Three manufacturers looking at joining the WTCC soon, says Ribeiro

WTCC General Manager Francois Ribeiro says there are three manufacturers looking to join the World Touring Car Championship, one perhaps as soon as next year, though is mindful that the dominant performance from Citroën has been a distraction to new entries.

With Citroën having dominated during the inaugural campaign last year, and now in their second season they are again 1-2-3 in the drivers’ standings after Paul Ricard, the French marque have taken the mantle over from Chevrolet which likewise dominated between 2010-2012 before withdrawing from both the sport and the European car market.

“The biggest thing is the sporting level, more than the technical level of the cars,” said Ribeiro. “I’m impressed and questioning how rapidly the sporting level is progressing. That’s something which the other manufacturers that are considering WTCC have all noticed, that probably explains why nobody is rushing to put together a plan.”

“I think everybody has understood what Citroën has done…and nobody wants to face the situation that Honda has today with a lack of time and a lack of testing. It’s always a good sign when your championship is going in the right direction, but the time has gone when you can just join the WTCC and with a decent driver and do reasonably well.”

Despite the benchmark laid down by Citroën, representatives from potential manufacturers have been present in the WTCC paddock over the last 12 months. Kia were believed to be present at Slovakia one week ago, while Volvo have already mentioned an interest in returning to the WTCC following their one year evaluation season in 2011, with representatives trackside during the 2014.

“I can tell you that the interest is there,” said Ribeiro. “We have a minimum of three really working on a WTCC bid, but decisions in the automotive industry are not short. I tell you that everybody perfectly acknowledges the level today and if you want to stand against Citroën you have to do things very professionally, that’s not just budget, but organisation, timeline and planning.

“It’d be easy to say Citroën are dominating the championship and they’re going to scare all the other manufacturers, but this is not the case. They have aligned the best car, best drivers, best team, and they’re very reliable, not having racing incidents or technical issues.”

One of the noted weak points of the European model Civic is its design, being a “two-box”, hatchback shape. Ribeiro confirmed that the manufacturers which are evaluating the WTCC all have models in mind, and all will be the more aerodynamically efficient saloon shape.

“All the three manufacturers which are working seriously on WTCC, all of them are working on three-box cars, this is a better base for sure,” he said.

The current generation of Super 2000 TC1 regulations are also not set to change anytime soon which will allow for consistency for any new manufacturers joining the championship. The most recent Technical Working Group between all manufacturers was cancelled as there was no agenda for discussion besides a number of minor clarifications.