Italian Superturismo Championship

The Italian Superturismo Championship (Campionato Italiano Superturismo) is Italy's national motorsport series for touring cars. It was established in 1987 and its drivers' title has been held by such notable drivers as Le Mans winner Emanuele Pirro and two-time Champ Car champion Alex Zanardi.

Italian Superturismo Championship
CategoryTouring cars
Country Italy
Inaugural season1987
Drivers' champion Nicola Baldan
Makes' championSEAT
Current season

History

Established in 1987 under Group A rules the series saw champions like Johnny Cecotto, Roberto Ravaglia and Nicola Larini winning the title before switching to Supertouring regulations in 1993. That season was won by Ravaglia in a BMW 318i. The next years would be dominated by Audi and their 80 and A4 Quattro models as Emanuele Pirro won in 1994 and 1995 and Rinaldo Capello in 1996. Ex-F1 driver Emanuele Naspetti took BMW's second title in 1997.

Alfa Romeo and Nordauto Engineering (the team that became N.Technology) had run the Alfa Romeo 155 during the 1993–1997 years but wouldn't win the series until they introduced their 156 model in 1998. Fabrizio Giovanardi won in that car both in 1998 and 1999.

Revival

The cancellation of the FIA Super Production championship in 2002 would mean the resumption of the Superturismo championship, albeit now under Super Production rules and named the Superproduzione. The SP cars were in many ways less advanced than the Super 2000 relatives in the ETCC. Salvatore Tavano won the 2003 Superproduzione season in an Alfa Romeo 147. The championship became an all-147 series in 2004 won by Adriano De Micheli. The season saw a very low number of entries with between four and six participants each weekend.

The ETCC became the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in 2005. At the same time the Superturismo was truly revived with Super 2000 rules. Alessandro Zanardi would win the first season in a BMW 320i. In 2006 SEAT joined the championship as a full works team with two Leóns driven by Roberto Colciago and Davide Roda. Colciago won the title ahead of returning 1997 champion Emanuele Naspetti in a BMW 320i.

In 2007 the championship changed its promoter to Peroni Promotion and was renamed ITCC (Italian Touring Car Competition).[1] However, grids were small as several teams moved to the WTCC and the Superstars Series, and the series was merged with the Peroni-run Driver's Trophy midway through 2008.

For the 2016 season, the championship adopted TCR regulations for the main class.

Champions
Series NameSeasonChampionTeam Champion
Italian Superturismo Championship 1987 Michele Di Gioia (BMW M3) none
1988 Gianfranco Brancatelli (Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo) none
1989 Johnny Cecotto (BMW M3) none
1990 Roberto Ravaglia (BMW M3) none
1991 Roberto Ravaglia (BMW M3) none
1992 Nicola Larini (Alfa Romeo 155 GTA) Alfa Corse
1993 Roberto Ravaglia (BMW 318i) CiBiEmme Engineering
1994 Emanuele Pirro (Audi 80 Quattro) Audi Sport Italia
1995 Emanuele Pirro (Audi A4 Quattro) Audi Sport Italia
1996 Rinaldo Capello (Audi A4 Quattro) CiBiEmme Engineering
1997 Emanuele Naspetti (BMW 320i) CiBiEmme Engineering
1998 Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo 156) Nordauto Engineering
1999 Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo 156) Nordauto Engineering
Italian Super Production Championship 2002 Massimo Pigoli (BMW 320i) none
2003 Salvatore Tavano (Alfa Romeo 147) none
2004 Adriano de Micheli (Alfa Romeo 147) none
Italian Superturismo Championship 2005 Alessandro Zanardi (BMW 320i) ROAL Motorsport
2006 Roberto Colciago (SEAT León) SEAT Sport Italia
Italian Touring Car Competition 2007 Cesare Cremonesi (BMW 320i) Arsenio Corse
2008 Massimo Arduini (Honda Accord) Team Mercury GPS
Campionato Italiano Turismo Endurance Luca Cappellari (BMW M3 E92) none
2009 Roberto Colciago (SEAT León Supercopa) none
2010 Paolo Meloni (BMW M3 E92) none
2011 Piero Necchi (BMW M3 E92) none
2012 Andrea Bacci (BMW M3 E92) none
2013 Giancarlo Busnelli (SEAT León Cupra) none
2014 Paolo Meloni
Massimiliano Tresoldi (BMW M3 E92)		 none
2015 Valentina Albanese (SEAT León Cup Racer) none
Italian Touring Car Championship 2016 Roberto Colciago (Honda Civic TCR) none
TCR Italian Touring Car Championship 2017 Nicola Baldan (SEAT León TCR) none

Race winners

Podium Standings
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gollark: SEE?
gollark: ++search bad
gollark: ++search IT IS BAD OKAY.
gollark: WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

See also

References
  1. "Nuvolari3000.com NEWS, ITCC 2007". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
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