Michelin Pilot Motorsports 1997 Edition - Neu-F

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SUPER TOURING
For motorsports fans in the Uni ted States and Canada, 1996 was a year to remember: It marked
the debut of the North American Touring Car Championship and the opportunity to experience,
first hand, one of the fastest growing segments of motorsports in the world.
Featuring popu lar four-door sedans, the 2-liter Super Touring set has justly earned a reputation
for excitement before fans in dozens of other countries during the past five years.
From the Lime Rock season opener to the Laguna Seca finale, the NATCC racers, eq uipped with
The North American
Touring Car Championship proved every bit
as exciting as
its counterparts
throughout the rest of
the world. In its first
year of competition,
the battle was between
the Dodge Stratus
(above) and the Honda
Accord , leading the
pack at right.
Eventually, the contest
tipped in favor of the
Japanese car maker.
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"The popular
sedans more than
lived up to their
pre-season
promise of
paint-trading,
lender-to-lender
racing."
There was a great deal
of crowd interest in
the NATCC series and
its cars during its
1996 inaugural season
(left). Randy Pobst
(below) became the
first-ever North
American Touring Car
Drivers' Champion.
Michelin's ultra-h igh-perform ance Pilot radials, more than lived up to
their pre-season prom ise of paint-trading, fender-to-fender rac ing.
The early betting favored the new Dodge Stratus entries of the Chryslersu pported PacWest tea m. With Domini c Dobson and Dav id Donohue as
drivers, the spa rklin g American sedans did, indeed, present a formidab le
hurdle for auto makers seek ing to win the Michelin M anufacturers' Cup.
Whi le both Dobson and Donohue ea rn ed wins during the eight-weekend series, the sta rs of the show turned out to be Randy Pobst and hi s
Honda Accord. In fact, while others, including Toyota's Rod Mi llen,
Ford's Jeff Andretti and a host of potent BMW contenders, pushed the former Sports Ca r Club of America National Champion, the only one abl e
to mount a serious chall enge was Peter Cunningham, who took his
Honda Accord to four wins in the fina l six races, including both contests
at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. (Like its touring ca r seri es counter-
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Car Crri mpionship and
featuring the latest editions
from Opel, M ertledesBenz and Alfa Romeo, th e
lTC produced some of th e
hottest acti on ever seen in
Class 1 rac ing. In the end,
th e crown w ent to th e
Mi chelin -equipped O pel
Ca libra of Manuel Reuter
from the Reinho ld Joest
stable.
In all , Michelin tea ms
compi led 146 w in s in th e
major 1996 to uri ng ca r
championships around the
wo rl d. •
BMW was well represented in the NATCC series by
drivers like Steve Petty
(far left) , who was a serious contender all season.
Jeff Andretti and his Ford
(below) showed potential ,
but eventually lost out to
ill fortune. Manuel Reuter
and his Opel Calibra (left)
were the 1996 champions
in the FIA's 2.5-liter
International Touring Car
series.
parts in other parts of the world , the No rth America n Touring Ca r
Championship run s two races duri ng each event weekend .)
In the end, Pobst and Cu nningham combined to give Honda the 1996
M ichelin Cup. Pobst wo n the NATCC's first-ever Drivers' Champi onship.
For 1997, the prospects fo r Super Touring in North Ameri ca look even
better, w ith Dodge and Honda set to renew their ri va lry, an increased
interest on the part of BMW, and the potenti al for Ford and Toyota to
ex pand their partic ipation .
Whil e Pobst and Honda were cla iming victo ries in the NATCC seri es,
other Michelin-eq uipped tea ms were ea rnin g accolades in other touring
ca r championships.
Terry Moss and his Audi A4 won the Touring Car honors in South
Afri ca, w hi le Kas ikam Suphot and his Opel won th e South East Asia
Super Touring Champion ship. Naoki Hattori , driving a Honda, took top
honors in the j apa nese Super Touring Championship, and Nikko Kobe lt
bested the field to ea rn the season prize in the Sw iss Touring Ca r
Championship.
Another triumph for Michelin in 1996 w as the 2.5 li ter Class 1
Intern ational Tourin g Car title chase. Based on the o ld Germ an Tour ing
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AUTOMOTIVE PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS, INC.
3300 Corte Malpaso • Camarillo, CA 93012
805.388.7171 tel• 805.388.0030fax • info@neuspeed.com
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