, primarily for BMW, and won seven titles in four different championships.  The 2006 World Touring Car Championship season was the third season of FIA World Touring Car Championship motor racing. It featured a ten event, twenty race series which commenced on 2 April 2006 and ended on 19 November. The series was open to Super 2000, Diesel 2000 and Super Production Cars, with two titles awarded, the FIA World Touring Car Champion for Drivers and the FIA World Touring Car Champion for Manufacturers. Andy Priaulx won the Drivers title and BMW won the Manufacturers award.  ROAL Motorsport is an Italian auto racing team, which operated the BMW Team Italy-Spain team in the World Touring Car Championship, and currently competes as BMW Team Italia in the Italian GT Championship. It was founded in 2001 by 1987 World Touring Car champion Roberto Ravaglia and Aldo Preo. The 2000 European Super Touring Cup was the 27th season of European touring car racing and the first since 1988. The championship started at Mugello on 2 April and ended after ten events at Cerklje ob Krki on 8 October. The 2001 FIA European Super Touring Championship was the 28th season of European touring car racing and the first European Touring Car Championship since 1988. The championship started at Monza on 1 April and ended after ten events at Estoril on 21 October. The championship was won by Fabrizio Giovanardi driving for Alfa Romeo Team Nordauto in an Alfa Romeo 156. A secondary championship for Super Production cars was run alongside the ETCC and was won by Peter Kox driving for Ravaglia Motorsport in a BMW 320i.  The 2005 FIA WTCC Race Of Mexico was the fifth round of the 2005 World Touring Car Championship season. It was held at the Autódromo Miguel E. Abed. Fabrizio Giovanardi won the first race from pole position for Alfa Romeo, and Peter Terting took his first and only WTCC win in the second race, which also turned out to be SEAT's second win. The 1994 Italian Superturismo Championship was the eighth edition of the Italian Superturismo Championship. The season began in Monza on 10 April and finished in Mugello on 2 October, after ten rounds. Emanuele Pirro won the championship, driving an Audi 80 Quattro; the German manufacturer won the constructors' championship with 9 victories on 20 races. The strongest title contender was Antonio Tamburini, who drove an Alfa Romeo 155 TS and also got 6 victories but also 3 DNF and one time out of points. Third was Fabrizio Giovanardi, who was able to finish on podium 7 times and to score points in almost all races without a single victory. The three time Italian Champion Roberto Ravaglia had lot of bad luck and finished fourth after a single victory in the season. The privateers' trophy was won by Moreno Soli in his own the Alfa Romeo 155 TS. The 1996 Italian Superturismo Championship was the tenth edition of the Italian Superturismo Championship. The season began in Mugello on 14 April and finished in Vallelunga on 6 October, after ten rounds. The 1995 Italian Superturismo Championship was the ninth edition of the Italian Superturismo Championship. The season began in Misano on 23 April and finished in Vallelunga on 8 October, after ten rounds. Emanuele Pirro won the championship, driving an Audi A4 Quattro; the German manufacturer won the constructors' championship, while Mauro Trione won the privateers' trophy. The 1997 Italian Superturismo Championship was the eleventh edition of the Italian Superturismo Championship. The season began in Monza on 20 April and finished in Vallelunga on 12 October, after ten rounds. The 1998 Italian Superturismo Championship was the twelfth edition of the Italian Superturismo Championship. The season began in Binetto on 17 May and finished in Vallelunga on 4 October, after ten rounds. The 1999 Italian Superturismo Championship season was the thirteenth and last edition of the Italian Superturismo Championship. With the withdrawal of Audi the fight for the victory was between only 2 Manufactures. The season began in Misano on 17 April and finished in Vallelunga on 10 October, after ten rounds. Once again the driver's championship was between Fabrizio Giovanardi and Emanuele Naspetti. References
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