2012 World Touring Car Championship

[Chris Butcher]

I still can't believe that with all the history of Touring Car racing we have in the UK that WTCC is not coming here this year.

IMO, WTCC is a dying series and is far worse (in terms of spectacle) than STCC or BTCC

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Well, you should wait until STCC/TTA 2012 starts before making that comment about STCC

 

[ivaneurope]

No UK round. At least they had to go at Silverstone.
How much is UK presented in WTCC:
5 Drivers(Nash, Boardman, Chilton, Huff and Thompson)
4 Teams(RML, Arena, STR and bamboo)
and NO British round?

 

[GAIAjohan]

No round in Western-Europe is just idiotic..
No Germany, no Netherlands, no UK, no Belgium, no France...

All countries have awesome tracks to choose from..

But they will go to Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Portugal..

 

[Kol Bailey]

I say they go to Donington and BRANDS HATCH. The Slovakia ring isn't a bad track. I like it. But I have no idea why they have that jump.........

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I don´t understand why they won´t go to England or Sweden. In Sweden we have some of the best tracks suited for these type of cars.

It´s like Go-cart tracks for cars of this nature

 

[William Levesque]

Hampus, I like your little Swedish tracks ! They have that "club" feel to them that makes it much better than sterile high tech tracks

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

 

[ufunacaoenn]

I don´t understand why they won´t go to England or Sweden. In Sweden we have some of the best tracks suited for these type of cars.

It´s like Go-cart tracks for cars of this nature

Say that to the Swedish goverment and Swedish market..... (can't remember if we run any Europien or Interlational event here. ATM )

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Say that to the Swedish goverment and Swedish market..... (can't remember if we run any Europien or Interlational event here. ATM )

I think Scandinavian is the most international we are at the moment.
Was better when we hosted F1 GP´s

 

[ufunacaoenn]

I think Scandinavian is the most international we are at the moment.
Was better when we hosted F1 GP´s

I some ways yes but, I was talking about Sweden. (don't try to twiste the topic)
And Internation is which way????

 

[Péter Bártfai]

Would be great if I could visit both the Slovakian and Hungarian rounds. Both are about equally close to me.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

The ROAL Motorsport team made his first outing of the season at Valencia, for a two-day test on Monday and Tuesday.

“We really needed it, to wake up from hibernation!” Team principal Roberto Ravaglia said.Both drivers of the Italian team, Tom Coronel and WTCC newcomer Alberto Cerqui, had the opportunity to spend long time at the wheel of their BMW 320 TC cars.

“Tom completed about 500 laps and Alberto about 400,” unveiled Ravaglia, adding: “It was a very important occasion for Albert his first proper test in a WTCC car. All in all he did very well and showed a good potential that I’m confident we will be able to exploit from the first event at Monza.”

The age difference between Coronel and Cerqui is twenty years. “This is not going to be a problem,” Ravaglia commented. “Tom has a much younger spirit than his forty years and is a very easy person. For now they have a few communications problems as Alberto is not very familiar with English. But he will learn fast and I’m sure that he will benefit a great deal by racing alongside Tom.”

Source: fiawtcc.com

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

After missing the first outing of SEAT’s new 1.6-litre turbo engine because of the snowfall that hit Italy, Gabriele Tarquini was finally able to drive the Lukoil Racing Team’s León car at Valencia last Monday.

The Italian driver was then replaced by his team-mate Aleksei Dudukalo who tested on Tuesday.

“Although we are rather behind with the timing, I have to say that I was impressed by the test,” the 2009 World Champion said. “This was only the second time the engine ran on track, and yet it showed an interesting potential. Reliability is there – as we completed the test without suffering from the least technical issue – the power is already comparable with that of the SUNRED unit we used last year. But the big step forward is a wider range of power that was our main issue last year. Now, in order to fully exploit it, we have to fine-tune the engine management that is brand new and very sophisticated.”

The team is now heading to Portugal for further testing at Estoril (Saturday and Sunday) and Portimão.

Source: fiawtcc.com

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Stefano D‘Aste and Wiechers-Sport will be reunited once again for the 2012 season.

The Italian driver had first raced for the German outfit back in 2007, when together they claimed the WTCC Yokohama Trophy title; then he was back with the team in 2009 and again last year for three events that culminated in a Yokohama Trophy race win at Oschersleben.

“I'm very happy to be back in WTCC and to Wiechers-Sport. I missed the championship a lot as racing with Lotus in the Gt4 was nice, but WTCC is another world. I know it will be tough and that I will need some races to be back on top. We will arrive at Monza without any testing and it won’t be easy, but we have a good car, a great technical support and I trust the team,” D’Aste declared.

Team manager Dominik Greiner commented: “We have worked hard to fix our 2012 programme in the WTCC. And I’m really happy that we managed to find a deal with Stefano once again. He has a lot of experience and we have been very successful together. I think we have a very strong package for the season.”

Source: fiawtcc.com

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

“Tom has a much younger spirit than his forty years and is a very easy person.

No kidding!

 

[Simon Melhuish]

Arena Motorsport completed a couple of test days at Guadix in Spain and Estoril in Portugal. Behind the wheel of the Ford Focus were drivers Tom Chilton and James Nash.
"So far everything is going well as we had planned," said Team Manager Mike Earle to Eurosport.
Arena is new to the FIA World Touring Car Championship this year after previously competing in the British Touring Car Championship.
"Our aim for this first WTCC season is to gain experience; we expect to be competitive next year and fight for the world title in three years. I think we have a great potential, especially because we may count on two young and fast drivers like Tom and James," said Earle.

The learning curve is going to be steep with a vast number of tracks that are completely new to both drivers, as well as the team.
"I'm sure they won't have problems in learning the tracks they don't know. It will be more difficult for the team because of the lack of data. However, we haven't ruled out the possibility to add a third car during the season," said Earle.

Source: touringcartimes.com

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Great looking car! Even without a paintjob.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

What a bloody shame. No Volvo C30 this year in the WTCC anymore. They will focus on the their larger car the S60 in the Swedish TTA. Car and driver will be missed.

 

[Simon Melhuish]

Thats a shame, it looked like the only car that had the pace of the Chevy's last season but it never had any luck.