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Preliminary WTCC 2008 calendar

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The provisional World Touring Car Championship 2008 calendar is announced. The list was released today and shows twelve rounds instead of the current eleven. The major changes are that Mexico and Japan will host races. The Portugese round switches from Porto to Estoril and Zandvoort is the only circuit to disappear from the calendar.

“The calendar is the most difficult argument to fix each year, mainly because Formula One has so many dates. We want to go back to Mexico because it is important for the manufacturers, and it’s important to go to Japan because there are so many manufacturers based there,” said Marcello Lotti of the WTCC organization to Autosport.

Lotti also added that the calendar is provisional and that changes are expected to be made.
“Valencia was not very successful in May, so it may swap with Brands Hatch. I like Brands Hatch, and I think it would be a good place for us to start the European leg of our season.”

March 2 Curitiba, Brazil
April 6 Mexico (TBA)
May 18 Valencia, Spain
June 1 Pau, France
June 15 Brno, Czech Republic
July 6 Estoril, Portugal
July 27 Anderstorp, Sweden
August 31 Oschersleben, Germany
September 21 Brands Hatch, UK
October 5 Monza, Italy
October 26 / November 2 Okayama, Japan
November 16 Macau, China