The 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup is ready to roll out of the gate this month at nearby Virginia International Raceway on April 24th. They're supporting the Grand Am series for this event, which is not as cool as the ALMS events, but cooler than the NASCAR ARCA series. Unfortunately I'll be in VA just a bit too early to attend...the weekend prior...and making a 10 hour drive just for the opener just isn't going to happen.
The rest of the year is also out of reach, except for the event in New Jersey. The old NASCAR cars are the headliner there, which is beyond disappointing to me, but I don't think it's enough of a nail in the coffin to make the WRS crew (that'd be all two of us) from not making the trip. If things go as planned, we should have a very, very inside look for everybody.
As far as a racing series goes, I think the TDI cup is very exciting, but honestly I'm not big on any one-make series. I mean, if every car is the same model from the same brand, they can never really lose a race. That said, it's a series full of hungry young drivers that have to lay it all on the line in order to get a win, and more importantly, maybe get noticed by a team in another series. (ALMS perhaps?) Plus, since it's VW and they're actually doing something in motorsport inside the USA no less, I'm all for it. I hope we can continue to enjoy the TDI series for a long time to come!_WRS
2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup Schedule
- Round 1 & 2 April 24 - 26 VIRginia International Raceway - Grand-Am - Alton, Va
- Round 3 May 15 - 17 Miller Motorsports Park ALMS - Salt Lake City, Utah
- Round 4 June 19 - 21 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Grand-Am - Lexington, Ohio
- Round 5 July 24 - 26 Autobahn Country Club Atlantics - Chicago, Ill.
- Round 6 Aug. 14 - 16 Road America ALMS - Elkhart Lake, Wis.
- Round 7 Aug. 28 - 30 Mosport International Raceway ALMS - Mosport, Ontario (Canada)
- Round 8 & 9 Sept. 11 - 13 New Jersey Motorsports Park ARCA - Millville, NJ
- Round 10 Sept. 25 - 27 Road Atlanta ALMS - Braselton, Ga.
It's nice to see people are taking so much interest in our series! I drive for VW in the TDI Cup (actually #41 in the third picture down) and it's been a dream come true! Last year being the inaugural year of the series, it took people awhile to hear about it, but after just a few races, people were coming to watch from far and wide. I can only imagine how popular it will be this year judging by how many drivers applied to try out for the team. Last year there were only about 750 applicants and this year there was about 3,600 applicants!
ReplyDeleteThe schedule you show above doesn't include Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT as round 3, May 15-17. Volkswagen solidified that race a little bit ago to make it a 10 race series this year as compared to only 8 last year. Round 3 at Miller is also with the ALMS.
If you make it to a race, look for me, Taylor Broekemeier.
Cheers!
hey Taylor, thanks for the heads up on the Schedule change! I'm aiming to try and get some solid coverage of the season...feel free to stop back anytime and let us know how things are going.
ReplyDelete-Nate _WRS