DTC: 2001 series season preview

More than 30 drivers are entered for the series, which starts on April 29th The 2001 Danish Touringcar Championship is now only a couple of weeks away, as the opening round of the country's leading racing series will take place at Jyllands-Ringen on April 29th.

An exciting season is in prospect, where BP-backed Peugeot driver Michael Carlsen shall try and defend the title that he managed to win last year from under the nose of former Le Mans winner, John Nielsen, who once again is entered by McDonald's Nissan Racing. The duo is by many considered as favourites for this year's championship, which is spanning over a total of eight rounds, all of which count towards the championship.

Once again Jyllands-Ringen and Ring Djursland form the backbone of the series, but unlike previous years the DTC drivers will be faced with a lot of new challenges. Motor racing fans of Eastern Denmark will for instance get a great opportunity to get live experience of the Danish Touringcar Championship, when it pays a visit in July to Ring Knutstorp. The circuit in Soutern Sweden is just an hour's drive away from the capital of Copenhagen thanks to the new bridge link between Denmark and Sweden.

However, the biggest challenge for the drivers will without doubt be the new extended version of Jyllands-Ringen, which is expected to be ready for the annual Grand Prix in September. All DTC drivers will start on an even footing, as no-one will get a chance to learn the new 2.5 km track beforehand.

But the extension of Jyllands-Ringen is not the only news of the 2001 season, as the Danish Touringcar Championship now can be seen live on satelite television. On each raceday Danish satelite channel, TV2 Zulu, will make a five-hour live transmission with DTC as its centrepiece, and later the same night terrestial sister channel, TV2, will bring a 45 minute high-light of the day's action.

A total of 18 teams have been entered for the third edition of the Danish Touringcar Championship, and in common they will field 27 cars, which will be driven by up to 31 different drivers during the season, including for the first time, two non-domestic drivers, as Brit Julian Westwood and Norwegian Thomas Faraas are among the entries.

-DTCC-