Reuter banks on new regs to beat Schneider

Reuter was DTM champion Bernd Schneider's closest opposition last year, winning four races to the Mercedes star's six. Next year's regulations gives Mercedes, Opel and the Abt Audi team an identical wheelbase and front and rear overhangs, so that each manufacturer starts from an even platform.

"Now that the wheelbase is the same for everybody I think this will help us a little more than Mercedes, because they had a longer wheelbase and more overhang," said Reuter. "I think we have more room for improvement than Mercedes, so I'm really looking forward to this year's championship."

Reuter will test the first Opel to be built to the revamped rules in February. He is pleased that the series heads outside Germany's borders this year, with rounds in Holland and Austria, and hopes the trend will continue in 2002 and beyond.

"It would be fantastic to race at somewhere like Donington or Silverstone," he said. "It would be nice to have two or three races outside Germany in Italy and England, that would be good for the championship. I think this is a step it will take in the near future. It needs a little more international appeal, but I don't think we should race outside Europe."

He has also talked about the controversy over last year's Hockenheim finale, when Opel team-mate Uwe Alzen punted him out of the lead of the first race, costing Opel a shot at the manufacturers' title. Alzen was subsequently sacked, then signed by Mercedes.

"Our relationship was never good," Reuter added. "I thought Uwe should be, let's say, clever enough to know what it would mean to Opel to bring the manufacturers' title home. At the end of the day, he paid the price for it. For me, it makes no difference to have him in the team or at Mercedes. Speed-wise he's very quick, there's no question about it, but sometimes you have to listen to team orders."

Reuter is currently in the middle of personal fitness course at a German hospital as he begins his build up to his 2001 campaign.