BTCC champ Menu joins Opel’s DTM attack

The 37-year-old Swiss, who will campaign a 2001-spec Astra V8 Coupe for Euroteam, is one of only four drivers earmarked to receive brand new kit. The double BTCC champion, who is acknowledged as one of the world's leading exponents of front-wheel drive touring cars, gets his first taste of a 450bhp, rear-wheel drive machine at Hockenheim tomorrow (Wednesday).

Menu has conducted on-off discussions with Opel motorsport boss Volker Strycek since Ford pulled out of the BTCC at the end of the 2000 season, but it wasn't until the Russelsheim marque found a sponsor to finance a 2001-spec car that a deal became reality. A final contract will be signed after Wednesday's test.

"They didn't have the sponsorship a few weeks ago and now they do," Menu told Autosport. "I started chatting to them again two weeks ago and we did a deal at the end of last week.

"I'm very pleased," he added. "They [Opel] are very happy with the new car - it looks promising and it's a new venture for me. At Hockenheim I will drive on Wednesday morning in one of last year's cars. For me it's just a shakedown, but at least if I get three or four hours, it will be something to think about. After that, I get my new car at the end of next week."

Former touring car driver Strycek, who shook down the 2001 Astra last month, said: "Alain is a very successful touring car driver and someone who will make the Opel line-up even stronger. He's an excellent addition."

Menu replaces Stefano Modena in an expanded Euroteam effort that also sees former Audi DTM star Hubert Haupt switch from the FIA GT Championship to campaign a 2000-spec Opel.

As well as Menu, Opel's 2001-spec cars are earmarked for 2000 DTM runner-up Reuter, '93 BTCC champ Winkelhock and rising star Timo Scheider. Menu says that the ability to compete on equal terms with the marque's big guns was the deciding factor.

"I will have a free hand to start with," said Menu. "Then, if one of the Opel drivers is looking good for the championship, I guess the rest of us will have to help him, which is fair enough. But having said that, I have a lot more to learn in a short space of time [compared to Reuter and Winkelhock]. I even have to learn German again! And I have to brush up on my Italian, because most of the mechanics are from there."

Menu's move to the DTM brings his touring car career full circle. The UK-domiciled driver had his first tin-top outing in a BMW in the 1991 DTM, before switching to the BTCC with Prodrive. He took his first BTCC title at the wheel of a Williams-run Renault Laguna in 1997, then switched to Ford in 1999, heading a Blue Oval 'whitewash' of the final standings last year.

"Yes, the DTM's how I started in touring cars," he said. "I'm back there after 10 years, so it's quite funny in a way."

With Laurent Aiello signed for a second season with the Abt Audi squad, three former BTCC champions are in action in this season's DTM.

Menu's signing leaves only one seat still to be filled in Opel's eight-car DTM assault (see separate story).