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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.
RACE 1 – MENU LEADS CHEVROLET 1-2-3 - News
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21 October 2012 08:20 RACE 1 – MENU LEADS CHEVROLET 1-2-3Alain Menu converted his pole position to his fourth race win of the season and led home another 1-2-3 for Chevrolet, as his Cruze was followed by the sister cars of Yvan Muller and Rob Huff.
Alex MacDowall completed Chevrolet’s hat trick by finishing fifth overall and first of the Yokohama Trophy in his bamboo-engineering Cruze.
The top positions were decided immediately after the start, when Muller kept Huff at bay resisting a contact into Turn 2, while Gabriele Tarquini overtook MacDowall for fourth.
However, the battles between the midfielders and the back markers were exciting. A group of seven drivers – Dudukalo, Bennani, Coronel, Oriola, D’Aste, Monteiro and Egstler – was fighting for the sixth place. With four laps to go Mehdi Bennani, under pressure from Tom Coronel, hit Aleksei Dudukalo and retired, while the Russian was able to keep the lead of the pack. Tiago Monteiro finished tenth and scored the first point for Honda in the Civic’s maiden race.
A sextet formed by Boardman, Michelisz, Yoshimoto, Nash, Cerqui and Monje fought for the 13th position. After a number of clashes, Boardman prevailed, while Yoshimoto dropped back.Key moments
Start – Menu takes the lead from pole
Lap 1 – Muller keeps second from Huff; Tarquini overtakes MacDowall for fourth
Lap 2 – Ng goes out at Turn 1 and rejoins
Lap 3 – Boardman overtakes Michelisz for 14th
Lap 4 – Yoshimoto overtakes Michelisz for 15th
Lap 6 – Monteiro and O’Young make contact while fighting for 11th
Lap 9 – Michelisz knock on Boardman’s rear bumper
Lap 11 – Boardman overtakes Yoshimoto for 14th
Lap 12 – Michelisz overtakes Yoshimoto for 15th
Lap 14 – Cerqui spins onto the gravel at Turn 1
Lap 15 – Münnich spins at Turn 8
Lap 21 – Coronel puts pressure on Bennani who is seventh
Lap 22 – Bennani hits Dudukalo and retiresWithdrawals
A. Cerqui: race incident; M. Bennani: race incident
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.
