2012 World Touring Car Championship

[Linus Pettersson]

Great news, I really like Norbi and Gabor seems like an interesting driver. And it's also extra fun since they're both simracers. Good to see these new Hungarian drivers out on the European racing scene (thinking of the ETCC drivers as well).

The 2012 WTCC is looking to be beyond my own expectations. I thought we were in for a dull season but at times like this I'm so happy to be completely wrong

 

[Simon Melhuish]

Tiago Monteiro will return to the WTCC for his sixth consecutive season in the Championship, racing for the Tuenti Racing Team in a SEAT León 1.6T.

The 35-year-old Portuguese driver will join Pepe Oriola at the Spanish team, which is run by SUNRED, the team with which Monteiro has raced for the past two years.

The team will be running the brand new SEAT 1.6 turbo engine along with rival SEAT teams Lukoil Racing and Special Tuning Racing.

"I am very pleased to be renewing my contract with SEAT Tuenti Racing Team," said Monteiro.

"It's an extension that is pretty obvious from a competitive and commercial standpoint. The brand is increasingly committed to the championship and the best proof of that is that the improvements made to the car this year are significant: a new engine and several major technical developments."

Monteiro and Tuenti Racing Team will test briefly at Imola ahead of the open test at Monza on Thursday, which will be Monteiro's first chance to run with the new SEAT engine.

"Next week, the Imola tests will be very important for preparing for the start of the season," added Monteiro. "These tests will be brief but no stone will be left unturned."

Source: TouringCarTimes

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Race of Italy
Race of Spain
Race of Morocco
Race of Slovakia
Race of Hungary
Race of Austria
Race of Portugal
Race of Brazil
Race of the United States
Race of Japan
Race of China
Race of Macau

The Race of Italy was the first round of the WTCC after its return in 2005. It was held at Autodromo Nazionale Monza between 2005 and 2008, and was held at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola in 2009. The race returned to Monza for the 2010 running and is the host of the season's opener in 2012.

Saturday 10th March 2012
09.00 FIA WTCC Free Practice 1
10.45 FIA WTCC Free Practice 2
14.30 FIA WTCC Qualifying (Eurosport 2, live)

Sunday 11th March 2012
09.00 FIA WTCC Warm Up (Eurosport 1, live)
13.20 FIA WTCC Race 1 (10 laps) (Eurosport 2, live)
17.05 FIA WTCC Race 2 (10 laps) (Eurosport 1, live)
All times are CET (GMT+1)

Driver & Cars
[Full Driver List] [Full Car List]

Last Years Highlights
Race 1 winner: Rob Huff (Chevrolet Cruze)
Race 2 winner: Rob Huff (Chevrolet Cruze)

 

[Josh Barton]

Hes only 35? Wow I thought he was at least 100.

 

[Kol Bailey]

Good for him! He's still got some fight in him.

 

[ivaneurope]

One advice: Don't create a seperate topic for every news story, unify all these topics in one single news topic(for example if you want to post a WTCC news, then post it in the WTCC news topic).

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

He hasn't impressed me at all during the last years. The guy had top material every season and still wasn't able to score better than sub-top positions and almost never outpaced any of his teammates. The only podiums he scored were in the seasons with a reversed start grid if i recall correctly.

 

[Simon Melhuish]

25 cars have been entered for the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship, with SUNRED confirming Andrea Barlesi and Fernando Monje today.
Spanish driver Monje tested with SUNRED recently at Valencia, whilst Belgian-Italian Barlesi was confirmed at SUNRED earlier today. Although Monje appears on the entry list for the season, he will miss the opening round of the WTCC however and instead will compete in the FIA European Touring Car for SUNRED in a non-1.6 turbo SEAT León.

Rickard Rydell is also on the entry list for the opening round of the Championship in a Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden-run Cruze 1.6T.

Although they are entering in independent teams, a few drivers have been ruled out by the organisers from competing in the Yokohama Independents' Trophy due to their caree rrecords.

This includes 2009 Champion Gabriele Tarquini, reigning STCC champion Rickard Rydell, former Formula 1 driver Tiago Monteiro, 2009 WTCC independents' champion Tom Coronel, and perhaps quite interestingly, 2010 BTCC independents' champion Tom Chilton, who will be new to the WTCC with Arena/Ford.

2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship Entry List - Monza

No - Driver - NAT - Team - Car
1 - Yvan Muller - FRA - Chevrolet - Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
2 - Rob Huff - GBR - Chevrolet - Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
3 - Gabriele Tarquini - ITA - Lukoil Racing Team - SEAT León WTCC
4 - Aleksei Dudukalo - RUS - Lukoil Racing Team - SEAT León WTCC
5 - Norbert Michelisz - HUN - Zengõ Motorsport - BMW 320 TC
6 - Franz Engstler - GER - Liqui Moly Team Engstler - BMW 320 TC
7 - Charles Ng - HKG - Liqui Moly Team Engstler - BMW 320 TC
8 - Alain Menu - SWI - Chevrolet - Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
9 - Rickard Rydell - SWE - Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden - Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
11 - Alex MacDowall - GBR - Bamboo Engineering - Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
12 - Pasquale Di Sabatino - ITA - Bamboo Engineering - Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
14 - James Nash - GBR - Arena International Motorsport - Ford Focus S2000 TC
15 - Tom Coronel - NED - ROAL Motorsport - BMW 320 TC
16 - Alberto Cerqui - ITA - ROAL Motorsport - BMW 320 TC
18 - Tiago Monteiro - POR - Tuenti Racing Team - SEAT León WTCC
20 - Darryl O'Young - HKG - Special Tuning Racing - SEAT León WTCC
22 - Tom Boardman - GBR - Special Tuning Racing - SEAT León WTCC
23 - Tom Chilton - GBR - Arena International Motorsport - Ford Focus S2000 TC
24 - Isaac Tutumlu - SPN - Proteam Racing - BMW 320 TC
25 - Mehdi Bennani - MOR - Proteam Racing - BMW 320 TC
26 - Stefano D'Aste - ITA - Wiechers-Sport - BMW 320 TC
27 - Gábor Wéber - HUN - Zengõ Motorsport - BMW 320 TC
40 - Andrea Barlesi - BEL - SUNRED Engineering - SEAT León WTCC
74 - Pepe Oriola - SPN - Tuenti Racing Team - SEAT León WTCC
88 - Fernando Monje - SPN - SUNRED Engineering - SEAT León WTCC

 

[Simon Melhuish]

Bamboo Engineering are ready for the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship season opener at Monza this weekend after a final shakedown at Rockingham.
"The shakedown went very well. We had a dry day so it meant we had the chance to get a lot of laps completed and do what we needed to do. Both of the drivers came away happy so it means we can head out to Monza knowing exactly where we are," said Team Principal Richard Coleman.
While the spirits are high ahead of Monza, Coleman emphasizes the fact that the team's two Chevrolets are going to carry extra weight for the season opener.
"Unfortunately we have to start 40 kilos heavier than our rivals in the first two rounds because we are running a Chevrolet, and as the car which won last year's championship we have this maximum ballast imposed on us at the start. It is going to make things a little bit tricky. Monza is a challenging track, and this extra ballast will make it very tough on front tyre wear," said Coleman.

The team is going to run a pair of Chevrolet Cruzes for drivers Alex MacDowall and Pasquale Di Sabatino in the championship this season.
"Alex and Pasquale are fired up and ready to go and we have a test before the racing weekend begins so hopefully we can use this to our advantage and iron out some of these issues before it really counts," said Coleman.

Source: TouringCarTimes

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Aaaargh another ugly paintjob, bah!

 

[Simon Melhuish]

The final two cars' base weights have been set by the FIA Touring Car Committee, with SEAT's new León WTCC and the Ford Focus S2000 TC given a base weight of 1,150kg, but the Fords' will run with an additional 30kg penalty at Monza.

The Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T, BMW 320 TC and SUNRED León 1.6T, as the only cars taking part this season in the same specification as they did last year, have already had their base weights calculated by the FIA.

The Cruze's base weight increases by 10kg this year to 1,160kg, whilst the BMW's has dropped by 10kg to 1,160kg, which was previously running to a higher base weight on account of being rear-wheel drive.

Chevrolet will also carry the maximum penalty weight for the first two race meetings due to a new ruling for this year applied to the 2011 Championship winning model.

The new SEAT León WTCC will run at 1,150kg, as will the few cars run by SUNRED with their 1.6T engine, and both will be the lightest cars on the grid at Monza.

Arena's Ford Focus S2000 TC's base weight was also set at 1,150kg, but the FIA have requested that the team alter their suspension axles as they do not believe they're in full conformity with the regulations, with Ford's engineers having interpreted the rules differently.

As there's no time for the team to alter the suspension before the third round of the Championship at Marrakech, the team have been granted a waiver for the first round this weekend but will have to carry an additional 30kg of ballast as compensation, which will be reviewed again at Valencia.

Source: TouringCarTimes

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Confusing news. Does this mean that the Leon's have two different kind of engines? The 1.6 developed by SunRed and an all new one by Seat themselves? Will the Lukoil team run the latter?

Ford S2000 (??) TC? TC as in Turbo on a S2000 spec car? I thought those regulations were put overboard for this year and teams were only allowed to run the turbocharged 1.6 engines?

If it would have said BTCC in the title I believed it also Very confusing.

 

[Simon Melhuish]

The TC was added the the Ford Focus name in BTCC as it was a newer model over the new one so it was easier to seem who was running what car on paper. I guess they stuck with it when they moved to WTCC.

Im not sure on the Leon question as i haven't been keeping up with WTCC that closely.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Do you know if Ford will run an obsolete 2000cc atmospheric engine for this year in the WTCC?

 

[Simon Melhuish]

No they cant, WTCC is 1.6 turbos only. I believe you can only run 2.0 if its a non turbo like volvo did at the start of last season.

 

[Simon Melhuish]

I've done some digging at SEAT couldn't make enough engines for all the cars so some have new engines and some are running last years engines.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Tom Coronel hit a cone at the Ascari chicane during practice and putting his team to work

 

[Ivo Simons]

So this season all cars have the 1.6 Turbo?

 

[Simon Melhuish]

Chevy 1-2-3-4-5 in practice

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Source: huffy's facebook page