2017 World Stock Car Championship Season | |
---|---|
Season | |
Races | 31 |
Start Date | March 12 |
End Date | November 19 |
Awards | |
Special Event Winners | |
← Previous: 2016 | Next: 2018 → |
The 2017 World Stock Car Championship was the 65th season of the World Stock Car Championship, a stock car racing championship recognized by the sport's governing body, the WSCA, as the highest class of stock car racing in the world. Drivers and teams are scheduled to compete in 31 races across 29 race weekends, beginning with The Icebreaker on March 12 and ending in New York City on November 19.
The 2017 was the first under the current technical regulations, which came about as part of the series' ongoing commitment to safety. As a result, the 2017 cars are noticeably longer and closer to the ground than the 2016 models.
Schedule[edit | edit source]
Changes[edit | edit source]
- The Round of Brazil is removed from the schedule following massive civil unrest in 2016; it is replaced with the Round of Texas, which slots in between Atlanta and Mexico.
- The Grand Prix of Japan moves from October to April, creating a pacific tour early in the season.
- The Brickyard 300 moves from late September to early May as part of the kickoff for the Indianapolis 500.
- The Grand Prix of Toronto moves one week later to make room for Indianapolis.
- The Quebec and Newfoundland Grands Prix move from May to August.
- The Detroit Twin 300s move from July to August to coincide with the Woodward Dream Cruise. The Round of Washington moves to the weekend after Daytona.
- The Round of Colorado returns to the schedule after six years, filling the spot formerly held by the Round of Washington.
- The Boston Double moves from September to November.
- Darlington moves from late to early September as a result of other schedule changes.
- Virginia moves from late October to mid September.
- Turkey and Abu Dhabi move from mid August to mid October following complaints about the heat.
Teams and Drivers[edit | edit source]
Chartered Teams[edit | edit source]
The following teams have been granted a full-time charter, guaranteeing them a grid spot at all WSCC races, excluding the three special events. All chartered teams will be given two entries per race, with a third car allowed for special events and substitutions.
Independent's Trophy Teams[edit | edit source]
The following teams are entered in the 2017 Independent's Trophy competition. These teams are not guaranteed a spot in the main event; they will run a race for Independent's points prior to the main race, where the top eight finishers will be granted a spot on the grid in the main event. The only exception to this will be the three special events, where every driver is eligible for the main race.
Team Changes[edit | edit source]
- 77 Race Engineering rebrands its WSCC effort as Holden Sport Plus following a new sponsor agreement with Plus Fitness.
- Alex Kennedy Racing and Emerson Michaels Motorsports merge to form KM Racing.
- Alitalia Racing Team exits the sport amidst the team's bankruptcy declaration.
- Arthur Fox Motorsports returns to the series after a two-year hiatus.
- DSK Racing renumbers the 59 car to 64.
- Dyson Racing leaves the series after competing for the Independent's Trophy for three seasons in order to focus on its V8 SuperCar effort.
- E.C. Mireles enters the Independent's Trophy as part of SEAT's entry into the series.
- Hansen Motorsports expands to a three car effort, bringing Thomas Drennan on board from WSCC Lites and signing Kaitlynn Headley from David Brewer Racing.
- YK2 Motorsports reverts its name to Kulikovski Autosport.
- LaGrande Autosport enters the series as the Renault factory team, officially under the name Renault Autosport LaGrande.
- Marcus Stevenson Motorsports merges with David Brewer Racing and renumbers the 66 car to #70.
- Opel Race Team shuts down the #80 team, contracting to two cars and releasing Emanuel Medrano from his contract.
- Ray Stafford Motorsports shuts down its development program in the WSCC, opting to favor the WSCC Lites program.
- Red Bull ends its partnership with Ray Stafford Motorsports and signs with Everton Racing. Red Bull Development moves from a Mercedes-backed Lola effort to an Acura team.
- SEAT Sport enters the series with a two-car effort
- Stover Racing purchases the assets of Myranda Watt Racing, which went into administration midway through 2016.
- Tata Motorsports enters the series backed by Tata Motors.
- TMO Racing signs a partnership with Target, rebranding itself Target TMO Racing in the process.
Driver Changes[edit | edit source]
- French touring car driver Aleron Dupéré enters the series as part of the Renault effort.
- Amalia Moretti signs with Everton Racing following the closure of Alitalia Racing Team and the departure of Walther de Coninck to Renault.
- Anthony Martin signs with Stover Racing, continuing his association with the team formerly owned by Myranda Watt.
- Arthur Fox returns to the series after serving as mayor in his hometown of Mansfield, Ohio.
- Austin Rogers replaces Niles Sanna as the reserve driver for TMO Racing following the latter's retirement from stock cars.
- Canadian Cal Farrell is named the second driver for VP Racing following the departure of Sean Hyde.
- Carmine Mazzi is named the new reserve driver for Scuderia Benedetti following the closure of Alitalia Racing Team. Felix Klein leaves the reserve role to race with Opel.
- Claude Chassé replaces Adrien Bollanger as the driver for Autosport Couet and Peugeot.
- Drew Stafford renews his development contract with Red Bull; following the closure of Stafford Race Development's WSCC team he signs fully with Red Bull Development, preferring to have a chance to compete in the top-level.
- Elizabeth Carey moves to the AP Moore team.
- Ethan Galvin takes over the full-time role at SG Motorsports following the departure of Abbi Alonzo, who left for Brazilian SuperCars. Júlia Zsinka of Hungary is chosen to replace Galvin as the reserve driver.
- Emanuel Medrano signs with upstart E.C. Mireles and SEAT.
- FormulaRUS driver Emelyan Levkin joins Kulikovski Autosport and Lada for the 2017 season.
- Fausto Zapata renews his contract with Red Bull Development and will compete for Rookie of the Year; previously, Independent's drivers were not eligible due to the short schedule.
- Jai Kishore enters the series as part of the Tata Motorsports team.
- Jake Blackett is signed to drive the Qantas Racing Team entry following the retirement of Landon Sanders from regular competition.
- Juan Rascon leaves MRT to return to Ford's Formula One program. Victor Flannigan leaves Metzger to replace Rascon.
- Kaitlynn Headley leaves David Brewer Racing following the purchase of that team by Marcus Stevenson Motorsports; Headley later signs with Hansen Motorsports.
- Karol Scivert signs with Brad Parker Motorsports following two seasons in Formula Ford.
- Michael Baier moves to Red Bull Development after driving for the team in DTM.
- Odell Green, Jr. signs with DSK Racing following the departure of Craig Morgan, who returned to Champ Car.
- Palmer Stiles leaves Mazda JD Motorsports to develop his WSCC Lites team. Donald Watson is named as his replacement.
- Icelandic rally legend Pétur Andrésson signs on as Everton Racing's reserve driver, hoping to be the first Icelander to race in the WSCC.
- Rebecca Bennett leaves her role as a reserve driver for Team LSR to drive for Tomas Rojer's team. Liz Carter is later contracted to replace Bennett.
- Sander Heiberg signs with Black Hawk Motorsports following the departure of Tommy Zhou, who is taking a sabbatical to deal with concussion-related illness.
- Sebastian Thorsen signs with second-year team Nordsport, who used a rotating crop of drivers in 2016.
- Stefan Fischer joins Hasegawa Autosport as their third driver following the departure of Sumire Morimoto, who announced a one-year hiatus to give birth to her daughter with Luca Bauer.
- Thomas Drennan moves up from WSCC Lites to drive for Hansen Motorsports' Independent's Trophy effort.
- Wei Tan leaves TMO Racing to run for GAC in the Pacific Championship; Ben Clark, Jr. moves up from WSCC Lites after two strong seasons.
Manufacturer Changes[edit | edit source]
- Kia enters the series, their first foray into stock car racing outside of the Pacific Championship.
- Lada enters the sport, making them the first Russian manufacturer to enter the series full-time.
- Lola exits the sport after ten years supporting Independent's Trophy teams, forcing multiple teams into new engine and chassis agreements.
- Following the bankruptcy of Alitalia Racing Team, Maserati exits the series; FCA announces that Maserati may return alongside Alfa Romeo in 2018.
- Mitsubishi pulls funding from the sport but will allow teams to adapt its bodies to the new regulations.
- Nissan switches from the GTR to the Maxima.
- Renault returns to the sport after a 30-year absence.
- SEAT enters the sport with factory team SEAT Sport WSCC.
- Tata Motors enters its namesake brand in the series for the first time in 2017; the group previously entered Jaguar from 2008 (when it purchased Jaguar from Ford) through the conclusion of 2015.
- Autosport Tomas Rojer switches from Volkswagen to SEAT and will continue to buy engines from Sun Racing.
- Balderas Racing switches to SEAT after two years with Chrysler.
- Brad Parker Motorsports signs a two-year contract with Ford Motor Company to drive the Lincoln Continental in 2017.
- Hansen Motorsports turns down an offer from Chrysler to sign with new entrant Kia, forming a partnership with Genesis Racing and Turbosport in the process.
- Kulikovski Autosport leaves Mitsubishi after a ten-year partnership to be the flagship Lada team.
- Marcus Stevenson Motorsports switches to Subaru following the exit of Lola, ending their engine partnership with Chevrolet.
- Nate Hubbard Motorsports switches to new manufacturer Renault after the departure of Mitsubishi.
- Red Bull Development switches from Mercedes to Acura following Red Bull's new partnership with Honda and Everton Racing.
- Stover Racing switches to Renault following its purchase of Myranda Watt's assets.
- Thompson Race Team switches to Volkswagen following the exit of Lola, incorporating its engine-building program with Volkswagen race engineering.
Offseason Changes[edit | edit source]
Technical Regulations[edit | edit source]
- New technical regulations scheduled for roll out in 2018 were accelerated for the 2017 season following Tommy Zhou's concussion-related health issues, which took him out of the car after the 2016 Grand Prix of Toronto. These are geared at continued increases in driver safety, while keeping the cars difficult to drive. These changes include:
- A decrease in engine horsepower from 750 to 650 HP.
- A decrease of the minimum weight of the car from 1450 kg (3196 lb) to 1250 kg (2755 lb), not including the driver.
- Lowering the ride height from 135 cm (53 in) to 130 cm (51 in) and shrinking of the spoiler from 15 cm (6 in) to 11.5 cm (4.5 in).
- Shortening the wheelbase from 280 cm (110 in) to 267 cm (105 in).
- Additional support bars in the roll cage to help the roof maintain structure in the event of a rollover.
- Increase to a six-speed, paddle-shifted gearbox from the five-speed used since 2008.
- Anti-intrusion panels are required for all races following several crashes in the ASCT.
- Cost controlling measures have been implemented on engines and other power components.
New Independent's Trophy Format[edit | edit source]
During 2016 winter testing at Phoenix, WSCC officials announced a major overhaul to the Independent's Trophy starting in 2017; these overhauls had been expected since late 2015, when the series acknowledged that it would be looking at making the Independent's Trophy more appealing and cost-effective to teams, sponsors and new manufacturers.
Teams will no longer be limited to four races per season (excluding the special events). Instead, the Independent's Trophy teams will run the day before the race, similar to the qualifying races used from 1983 through 2009. All entrants in these races will score Independent's points, and the top eight will advance to the main event to run for championship points. The only exception to this will be the special events, where the only way to make the main race will be to qualify on speed or through the qualifying races. The team will continue to use the 2002 - 2008 points system for the Independent's championship, and will not be penalized if they finish less than half of the race distance. Additionally, 25% of the points the teams earn from championship events will be added to their Independent's total; series officials wanted to emphasize that championship-caliber teams needed to run consistently well.
Initial reactions were positive; smaller teams in particular praised the added exposure racing every weekend would give them, and many felt that attracting sponsors would be easier with guaranteed time in front of the fans.
New Qualifying Format for Special Events[edit | edit source]
Qualifying for the three special events was revamped to place more emphasis on qualifying up front. The new procedure will be as follows:
- On qualifying day, the top ten qualifiers are locked into the field and move on to Pole Day.
- On Pole Day, a fifteen-minute knock-out qualifying session will take place after the first practice. Three drivers will be eliminated every five minutes until the Pole Winner is determined.
- Drivers who did not advance to Pole Day will be sorted into two pre-qualifying races based on their row (inside row to PQ1, outside to PQ2). The top twenty from each race will advance to the final qualifying race, where the top thirty cars will advance to the main event.
The qualifying procedures have been compared to the Indianapolis 500, which uses similar rules but does not make use of qualifying races. Qualifying races are often used in the American Stock Car Tour for limited-capacity events and for the series' races at Daytona and Talladega.
Sporting Regulations[edit | edit source]
- All road and street course races will utilize standing starts, which were first tested at Sonoma in 2016 to wide approval from drivers and fans.
- Active time penalties will no longer be used on oval races; instead, grid penalties will be applied to any infraction where a time penalty would have been issued.
- Qualifying rain-out procedures will vary depending on track type:
- For oval races, qualifying will be set by points standings. The Independent's Trophy drivers will start at the back of the field.
- For road and street races, qualifying will be set by practice speed. Independent's Trophy drivers will be seeded with the chartered teams.
- For special events, qualifying will be held the first available day to set the grid and determine the qualifying races.
- Penalties for unsafe pit release and causing an avoidable collision have been modified for 2017:
- If a team is deemed to have released a car in an unsafe or reckless manner, the team will lose its grid spot for the next race as well as its pit selection. Multiple unsafe releases will result in points penalties for the driver and team, and suspension of the race engineer.
- A driver who is deemed to have caused an avoidable collision maybe held in the pits for up to fifteen seconds. Stewards will have the option to review all collisions after the race and apply grid penalties for the next weekend. A driver may be suspended for causing multiple avoidable collisions, and multiple suspensions may result in loss of WSCC license.
- Series officials announced new travel cost offsets to help aid smaller teams in making races that are farther from their main operating facilities. This was aimed particularly at allowing these teams to stop renting garages for short term racing operations.
General Changes[edit | edit source]
- A new global path to qualify for a WSCC license has been implemented, with the rules applying from 2017 onward.
- The Independent's Trophy was officially named in honor of Parsonsport founder Jack Parsons, honoring Parsons' record as a longtime owner-driver for a single-car team.
- The WSCA officially increased the number of races allowed in a season from 30 to 32 to allow approval of the new schedule.
- Hoosier and Goodyear entered the series as tire suppliers alongside Bridgestone, marking the first time since 2002 that there are multiple tire suppliers in the series.