1996 International Touring Car Championship

The 1996 International Touring Car Championship was the thirteenth season of premier German touring car championship and also only first and final season under the moniker of International Touring Car Championship. It was for FIA Class 1 Touring Cars and it was contested by Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo and Opel. It was formed of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft series that ran both a short German & International-based series in 1995. These were fused together to form the International Touring Car Championship (abbreviated to ITC). The eventual champion was Manuel Reuter driving an Opel Calibra, and Opel won the manufacturer's championship.

Season summary

The Class 1 rules made sure that all cars had a pure-bred 2,5 L V6 racing engine, lots of electronics, and few things in common with the road cars, except Mercedes sticking to the standard RWD layout while the other two implemented AWD drivetrains. All three manufacturers were relatively equally-matched and competitive all season, with Opel's other winning drivers besides Reuter being the experienced Hans-Joachim Stuck, who took a double victory in Helsinki, and 1994 champion Klaus Ludwig who repeated the feat at Norisring. Alfa Romeo came second to Opel in the standings, with former Benetton Formula One driver Alessandro Nannini taking a convincing seven victories, including four-in-a-row midseason, to place third in the championship. Team-mate and compatriot Nicola Larini could manage just two wins late in a season blighted with retirements, meaning the Ferrari test driver would not be a feature in the title battle.

Mercedes-Benz may have finished third and last in the constructors standings, but were every bit as competitive as their two rivals. Reigning DTM & ITC champion Bernd Schneider racked up four wins, including a double at Diepholz, en route to second in the championship, though 1995's DTM runner-up Jörg van Ommen scored a solitary win in a lacklustre campaign. Their junior team-mates – future Stewart driver Jan Magnussen and IndyCar Series star to-be Dario Franchitti – also scored a win apiece in the first and last rounds of the series respectively. This meant the Scot placed a creditable fourth in the standings, whilst the Dane's mid-season defection to CART along with a number of retirements served to prevent him from challenging for the title. Others who impressed but failed to win a race included sometime Benetton and Sauber driver JJ Lehto for Opel, young Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who combined an assured sophomore tin-top season for Alfa Romeo with a part-season for the Minardi F1 team, and former Porsche Supercup champion Uwe Alzen who completed the championship top ten by finishing in eighth for Opel.

Looking further down the field, ex-Tyrrell and Jordan F1 driver Stefano Modena endured an average season with Alfa Romeo, whilst fellow Alfa Romeo driver and former BTCC champion Gabriele Tarquini suffered from appalling luck which severely hampered his title tilt despite taking a convincing victory at Silverstone. Christian Danner also disappointed for Alfa Romeo, whilst the respective team-mates of Reuter and Schneider – Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas and former DTM champion Kurt Thiim – curiously also had torrid seasons. The latter was replaced at the end of the season, along with future F1 driver Alexander Wurz and Jason Watt, as all three manufacturers elected to enter a local driver each during the last two events at Interlagos and Suzuka. Among these, German F3 regular Max Wilson was the most impressive, the Brazilian finishing second on home turf at Interlagos.

In the end, it was consistency that gifted Reuter the title – he scored points during the first fifteen races of the season, and only failed to do so six times all season. In comparison, Schneider failed to score nine times and Nannini twelve, despite both taking more wins with four and seven respectively as opposed to Reuter's three.

Despite boasting a tremendously strong driver line-up, consisting largely of former F1 drivers, ostensibly robust manufacturer support, and focus on well-balanced Class 1 rules with fast touring cars powered by high revving engines, the series suffered from poor media exposure and television coverage. In Germany, the success of Michael Schumacher had drawn attention and money towards Formula 1, which along with lacklustre spectator attendance figures meant there was comparatively little money coming into the series in comparison to the huge cost of running a 'Class 1' touring car. The series had moved away from popular German race tracks, like the Nürburgring Nordschleife, to venues abroad. This was exacerbated by two long intercontinental journeys to Interlagos and Suzuka, circuits located in countries where some of the competing road car models weren't actually sold. This meant that Alfa Romeo and Opel announced in September they would pull out at the end of the series, despite having hitherto committed themselves to compete until the end of 1997, and driven up costs with the use of 4x4. With Mercedes-Benz the only manufacturer remaining committed for 1997, the series was cancelled. AMG-Mercedes quickly shifted to the new FIA GT series and developed the Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR in only 128 days, winning the series in 1997 and 1998 and effectively killing it with dominance. It wouldn't be until 2000 that a high powered touring car championship was resurrected, albeit as the new DTM which was based firmly in Germany, using V8 powered race cars under bodyshells that looked like roadgoing 2-door coupes.

Teams and drivers

Make	Car	Team	No.	Drivers	Rounds
Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	D2 Mercedes-AMG	1	Bernd Schneider	All
		D2 Mercedes-AMG	2	Dario Franchitti	All
		Warsteiner Mercedes-AMG	3	Jan Magnussen	1–6, 9–13
				Juan Pablo Montoya	7
				Ricardo Zonta	8
			4	Alexander Grau	1–6
			4	Bernd Mayländer	7–13
		UPS Mercedes-AMG	11	Jörg van Ommen	All
			12	Kurt Thiim	1–11
				Christian Fittipaldi	12
				Aguri Suzuki	13
		Persson Motorsport	21	Ellen Lohr	1–8
			21	Alexander Grau	9–13
			22	Bernd Mayländer	1–6
				Alexander Grau	7–8
				Ellen Lohr	9–13
			37	Ratanakul Prutirat	6
Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI	Martini Alfa Corse	5	Nicola Larini	All
		Martini Alfa Corse	6	Alessandro Nannini	All
		JAS Motorsport Alfa Romeo	9	Stefano Modena	All
		JAS Motorsport Alfa Romeo	18	Gabriele Tarquini	All
		Jägermeister JAS Motorsport Alfa Romeo	10	Michael Bartels	All
		Bosch JAS Motorsport Alfa Romeo	19	Jason Watt	1–11
				Max Wilson	12
				Naoki Hattori	13
		Giudici Motorsport	13	Gianni Giudici	1–8, 10-11
		TV Spielfilm Alfa Corse	14	Giancarlo Fisichella	All
		TV Spielfilm Alfa Corse	15	Christian Danner	All
Opel	Opel Calibra V6 4×4 [de]	Joest Racing Opel	7	Manuel Reuter	All
			8	Oliver Gavin	1–10, 12–13
			8	Masanori Sekiya	11
			23	Volker Strycek	8
			24	Yannick Dalmas	All
			25	Alexander Wurz	1–11
				Tony Kanaan	12
				Masanori Sekiya	13
		Zakspeed Team Opel	16	Uwe Alzen	All
			17	Klaus Ludwig	1–9, 11–13
			17	Volker Strycek	10
		Team Rosberg Opel	43	JJ Lehto	All
		Team Rosberg Opel	44	Hans-Joachim Stuck	All
		Giudici Motorsport	13	Gianni Giudici	6–8, 10–11

Schedule and results

Round		Country	Circuit	Date	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Driver	Winning Team	Report
1	R1	Germany	Hockenheimring (Short Circuit)	14 April	Nicola Larini	Alessandro Nannini	Manuel Reuter	Joest Racing Opel	Report
1	R2	Germany	Hockenheimring (Short Circuit)	14 April		Jan Magnussen	Jan Magnussen	Warsteiner Mercedes-AMG	Report
2	R1	Germany	Nürburgring	12 May	Jörg van Ommen	Dario Franchitti	Jörg van Ommen	UPS Mercedes-AMG	Report
2	R2	Germany	Nürburgring	12 May		Jörg van Ommen	Manuel Reuter	Joest Racing Opel	Report
3	R1	Portugal	Autódromo do Estoril	26 May	Alessandro Nannini	Alessandro Nannini	Alessandro Nannini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
3	R2	Portugal	Autódromo do Estoril	26 May		Alessandro Nannini	Alessandro Nannini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
4	R1	Finland	Helsinki Thunder	9 June	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Dario Franchitti	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Team Rosberg Opel	Report
4	R2	Finland	Helsinki Thunder	9 June		Hans-Joachim Stuck	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Team Rosberg Opel	Report
5	R1	Germany	Norisring	23 June	Uwe Alzen	Uwe Alzen	Klaus Ludwig	Zakspeed Opel	Report
5	R2	Germany	Norisring	23 June		Uwe Alzen	Klaus Ludwig	Zakspeed Opel	Report
6	R1	Germany	Diepholz Airfield Circuit	7 July	Bernd Schneider	Bernd Schneider	Bernd Schneider	D2 Mercedes-AMG	Report
6	R2	Germany	Diepholz Airfield Circuit	7 July		Alexander Wurz	Bernd Schneider	D2 Mercedes-AMG	Report
7	R1	Great Britain	Silverstone Circuit	18 August	Klaus Ludwig	Alessandro Nannini	Klaus Ludwig	Zakspeed Opel	Report
7	R2	Great Britain	Silverstone Circuit	18 August		Gabriele Tarquini	Gabriele Tarquini	JAS Motorsport Alfa Romeo	Report
8	R1	Germany	Nürburgring	1 September	Alessandro Nannini	Alessandro Nannini	Alessandro Nannini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
8	R2	Germany	Nürburgring	1 September		Alessandro Nannini	Alessandro Nannini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
9	R1	France	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	15 September	Nicola Larini	Giancarlo Fisichella	Alessandro Nannini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
9	R2	France	Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours	15 September		Giancarlo Fisichella	Alessandro Nannini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
10	R1	Italy	Mugello Circuit	29 September	Nicola Larini	Nicola Larini	Nicola Larini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
10	R2	Italy	Mugello Circuit	29 September		Bernd Schneider	Bernd Schneider	D2 Mercedes-AMG	Report
11	R1	Germany	Hockenheimring (GP Circuit)	13 October	Klaus Ludwig	Uwe Alzen	Klaus Ludwig	Zakspeed Opel	Report
11	R2	Germany	Hockenheimring (GP Circuit)	13 October		Manuel Reuter	Manuel Reuter	Joest Racing Opel	Report
12	R1	Brazil	Autódromo José Carlos Pace	27 October	Christian Danner	Alessandro Nannini	Alessandro Nannini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
12	R2	Brazil	Autódromo José Carlos Pace	27 October		Giancarlo Fisichella	Nicola Larini	Martini Alfa Corse	Report
13	R1	Japan	Suzuka Circuit	10 November	Christian Danner	Christian Danner	Dario Franchitti	D2 Mercedes-AMG	Report
13	R2	Japan	Suzuka Circuit	10 November		Bernd Schneider	Bernd Schneider	D2 Mercedes-AMG	Report

Drivers Championship standings

Pos	Driver	HOC1		NÜR1		EST		HEL		NOR		DIE		SIL		NÜR2		MAG		MUG		HOC2		INT		SUZ		Pts
1	Manuel Reuter	1	3	3	1	4	3	2	2	6	5	10	6	6	6	4	16	Ret	DNS	18	7	2	1	4	4	13	14	218
2	Bernd Schneider	4	2	4	6	11	12	16	Ret	9	6	1	1	16	5	2	2	Ret	8	2	1	14^†	Ret	5	14	3	1	205
3	Alessandro Nannini	10	13	EX	EX	1	1	14	4	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	17	11	1	1	1	1	11	Ret	6	Ret	1	5	10	5	180
4	Dario Franchitti	3	4	2	8	9	10	17^†	DNS	5	Ret	2	2	21^†	14	3	3	6	4	4	2	Ret	7	13	10	1	Ret	171
5	JJ Lehto	15	Ret	5	2	16	Ret	5	3	4	3	7	Ret	5	2	7	5	5	3	9	15^†	5	8	6	9	Ret	8	148
6	Giancarlo Fisichella	7	10	EX	EX	2	5	12	5	11	Ret	3	Ret	Ret	9	5	4	3	2	3	13	12	5	12	16	4	2	139
7	Klaus Ludwig	Ret	DNS	Ret	Ret	3	11	3	Ret	1	1	Ret	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	11	9	5			1	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	130
8	Uwe Alzen	8	6	18	4	5	2	13	Ret	2	2	11	10	13	Ret	12	6	4	13	7	3	3	Ret	Ret	DNS	9	12	119
9	Hans-Joachim Stuck	5	7	6	14^†	Ret	7	1	1	7	4	5	4	12	15	22^†	12	7	Ret	5	16^†	17^†	9	7	Ret	18	18^†	112
10	Jan Magnussen	2	1	7	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	17^†	DNS	16	Ret					Ret	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	4	14	3	7	3	97
11	Nicola Larini	11	12	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNS	3	Ret	6	15	2	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	1	6	6	95
12	Stefano Modena	Ret	DNS	17	Ret	DNS	9	7	Ret	3	13	4	3	4	Ret	13	10	13	7	Ret	14	Ret	10	2	8	5	4	92
13	Jörg van Ommen	Ret	9	1	13^†	7	4	9	Ret	8	7	13	5	18	Ret	9	8	8	9	NC	8	8	3	15	6	14	13	87
14	Gabriele Tarquini	Ret	DNS	10	5	Ret	14	Ret	DNS	Ret	DNS	20	DNS	2	1	Ret	17	15^†	Ret	13	6	4	Ret	Ret	DNS	DNS	Ret	60
15	Christian Danner	13	Ret	9	10	12	13	8	Ret	Ret	DNS	15	Ret	10	13	18	20	Ret	DNS	12	Ret	7	6	3	Ret	2	7	48
16	Alexander Wurz	Ret	Ret	12	DSQ	10	8	Ret	9	12	8	9	8	7	4	Ret	DNS	10	6	6	9	Ret	DNS					43
17	Yannick Dalmas	Ret	11	Ret	DNS	8	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	DNS	12	7	9	7	8	7	Ret	DNS	10	10	18^†	Ret	8	11	12	9	33
18	Kurt Thiim	12	8	8	12^†	DNS	DNS	18^†	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	11	Ret	10	10	Ret	11	10	8	4	10	Ret					23
19	Max Wilson																							9	2			17
20	Jason Watt	Ret	Ret	13	9	15	DNS	DNS	DNS	15^†	DNS	22	12	8	3	14	Ret	Ret	12	14	Ret	Ret	Ret					17
21	Michael Bartels	14	14	11	Ret	18	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	DNS	8	Ret	DSQ	8	15	14	Ret	DNS	20	DNS	13	Ret	Ret	17	15	17^†	16
22	Alexander Grau	6	5	Ret	DNS	13	DNS	Ret	10	13	10	18	Ret	15	Ret	17	18	14	11	15	11	Ret	12	17	12	17	15	16
23	Oliver Gavin	Ret	DNS	14	Ret	6	6	10^†	Ret	10	12	17	9	11	Ret	16	Ret	12	15	17	Ret			11	15	16	11	16
24	Bernd Mayländer	Ret	Ret	16	Ret	14	Ret	11	7	16^†	11	19	14	14	Ret	11	9	Ret	DNS	Ret	Ret	9	Ret	16	7	8	Ret	15
25	Ellen Lohr	9	Ret	15	11	Ret	Ret	15	8	14	9	21	13	20	12	20	21	Ret	14	16	12	11	11	18^†	13	21	Ret	7
26	Christian Fittipaldi																							10	Ret			1
27	Aguri Suzuki																									11	DNS	0
28	Masanori Sekiya																					15	13			20	DNS	0
29	Ricardo Zonta															Ret	13											0
30	Gianni Giudici	Ret	15	Ret	DNS	17	15	19	NC	Ret	14	Ret	Ret	19	Ret	21	22			Ret	Ret	16	Ret					0
31	Naoki Hattori																									19	16	0
32	Volker Strycek															19	19			19	Ret							0
	Juan Pablo Montoya													Ret	Ret													0
	Tony Kanaan																							Ret	Ret			0
	Ratanakul Prutirat^[1]											DNQ	DNQ															0
Pos	Driver	HOC1		NÜR		EST		HEL		NOR		DIE		SIL		NÜR		MAG		MUG		HOC2		INT		SUZ		Pts

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	Second place
Bronze	Third place
Green	Points finish
Blue	Non-points finish
Blue	Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple	Retired (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Red	Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
	Withdrew (WD)
	Race cancelled (C)
Blank	Did not practice (DNP)
	Did not arrive (DNA)
	Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

† Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.

Note: bold signifies pole position, italics signifies fastest lap. Grid order for race 2 was decided by the finishing order in race 1.

Notes

Points System: 20–15–12–10–8–6–4–3–2–1 for the Top 10 drivers in each race. No extra points awarded.

Manufacturers Championship Standings

Final placings in the 1996 FIA Touring Car International Championship for Manufacturers were:^[2]

Pos	Manufacturer	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	EST 1	EST 2	HEL 1	HEL 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	NUR 1	NUR 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	MUG 1	MUG 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	INT 1	INT 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	Pts
1	Opel	1	3	3	1	3	2	1	1	1	1	5	4	1	2	4	5	4	3	5	3	1	1	4	4	9	8	349
2	Alfa Romeo	7	10	9	5	1	1	4	4	3	13	3	3	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	6	4	5	1	1	2	2	340
3	Mercedes-Benz	2	1	1	3	7	4	9	7	5	6	1	1	14	5	2	2	6	4	2	1	8	3	5	3	1	1	305
Pos	Manufacturer	HOC 1	HOC 2	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	EST 1	EST 2	HEL 1	HEL 2	NOR 1	NOR 2	DIE 1	DIE 2	SIL 1	SIL 2	NUR 1	NUR 2	MAG 1	MAG 2	MUG 1	MUG 2	HOC 1	HOC 2	INT 1	INT 2	SUZ 1	SUZ 2	Pts

References

^ The DTM/ITC had a 105%-limit to qualify for a race. Prutirat was the only driver ever to be caught by this.
^ 1996 FIA Touring Car International Championship for Manufacturers results Retrieved from web.archive.org on 24 December