 | |
| Founded | 1999 |
|---|---|
| Team principal(s) | Dieter Wiechers Thomas Nickel |
| Current series | WTCC |
| Former series | ETCC |
| Noted drivers | 73. Fredy Barth |
| Drivers' Championships | 2005 Ind. WTCC (Hennerici) 2007 Ind. WTCC (D'Aste) |
Wiechers-Sport is a German auto racing team which is based in Nienburg. The team was first established in 1999, competing in German touring cars. The team currently competes in the World Touring Car Championship.
Since its inaugural year in 2005, they have entered cars in the FIA World Touring Car Championship as an independent team with BMWs. [1] In that first year, Marc Hennerici won the Independents Trophy for the team.
European Alfa Challenge driver Emmet O'Brien tested for the team at Oschersleben in December 2005. [2] In February 2006, O'Brien along with Diego Romanini were confirmed as the first two drivers for the 2006 season. The team would hope to switch to the new BMW 3 Series (E90) chassis before the end of the season. [3] O'Brien left the team after the Race of Brazil having endured a difficult start to the year, preferring to search for a drive elsewhere. [4]
In 2007, Italian driver Stefano D'Aste won the WTCC independents trophy again as a Wiechers-Sport driver.
For the 2008 season, a total of six drivers drove for the team in selected rounds including Olivier Tielemans, Duncan Huisman and Matthew Marsh.
After a year at Proteam Motorsport, D'Aste returned to Wiechers-Sport for the 2009 season. [5] D'Aste crashed out of the first race of the season at the Race of Brazil and finished 20th in the second race. He broke through into the top five of the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy at the second round. French GT Championship driver Laurent Cazenave joined Wiechers-Sport for the Race of France alongside D'Aste. [6] D'Aste came close to securing the race two pole position at the Race of Spain after a battle with Sergio Hernández. The team did however go on to take the independents' victory in race two. D'Aste recorded two more independent victories at the Race of Portugal. The team scored their first points of the season at the Race of Germany when D'Aste finished seventh, [7] this later became sixth when Nicola Larini was given 30–second penalty. [8] D'Aste collided with Scuderia Proteam Motorsport driver Fabio Fabiani in free practice for the Race of Italy before going on to take the independents' pole position in qualifying and the independent victory in race two. Japanese driver Seiji Ara joined the team for the Race of Japan in a second car. [9] Takayuki Aoki took over the second car for the Race of Macau season finale. [10] D'Aste stopped on track during the first part of qualifying and on the narrow street circuit, Lada Sport driver James Thompson crashed into the stationary BMW. The extensive damage from the collision ruled D'Aste to sit out both races while Thompson was taken to hospital. [11] This left Aoki is the team's only entry for the rest of the weekend, scoring a best result of sixteenth in race two. The team finished the season fourth in the Yokohama Teams' Trophy while D'Aste dropped to fourth in the drivers' trophy having missed the final round.
With D'Aste returning to Proteam, Mehdi Bennani joined the team as their main driver for the 2010 season. [12] Bennani dropped for seventh to ninth on the last lap of race two at the Race of Morocco but still took the team's first independent victory of the season. Bennani originally finished tenth and took the independent victory in race one of the Race of Italy but after the race was given a 30-second penalty for cutting the first chicane on the opening lap, handing tenth place and a first Independents' Trophy victory to Harry Vaulkhard. He was then given a driver–through penalty in race two for jumping the start. [13] The Race of UK saw Bennani black flagged in the second practice session for repeatedly exceeding the track limits [14] before going on to have an eventful race two. He tapped Franz Engstler into a spin before later putting Darryl O'Young into the gravel. Benanni was penalised again after the second race of the Race of the Czech Republic having caused a collision. He was then one of twelve drivers to receive a post race 30–second penalty for breaking the speed limit during the rolling start at the team's home race in Germany. [15] The team added an extra car for the Race of Japan to run local driver Masataka Yanagida. [16] After the Race of Macau, Wiechers-Sport finished fifth in the teams' standings while Bennani also finished fifth in the independents' championship having been as high as third earlier on in the season.
Wiechers switched to the BMW 320 TC for the 2011 season, using the new 1.6 litre turbocharged engine with former SEAT León Eurocup racer and WTCC debutant Urs Sonderegger at the wheel. The team started their season at the Race of Belgium after they tested the new car. [17] Sonderegger sustained minor injuries in the second practice session for the Race of Hungary and missed the rest of the weekend. [18] The team returned to action in the Czech Republic but Sonderegger left the team after the event having failed to be competitive, his replacement for the Race of Portugal was the team's former driver Stefano D'Aste. [19] D'Aste finished tenth in the first part of qualifying to secure the reversed grid pole position on his return to the championship. [20] D'Aste led three laps of race two before he started to drop down the field, eventually finishing eleventh. D'Aste was unavailable for the Race of UK due to commitments in the GT4 European Cup, his replacement for the round was Scandinavian Touring Car Championship driver Colin Turkington. [21] Turkington was fifth in qualifying and therefore the quickest independent driver. [22] The team then had an eventful first race as Turkington clashed with Tarquini at the Craner Curves and dropped down to tenth, he then managed to get back to ninth place before locking up on lap seven and rejoined the track in sixteenth place. [23] He finished the first race in ninth place and then scored another point in race two to finish tenth. D'Aste returned for the Race of Germany [24] where he took the independent victory in both races. Wiechers-Sport finished the season sixth in the teams' trophy and Turkington was their best placed driver in the overall drivers' championship in 13th place.
The team returned for 2012 running a BMW for D'Aste. [25] D'Aste finished fifth in race two of the season opener to take the independents' victory, he left the round at the top of the Yokohama Drivers' Trophy tied on points with Pepe Oriola and Alex MacDowall. D'Aste started from pole position for race two at the Race of Spain and led until lap seven until running wide allowing Alain Menu to take the lead. The leading pair then hit oil and D'Aste dropped down to his eventual finishing position of third. [26] Despite his podium finish, D'Aste lost the lead of the independents' trophy to Tuenti Racing Team's Oriola. D'Aste started on the reversed grid pole again at the Race of Slovakia and maintained his lead at the start before running wide and losing places. During race two of the Race of Hungary, D'Aste spent the second half of the race behind the factory Chevrolet of Yvan Muller. D'Aste finished eighth after Muller ran wide on the final lap. [27] D'Aste took his and the team's first win in race two of the Race of Austria in a race plagued with tyre issues. D'Aste was running fourth on the final lap when race leader Muller went off with the puncture. Robert Huff inherited the lead but then got a puncture at the final corner, second placed Tom Coronel tried to overtake up the inside while D'Aste pulled off a move around the outside to take the win. [28] A last lap coming together with Franz Engstler in the first race at the Race of Brazil landed D'Aste with a 30–second penalty after the race, dropping his to seventeenth. He finished thirteenth in race two in what had been a difficult weekend for the team. [29] The team had mixed fortunes at the Race of the United States, D'Aste was one of a number of drivers to be caught out by a first lap pileup in race one. He then started on pole position for race two before spinning out of the lead halfway around the first lap. D'Aste took his third reversed grid pole of the year at the Race of Japan and led from lights to flag to claim Wiechers–Sports' second win of the season. [30] D'Aste claimed another podium result by finishing third at the Race of China in race one. He ran as high as second in race two and eventually took the independents' victory despite the BMW's drivers' door hanging loose. [31] D'Aste was in with a chance of securing the independent drivers' title going into the final round of the season. He could only manage eleventh in qualifying while all his title rivals made it through to Q2. Race one saw the Yokohama Trophy rivals caught out by an incident at Lisboa on the first lap, D'Aste's car was damaged and he returned to the pits for repairs but his race was ended when he was issued with a black and orange flag. [32] D'Aste ended the season third in the independent drivers' trophy while the team were the highest place single car entry in the teams' championship with sixth.
With the departure of D'Aste to his own team, Fredy Barth joined Wiechers–Sport for the 2013 season. [33]
| Year | Car | Drivers | Races | Wins | Poles | F.L. | Points | D.C. | T.C. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | BMW 320i |  Marc Hennerici | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | 3rd |
| 2006 | BMW 320i |  Diego Romanini | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | 4th |
 Oscar Hidalgo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
 Emmet O'Brien | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
 Jan Vonka | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
| 2007 | BMW 320si | Stefano D'Aste | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | 2nd |
| 2008 | BMW 320si |  Olivier Tielemans | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20th | 4th |
 Matthew Marsh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21st | |||
| Duncan Huisman | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24th | |||
 Kristian Poulsen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29th | |||
 Takayuki Aoki | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31st | |||
 Laurent Cazenave | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33rd | |||
| 2009 | BMW 320si | Stefano D'Aste | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18th | 4th |
| Laurent Cazenave | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
| Takayuki Aoki | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
| Seiji Ara | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
| 2010 | BMW 320si |  Mehdi Bennani | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20th | 5th |
| Masataka Yanagida | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
| 2011 | BMW 320 TC |  Colin Turkington | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 13th | 6th |
| Stefano D'Aste | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 17th | |||
 Urs Sonderegger | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
 Gary Kwok | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
| 2012 | BMW 320 TC | Stefano D'Aste | 24 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 144 | 7th | 6th |
Stefano D'Aste is an Italian auto racing driver.
The 2010 World Touring Car Championship season was the seventh season of the FIA World Touring Car Championship, and the sixth since its 2005 return. It began with the Race of Brazil at Curitiba on 7 March and ended with the Guia Race of Macau at the Guia Circuit on 21 November, after twenty-two races at eleven events. The championship was open to both Super 2000 and Diesel 2000 cars.
Frédéric Nicolas "Fredy" Barth is an auto racing driver from Switzerland. He currently drives in the World Touring Car Championship.
Zengő Motorsport is a Hungarian motor racing team founded by Zoltán Zengő. They currently compete in the World Touring Car Cup and others TCR championships. The team also used to compete in the SEAT León Eurocup, where they won driver's titles in both 2009 and 2010, respectively.
The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of UK was the sixth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of UK. It was held at Brands Hatch in Kent, England on 18 July 2010. The two races were won by Yvan Muller of Chevrolet RML and Andy Priaulx of BMW Team RBM.
The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of the Czech Republic was the seventh round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the fifth running of the Race of the Czech Republic. It was held at the Masaryk Circuit near Brno, Czech Republic on 1 August 2010. The two races were won by Robert Huff of Chevrolet RML and Andy Priaulx of BMW Team RBM.
The 2010 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held at the Okayama International Circuit near Mimasaka, Japan on 31 October 2010. The first race was won by Robert Huff of Chevrolet RML and race two was won by Colin Turkington of Team Aviva-COFCO.
The 2010 Guia Race of Macau was the eleventh and final round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the Guia Race of Macau as a World Touring Car Championship round. It was held at the Guia Circuit on the streets of Macau on 21 November 2010. The race was part of the Macau Grand Prix weekend, headlined by the 2010 Macau Grand Prix Formula Three.
The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of China was the eleventh round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the maiden running of the FIA WTCC Race of China. It was held on 6 November 2011 at the Tianma Circuit in Shanghai, China.
The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Spain was the second round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the eighth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Spain. It was held on 1 April 2012 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. Chevrolet driver Yvan Muller took pole position for the first race, with Wiechers-Sport's Stefano D'Aste on pole for the second race after the top ten qualifiers were reversed. Both races were won by Chevrolet with Muller winning race one and Alain Menu winning race two.
The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the fifth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 21 October 2012 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan. The first race was won by Alain Menu for Chevrolet and the second race was won by Stefano D'Aste for Wiechers-Sport.
The 2012 FIA WTCC Race of China was the penultimate round of the 2012 World Touring Car Championship season and the second running of the FIA WTCC Race of China. It was held on 4 November 2012 at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China for the first time, as the previous year's race was held at the nearby Shanghai Tianma Circuit. Both races were won by Chevrolet with Alain Menu winning race one and Robert Huff winning race two.
The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Hungary was the fourth round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the inaugural running of the FIA WTCC Race of Hungary. It was held on 5 June 2011 at the Hungaroring in Mogyoród near Budapest, Hungary.
The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Portugal was the sixth round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the fifth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Portugal. It was held on 3 July 2011 at the Circuito da Boavista street circuit in Porto, Portugal.
The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of UK was the seventh round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the seventh running of the FIA WTCC Race of UK. It was held on 17 July 2011 at the Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire, England.
The 2011 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the fourth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 23 October 2011 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan.
The 2011 Guia Race of Macau was the twelfth and final round of the 2011 World Touring Car Championship season and the seventh running of the Guia Race of Macau as part of the World Touring Car Championship. It was held on 20 November 2011 on the Guia Circuit in the Chinese special administrative region of Macau. The race was part of the Macau Grand Prix weekend, headlined by the 2011 Macau Grand Prix Formula Three.
The 2013 FIA WTCC Race of Japan was the tenth round of the 2013 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Japan. It was held on 22 September 2013 at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka City, Japan.
The 2015 FIA WTCC Race of Argentina was the opening round of the 2015 World Touring Car Championship season and the third running of the FIA WTCC Race of Argentina. It was held on 8 March 2015 at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in Termas de Río Hondo, Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina.
The 2015 FIA WTCC Race of Morocco was the second round of the 2015 World Touring Car Championship season and the sixth running of the FIA WTCC Race of Morocco. It was held on 19 April 2015 at the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan in Marrakech, Morocco.