The legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife, ranked by many as the toughest track in the world, is up next for the FIA European Touring Car Cup regulars from 25-27 May. And despite the immense challenge it presents and having raced into an early title lead with three wins from four starts, Christjohannes Schreiber has no plans to take things easy.

At 25.378 kilometres, the Nürburgring Nordschleife is more akin to a high-speed rollercoaster ride than a race circuit with endless climbs, dips and turns testing drivers – and their cars – in the extreme. With two three-lap races in store, Schreiber can’t wait to get started. 

“I'll try to go to the Nordschleife like it's the first race of the season, as if it starts from zero,” said the Rikli Motorsport Honda Civic driver. “At the moment when you start to think about the championship, about driving defensively, you're not giving it your best. I just try to focus sessionby- session and we will see.”

Schreiber scored his one and only ETCC podium in 2016 on the Nordschleife and is more than aware that repeating the feat will be far from easy due to the high-level competition he will face. Czech Petr Fulín (Křenek Motorsport SEAT) won the first of two ETCC races at the Nürburgring last season and needs to emulate that performance to get his title bid back on track. Schreiber’s Honda-driving team-mate and fellow Swiss Peter Rikli is also searching for points after he retired while leading the previous round at the Hungaroring, where Zengő Motorsport’s young Hungarian duo Nobert Nagy and Zsolt Dávid Szabó both impressed.

Approximately 200,000 fans are expected at the Nürburgring this weekend with hopes of a home win resting on Andreas Pfister’s shoulders. The Obersfeld-based driver is an established ETCC frontrunner and will be eager to impress in his self-run SEAT. Other drivers in action include Portugal’s Fábio Mota, Serb Mladen Lalušić, Macedonian Igor Stefanovski, Hungarian female driver Anett György and Bulgarian Plamen Kralev, the sole Audi RS3 LMS pilot on the grid. 

The ETCC is the official feeder series to the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Uniquely, both championships will be on track at the same time at the Nürburgring, albeit with the drivers lining up on split grids to take into account the difference in car performance, which is some five seconds per lap owing to various technological and component differences.

All Audis and SEATs in action at the Nürburgring Nordschleife will run to TCR rules and the category’s Balance of Performance under an agreement for 2017 between motorsport’s world governing body, the FIA, and WSC Ltd, the organisation behind TCR. They will compete in the headlining ETCC 1 category alongside FIA TCN2 and Single Make Trophy-eligible machinery.

WEEKEND OVERVIEW: The ETCC is making its second appearance at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Following testing on Thursday and Free Practice sessions that evening and on Friday morning when all ETCC and WTCC drivers are on track at the same time, Qualifying is from 14h10 on Friday with the ETCC drivers alone on track followed by two three-lap, split-grid races on Saturday morning. ETCC cars will have 100 added to their race number to avoid any duplication with WTCC cars. Visit http://www.its-results.com/etcc for live timing and results.

THEY SAID WHAT?

Andreas Pfister: “The Nürburgring Nordschleife is a very special place. It’s a big challenge every year to be here in the ETCC so the first success is to be on the grid and I’m very proud of it. We can be in the top five for sure and if we have a little luck we can be more on the top.”

Zsolt Dávid Szabó: “I started the second race in Hungary thinking to take care of the car for Germany but, unfortunately, the opposite happened when I collided with Petr Fulín. I hope the guys have been able to fix it in time because I did not expect such a good start in the ETCC and I would like it to continue.”

Christjohannes Schreiber: “I'll try to go to Nordschleife like it’s the first race of the season, as if it starts from zero. At the moment when you start to think about the championship, about driving defensively, you’re not giving it your best. I just try to focus session-by-session and we will see.”

WHAT’S NEW FOR 2017? While the ETCC continues to feature at four WTCC events, including on a combined grid at the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Zolder returns to the calendar after a break of 12 months and Most hosts the ETCC for the first time at its season-finale meeting in early October. In other changes, the ETCC Super 2000 Cup has been renamed ETCC 1 with the ETCC Super 1600 Cup renamed ETCC 2. The ETCC Nations’ Cup will not be awarded in 2017.

RULES REFRESHER: The results of Qualifying will determine the grid order for Race 1 with the results of the first race deciding the starting grid for Race 2, albeit with the top eight finishers lining up in reverse order. However, unlike in previous seasons both races will begin from a standing start. ETCC 1 and ETCC 2 competitors will score points as follows: fastest three drivers in qualifying: 3-2-1. The top eight finishers in each class in each race will score: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. A race-by-race prize fund of €18,000 will be shared among the classified finishers in ETCC 1.Yokohama continues as the ETCC’s tyre partner for 2017.

PROVISIONAL KEY TIMINGS:

• Thursday 25 May: 11h30-12h30: Testing; 18h50-19h50: Free Practice 1
• Friday 26 May: 08h15-09h15: Free Practice 2; 14h10-14h50: Qualifying; 15h00 (approx.): Post-Qualifying press conference (Media Centre)
• Saturday 27 May: 11h20-11h50: Race 1 (3 laps); 12h45-13h15: Race 2 (3 laps); 13h25: Race podiums; 13h45 (approx.): Post-Race press conference. Timings provisional, subject to change

STANDINGS: 1 Schreiber 41; 2 Fulín 25; 3 Nagy 23; 4 Rikli 21; 5 Stefanovski 15; etc.