If Maurer's new car goes as well as it looks, it will be hard to beat - Photo Credit: Maurer Motorsport
Teams have begun to enter this year's FIA European Touring Car Cup, which begins in March.
The series will be held over four race weekends, the first three of which will coincide with the World Touring Car Championship meetings at Monza (11 March), Valencia (1 April) and the Salzburgring (20 May). The competition will then come to a conclusion with a stand-alone event at Imola on 24 June, giving the victors some early silverware in 2012.
The first of the teams to commit is Swiss outfit Maurer Motorsport, who have previously run cars in the WTCC and the ADAC Procar Series based in Germany. They will enter a pair of new Chevrolet Aveo cars in the Super 1600 class, which will be driven by young Russian duo Alexander Frolov and Vadim Meshcheryakov. Frolov, 19, and Meshcheryakov, 21, were both champions in their domestic touring car series last year, winning the touring and national classes respectively.
“We are in process to build the cars, and the whole team are looking forward to the coming season,” said team manager Beat Maurer. “We are very happy to work with strong partners.”
The team are also in negotiations with drivers for a third Aveo as well as for a Lacetti and Cruze models in the Super 2000 class.
Meanwhile, Czech driver Peter Fulin has announced he will contest the ETC Cup with a Super 2000 BMW 320si run by Czech BMW specialists Autonagy. 34-year-old Fulin has previously won races in the German SEAT Supercopa as well as the Abarth 500 European Trophy.
