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BMW
Faithful to its tradition of exploiting motor sport programmes to promote its road cars, BMW confirmed its presence in WTCC in which it clinched the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles three consecutive years, from 2005 to 2007.
In order to support the customer teams, in 2012 BMW Motorsport developed a kit to update the 320si cars to 320 TC, including the 1.6-litre turbo engine.
ROAL Motorsport, directed by the 1987 WTCC champion Roberto Ravaglia, run two cars for Dutch race winner Tom Coronel and Darryl O’Young. Liqui Moly Team Engstler confirmed their 2012 duo of Franz Engstler and Charles Ng, and so did Proteam Racing with Mehdi Bennani. Swiss racer Fredy Barth drives for Wiechers-Sport, while WTCC race winner Stefano D’Aste has established his own team PB Motorsport. -
Chevrolet
After launching the Cruze cars in 2009, Chevrolet managed to win back-to-back Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
Although the factory programme has been halted after eight seasons, the Chevrolet brand is still represented by four Cruze cars. Former Chevrolet works team Ray Mallock’s RML, one of the most experienced and winning outfits in Touring Car racing, run two of them for three-time World Champion Yvan Muller and former BTCC race winner Tom Chilton. The Chevrolet line-up is completed by two cars run by bamboo-engineering, for the English duo of James Nash and Alex MacDowall and one entered by Swedish outfit Nika Racing. -
Honda
In 2012 the Japanese car maker made its first WTCC appearance with the new Civic 5-door car at the events in Japan, China and Macau. This is Honda’s first works car racing programme since the brand pulled out of Formula One.
Now Honda is in for its first full season campaign, fielding three cars , built and developed by the Italian outfit JAS Motorsport and powered by the 1.6-litre turbo engine designed by Honda R&D.
Two works cars are run by the Honda Racing Team J.A.S for Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro, while a third machine is entered by Zengö Motorsport for 2012 Yokohama Trophy winner Norbert Michelisz -
LADA
Avtovaz, Russia’s first car manufacturer returned to the WTCC after its campaign in 2009.
After taking part in two events in 2012 with a single Granta Sport car driven by WTCC race winner James Thompson, the LADA Sport team field two cars in the 2013 season, one for Thompson and one for Russian driver Aleksei Dudukalo.
The team have secured the precious collaboration of French outfit ORECA for the technical development of the chassis and the 1.6-litre turbo engine. On top of this the programme is supported by Lukoil Racing, Russia’s major oil company. -
SEAT
Although SEAT Sport had officially left the championship after winning back-to-back Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles in 2008 and 2009, the Spanish brand is well represented with León WTCC cars powered by the new 1.6L turbo engine developed by the factory.
Three cars are raced by the ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport that joined WTCC after clinching the 2012 FIA GT1 title. The German outfit signed the reigning world champion Rob Huff in addition to René Münnich and 2012 GT1 world champion Marc Basseng.
Other León cars are run by Special Tuning Racing for Tom Boardman, Tuenti Racing for the 18-year-old Pepe Oriola and Campos Racing.
THEY SAID, THEY SAID… - News
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31 March 2012 16:59 THEY SAID, THEY SAID…Drivers’ quotes after the today’s qualifying session at Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Yvan Muller – pole position : “It was tough after the penalty I had in Q1. I was pleased with my time, but they told me on the radio that it had been disallowed and I had to go again. The question was using the same set of
tyres or going for a new one? But then I would have had only one set left for Q2. We decided to stay on the same set and fortunately I could secure a position among the top-12. In Q2 my first lap was very good, but because Gabriele (Tarquini) is capable of anything, I said myself : maybe this is not enough. So I made another attempt and managed to improve by one tenth. I’m happy to be on pole, because tomorrow’s races will be tough. It will be hot and Tommy (Coronel) is not far behind.”Gabriele Tarquini – 2nd : “I’m a little bit disappointed because of the mistake on my last lap in Q2, but to be honest my time would have been slower than Yvan’s. I was trying to improve my first run’s time, but I lost the front on my car at Turn 11 and found myself driving wide on the gravel. I was lucky that my first run was good enough to secure second place. A front row starting position makes me happy, because I think this is the best I could achieve, considering that Yvan’s 42.2 was an amazing lap time.”
Tom Coronel – 3rd : “I missed most of Q1 in the pits, because a driveshaft broke on my first lap out. The team did a great job, as they were capable to fix it in time for me to rejoin the session and post a lap time that sent me to Q2. On my first run in Q2 I saw Muller and Tarquini in front of me, so I said: they know the way, they are fast, so it’s better I follow them. And indeed they gave me a good tow. On my second run I was following Gabriele once again, but he made a mistake which spoiled my lap as well.”
Pepe Oriola – 1st in Yokohama Trophy : “This has been a great result for me and the team, especially after we had to fix a technical issue during the second free practice. We knew I could fight for pole position in the Yokohama Trophy, but definitely we did not expect to be among the top four. I could not have dreamed of a better result for the team and the Spanish fans. Now we need to focus on finding a good set up for tomorrow’s races.”
Standings
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1.
MULLER Yvan
198 pt.
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2.
TARQUINI Gabriele
118 pt.
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3.
NASH James
108 pt.
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4.
NYKJÆR Michel
96 pt.
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5.
HUFF Rob
77 pt.
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6.
CHILTON Tom
77 pt.
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7.
MACDOWALL Alex
73 pt.
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8.
CORONEL Tom
66 pt.
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9.
MICHELISZ Norbert
63 pt.
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10.
MONTEIRO Tiago
60 pt.
- 1. Honda 417 pt.
- 2. LADA 248 pt.
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1.
NASH James
78 pt.
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2.
NYKJÆR Michel
70 pt.
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3.
MACDOWALL Alex
66 pt.
- 1. RML 108 pt.
- 2. bamboo-engineering 81 pt.
- 3. ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport 49 pt.
