The Supercup was a

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

series created by the

ADAC ADAC, officially the Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (), is Europe's largest motoring association. ADAC is the largest club (Verein) in Germany with around 21 million members. It would be more aptly described today as an individual mo ...

in 1986 as a replacement for the

Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (translated as ''German Racing Championship'') or simply DRM as it was known, was a touring car and Sportscar racing series. It is regarded as a predecessor of the current DTM as Germany's top national series. His ...

(DRM). The series used

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

Format

The Supercup would employ a sprint format for all of its races, each race lasting approximately one hour although later events were extended to near an hour and a half. These short distances meant that unlike the

endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from an ...

races seen in the World Championship, Supercup teams would not be required to change drivers during the course of an event. Each season consisted of five rounds, all held in West Germany with the exception of a Silverstone round in 1989. Popular circuits included the Nürburgring, Hockenheimring,

Diepholz Diepholz (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Deefholt'') is a town and capital of the district of Diepholz in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the rivers Hunte and Lohne, approximately 45 km northeast of Osnabrück, and 60 km southwest of ...

airfield, and the Norisring 200 Miles event. The cars ran rules nearly identical to the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...

category, broken into C1 and C2 classes. The larger C1 class was dominated by both factory and customer Porsche 956s and 962Cs, as well as efforts from the Jaguar,

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, and Nissan factory teams. C2 consisted of teams running engines limited in capacity to produce less power than the C1 cars but also weighed less. Although two classes ran, only a single championship was held.

Champions

Championships for both drivers and teams were held over the four seasons.

Joest Racing Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany. Early years As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began t ...

won three championships, with the factory Porsche team winning during their sole year of competition. Hans-Joachim Stuck won the drivers championship the first two years for Joest then Porsche.

Jean-Louis Schlesser Jean-Louis Schlesser (born 12 September 1948) is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his wins of many different competitions. He is the nephew of Jo Schlesser, a former Formula O ...

managed to nab the drivers championship in 1988 for

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it un ...

- Mercedes although Joest retained the teams title.

Bob Wollek Bob Wollek (4 November 1943 – 16 March 2001), nicknamed "Brilliant Bob", was a race car driver from Strasbourg, France. He was killed on 16 March 2001 at age 57 in a road accident in Florida while riding a bicycle back to his accommodation afte ...

returned the drivers championship to the team in 1989, to go along with their third team title.

Demise

The championship was cancelled following the 1989 season as manufacturers and teams chose to concentrate solely on the World Championship rather than risking equipment and drivers for a national series. Porsche withdrew immediately after their 1987 championship, while Sauber left the series after failing to win the teams championship in 1988. Although fields of twenty cars were still seen in the final year, there was a lack of interest in a 1990 season, the series was folded.

References

{{reflist

External links

Supercup results
Group C Sports car racing series Auto racing series in West Germany 1986 establishments in West Germany 1989 disestablishments in West Germany Recurring sporting events established in 1986 Recurring events disestablished in 1989