Will WTCC on the Nordschleife work?

In a leafy district of Curitiba back in the spring of 2011, on the first floor of an upmarket restaurant, conversation at a World Touring Car Championship media dinner turned to venues the series might consider for its calendar.

Marcello Lotti, then WTCC promoter, provoked incredulous glances between attendees by mentioning that two-lap races on the hair-raising Nurburgring Nordschleife had been investigated. Preposterous, surely? From his position at the head of the table, the charismatic Italian clearly enjoyed watching the startled reactions, before going on to explain why such a race was unlikely to happen.

Sharing a taxi with colleagues back to our hotel, consensus formed that we had been party to Marcello in mischievous mood. Think about it, the WTCC, whose TV-friendly sprint races at the time lasted little longer than 15 minutes, on the Nordschleife? No, as Lotti had suggested, the stumbling blocks would be insurmountable.

Given the aforementioned, commonsense, conclusion, I was keen for AUTOSPORT's WTCC-related news slot to focus that week on a less speculative angle: namely that races in Moscow and the United States were being planned.

But that was without factoring in the allure of Dr Otto Creutz's epic creation - the Nordschleife - on my colleagues working on the news desk. As a result, riding over my protestations, our headline ran: 'WTCC EYES THE NORDSCHLEIFE'.

The WTCC's visit to the Nurburgring is thanks to Ribeiro's determination © XPB

Three years on, Lotti's replacement as WTCC promoter, Eurosport Events COO Francois Ribeiro, has had the vision and cojones to turn a fanciful idea into imminent reality.

Before looking into the reaction and practicalities of such an adventurous decision, it's time to eat humble pie and say 'good call' to my office colleagues.

As Ribeiro explained to AUTOSPORT last week, the WTCC's commitment to the Nordschleife stems from his desire to create a centrepiece race in Europe.

It's a bold move, but one that has set participating drivers and manufacturers abuzz, and potentially gives prospective new entrants, game for a challenge, something to ponder.

Returning from the WTCC's meeting at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, word had filtered through that the Belgian promoter had taken a hit owing to a modest turnout. There is much sense, therefore, in the WTCC tapping into a large audience by staging a curtain-raising act to the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

"If people are really honest, everyone's favourite WTCC event now is Budapest," says 2012 champion and Lada racer Rob Huff, who contested last weekend's 24 Hours in a Rotek Audi.

"That's because we get 80,000 people. I was at Le Mans the week before last and that had 260,000 fans. The Nurburgring 24 Hours is not too short of that. There are details to sort out, but 2015 will be an awesome event."

Before examining those details, let's take stock of what we know. Eurosport and the 24 Hours organisers, the ADAC Nordrhein, have agreed a three-year deal. The usual format of two 60km races will be replaced by one 120km event, most likely to be awarded double points.

As the WTCC's new-for-2014 TC1 cars have a range of 80km, a fuel stop will be necessary. But quite how that refuelling will be organised, Ribeiro is reluctant to reveal.

"I have a solution in mind, and you will see it will be quite creative," says the Frenchman. "One thing I can tell you it won't be [mimes a mechanic inserting a fuel churn at a pitstop]."

The issue of refuelling does not raise the only question mark. The contrast between the size of the 25km circuit and the WTCC's grid, which stands at 20 cars this year, is not lost on ROAL Motorsport boss Roberto Ravaglia.

Coronel and ROAL boss Ravaglia have their reservations © XPB

"I am quite worried about this, as the race could be only a few laps," cautions the Italian, twice winner of the 24 Hours as a driver and also a competitor on the Nordschleife in the DTM.

Ravaglia's driver Tom Coronel believes potential drawbacks should be kept in perspective relative to the positive value of the race.

"I'm not worried about that," offers Coronel. "I do VLN races with 250 cars, 10 times more, and even then it is empty. So it will be an interesting one. I don't know how they will solve it, but for TV it's not a problem because they will follow the cars. That's no difficulty.

"As long as the TV is good, that's OK because that's what you broadcast."

While VLN has waves of cars starting each race, fans camped around Adenau swilling Oettingers, Bitburgers and Beck's at next year's WTCC event are unlikely to witness a European Touring Car race acting as track meat to boost the spectacle.

"No, I want to keep it exclusively for WTCC," says Ribeiro. "Imagine if an ETCC accident ruined the event for the WTCC. I don't want to risk it."

Zengo Motorsport's Norbert Michelisz, a man largely responsible for the enormous crowd at his home round in Hungary, is representative of drivers' enthusiasm for a crusade to the Gruene Hoelle.

"It is the best," gushes Michelisz. "We have Spa, the Nordschleife and Macau. They're the best circuits in the world. It's very good for the image and reputation of the championship.

"Every driver knows it's the most demanding circuit in the world and everyone would like to drive there. It could attract not only drivers but also manufacturers."

Ribeiro has also indicated his hopes that a top German event could stir the interest of a German brand. For Kurt Treml, boss of BMW TC2 squad Team Engstler, such a scenario would be ideal.

Engstler's TC2 BMWs are the only German machines on the current WTCC grid © XPB

"We love the idea of the series going back to Germany, and especially on the Nordschleife, which is going to be very special," says Treml.

"Unfortunately, at the moment there are no German brands. We would really like to find a German TC1 car, as our sponsor Liqui Moly has a slogan already: 'Made In Germany'."

Coronel is not convinced that one race, no matter the venue, will have much impact on the number of privateers. "Be logical. You need a million euros, and not that many people have that amount of money.

"I mean [Hugo] Valente, [Tom] Chilton, [Dusan] Borkovic, [Rene] Munnich, they are racing because they have the background. I think it is a little bit difficult.

"But it is a cool move. I can see that the championship is making some movements, which I appreciate. They make noise, which is what we need. That makes it interesting for you guys to write and makes it interesting for us to promote.

"The more shit going on the better it is for me because then the sponsors get attention. If there's no shit you guys don't write it so then there's no attention.

"From my point of view, for the championship it is really cool. For the drivers, also, every driver wants to drive there. How to solve that we are only there with 20 cars, that's not my problem."

That message - 'We'll make it work' - seems to be repeated elsewhere. Alessandro Mariani, boss of Honda's car builders JAS, and Huff both proffer the wisdom of a winter test at the Nordschleife before rocking up to race at such an intimidating venue.

Some fear current cars might need modifying to handle corners like Karussell © LAT

"Of course, as a fan of motorsport I am really happy about the news because the Nurburgring represents the top of motorsport," says Mariani.

"On the other hand I immediately say to the promoter that to race on the Nordschleife with the current car will be difficult, because it's not designed for this track.

"We have to go and test before the end of the season, and I suppose that we need some modification on the car to make it super-comfortable for the Nurburgring.

"[My opinion is] I am in the middle. For the championship it is very great [news], for the drivers it represents a fantastic challenge, but it will have an impact on the car management because the circuit is completely different from the other normal ones."

Huff has no doubt that the determination to overcome such difficulties exists. "The way they're talking about the format is a one-hour race, a six-lap race, with a fuel stop. We have never done them, and the car is not geared up for pitstops. Each team has a different way they fill the car up for fuel.

"We have five nuts as opposed to a single nut for the wheel changes. But that's not a major drama. I think that's not difficult. There are quite a few things that need to happen, but the fact the idea is there and they have announced it means there is a lot of goodwill to get the event done.

"To have that kind of event with that atmosphere would be absolutely fantastic. It would look great on telly. Everyone loves touring car racing. For the leading world championship to go there would be very special."

Indeed, it is a salivating prospect for the motorsport fan. Come next summer, the fight for the World Touring Car drivers' crown is set to be of secondary consequence to the battle to be king of the 'Ring.