European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday january 11, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 25 racing Roundup no of in Mercedes racing plans Daimler Benz which returned to International racing last year on a highly successful basis has officially revealed its motor sports Competition plans for 1989 and stresses that it will continue with its original program of touring car and world championship sports car racing. The recent touring car sports car racing program announcement ended a great Deal of speculation in the racing world that Daimler Benz would soon embark on a formula one grand prix Competition program. Most German motor sports fans doubtlessly had hoped for that action and indeed Why not Mercedes is the Only German car to have a great reputation in grand prix racing from the turn of the Century through 1955and if Mercedes returned to formula one then the glory years would be revived. In announcing its 1989 program Daimler Benz said its Board of directors had agreed on a motor sports plan for the immediate future and that in 1989 the Mercedes Benz 190 series cars will once again contest the German touring car championship and the Sauber Mercedes cars will contest the world sports car championship. The Board said that a for Mula one engagement is still n9t a part of the motor sports program of Daimler Benz a. Werner Niefer Deputy chairman of the Board and the Man who spearheaded Daimler Benz return to racing said in Stead of formula one we prefer to con once again the Sauber Mercedes c9 will Lead Daimler Benz s racing program. Last year the German Audi firm competed in the trans am series for the first time and won that championship eight victories in 13 races while Hurley Hay Wood of Jacksonville Fla., one of Audi s three factory Drivers captured the trans am driving Crown. So with nothing left to conquer Audi is moving into Simsa to production car racing. For the Simsa Campaign Audi says that its three stars from last season Haywood and German Drivers Hans stuck and Wal Ter Rohrl All will return with the fourth Driver not yet determined. Audi says that stuck and Haywood will contest 12 races with Rohrl sup porting stuck in the five Long distance events that require Driver changes. Audi will use a racing version of the Audi 90 Quattro for its Simsa Campaign the Quattro to be powered by a special 2.1-Hter, Multi valve 5-Cylinder Turbo engine. The team will be directed by Audi sports chief Herwart Kreiner who will work closely with Audi of America throughout the season. The Only Simsa to races that Audi will not contest Are the 24 hours of Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring this due to Lack of development time. Audi s first Simsa race is set for March 5 at Miami with stuck to do the driving. 9 in International rally ing swedish Drivers starred in their Home event last weekend with swedes cent rate fully on touring car and sports car racing. This Type of racing we believe gives us our Best Opportunity to demonstrate and prove our optimal competitiveness and technical  in its return last year the Mercedes Effort was impressive to say the least with the Mer cedes powered Sauber Mercedes c9 cars winning five races in 10 starts and placing second to Jaguar in the world championship standings. The Sauber Mercedes Driver Jean Louis Schlesser of France placed second in the Driver s championship losing out to the englishman Martin Brundle who drove for Jaguar. So in its first year Mercedes made a big Impact. The Swiss made Sauber cars were powered by 5 liter v8 Turbo engines during the 1988 season these racing engines developed from the a class production Mercedes Power plants. The engines will be improved to obtain More horsepower for next season the output last year was in the 700 horsepower Range. So the British Jaguar firm the defending makes Champion faces a Strong Challenge from the German team. The sports car racing regulations for 1991 and beyond Call for normally aspirated engines of 3.5 liners and Daimler Benz has a development program under Way for these engines. Sauber Mercedes will have the Frenchman Schles ser Back for a second season while Germany s to Chen mass and the italian Mauro Baldi will also return. New to the team this year will be the englishman Kenneth Acheson. In the 1988 German touring car championship the title was won by German Ace Klaus Ludwig in a Ford Sierra co Worth but As in sports car racing Mercedes made a Good showing in its first year on the touring car Trail with Germany s Roland Asch runner up in a Mercedes 190 e 2.3-liter, 16-valve car. This season Daimler Benz will Field three Mercedes 190 e teams in the championship am motored Bau Snobeck racing service and is Jet racing these teams receiving full Mercedes factory support. As noted last month in this column Ludwig has switched to the am Mercedes team for the 1989 season and except for the 24 hours of be mans his touring car drives have top priority. A three time Winner of the be mans classic Ludwig will also join the Mercedes sports car team for that one. Co driving with Ludwig on the am team will be Kurt Thiim of Denmark while frenchmen Dany Sno Beck and Alain Cudini Are partners on the French Sno Beck team. At is Jet racing the Drivers Are Roland Asch and Manuel Reuter both of Germany. The racing director for Mercedes is Jochen Neer Pasch a highly successful Driver during the 1960s. Neerbasch who counts the the 24 hours of Daytona among his Many victories is a former racing director of Ford and Bow. The Mercedes Effort for the 1989 season is obviously a Strong one and you la have plenty of Opportunity to see both the sports car and touring car action in Europe this year. We be already published the sports car schedule so won t repeat it until our annual Calendar in february. But Here s the German touring car championship schedule and it goes As follows with three of the races in the 11-race series to be staged outside Germany zolder Belgium april 9 Bockenheim april 16 Nair Burgering april 30 Mainz Fin then Airport Cir Cuit May 14 avus Berlin May 28 Bockenheim june 11 Diepholz Airport circuit july 9 Nii Burgr ing aug. 6 Misano Italy aug. 20 Magny Cours France oct. 1 and Bockenheim oct. 15. Audi meanwhile has announced its american racing plans for 1989, these plans featuring a move to the Simsa series to class Competition and dropping participation in the Acca trans am series. Placing first through third in the rally of Sweden the 1989 world rally championship opener. Winning was Ingvar Carlsson who drove a Mazda 323 in the 1,100-mile event. Carlsson finished 1 minute and 3 seconds ahead of his countryman per Eklund in a Lancia Delta integral while Mikael Ericsson in another Lancia Delta integral came third. Sex world Champion Timo Salonen of Finland the Mazda team s top Driver and Winner of the swedish rally in 1987, led big until he went off the Road at the two thirds distance Mark. His Mazda teammate Carls son then took the Lead and kept it to the end. The swedish rally counted for Points in the world championship for Drivers but did not count for manufacturers Points. The next round is the Monte Carlo rally Jan. 20-27. E today s final note concerns the cart indy car champi9nship Calendar for 1989, with the first race on the list now cancelled. The 16-race series was scheduled to open on March 26 in Japan at Fuji inter National raceway near Tokyo an event that would have been something new and different for the cart series. But the race was cancelled after the federation internationale do sport automobile fisa put pres sure on the japanese organizers fisa threatening to drop Japan from International race meetings if the cart indy car event went through. With fisa holding All the cards the japanese were forced to yield. Cart chairman John Frasco has Given notice that he plans to put pressure on fisa through International courts to Stop such actions in the future. Regardless the japanese race is now out and the cart indy car championship schedule reverts to 15 races with the opener now set for april 9 the checker 200 at the Phoenix International raceway in Phoenix Ariz. The stars and stripes Short track race included in iroc schedule Linton Falls . A the first Short track contest in series history highlights the four event Budweiser International race of champions schedule announced monday. The 13th annual Competition again will match a dozen of the world s top Drivers representing different types of Auto racing in identically prepared iroc a Chevrolet Samaros. Indy car Star Al Unser or. Is the reigning iroc Champion. Iroc Xiii will begin Friday feb. 17 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach Fla. The 100-mile, 40-Lap race on the 2.5-mile super Speed Way will Mark the fifth consecutive year and 10th time Overall that Daytona has hosted iroc. It also will be the 50th race in iroc history. On saturday april 29, iroc will move to the one mile Pennsylvania International raceway in Nazareth a. The 100-mile event will be the first time iroc has raced on a Short Oval. The third race will be saturday aug. 5, at the Michigan International Speed Way in Brooklyn Mich. The 100-mile, 50-Lap Chase on the two mile mis super Speedway will be the 14th series event at the Irish Hills facility the most at any Active track. The finale will be saturday aug. 12, at Watkins Glen International in wat Kins Glen . The 72.84-mile, 30-Lap Competition on the Glen s 2.428-mile, seven turn Road course will be the site of iroc s concluding race for the fourth straight season. We think our first Ever Short track race will provide an exciting new element to the iroc series said iroc president Jay Signore. Over the years Many fans have told us they d like to see the iroc Samaros on a Small Oval. It should be a real Challenge for the  Signore said the 12 invited Drivers will be announced soon