Photo: FIA Media

WTCC may adopt F1 style points system

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The FIA have confirmed that a decision on whether to follow the Formula 1 and World Rally Championship’s new points system will be made next week, after the full entry list is confirmed.

All teams must approve a change to the championship points system as the rules have already been set for this season.

The FIA confirmed to Touring Car Times that the decision to adopt for Formula 1 style points system will wait until the deadline for entry in to this year’s championship has passed, as a change to the regulations requires agreement from all competitors.

As it stands, the points system to be used is the same as has been used in all seasons of the WTCC, and in the preceding European Touring Car Championship in 2003 & 2004.

The new points system adopted by the FIA for Formula 1 and now the World Rally Championship, awards 25 points to the race winner and goes down to 1 point for tenth place. The system has been introduced to cater for the larger field in Formula 1, allowing smaller teams a greater opportunity to score points, whilst not affecting the results up front.

This is evident when applying the points system to last years WTCC results. With only Stefano D’Aste & Tom Boardman benefiting from any change in the overall championship positions.

Tom Boardman would also have scored his first WTCC points under the system, as would have Medhi Bennani, Vito Postiglioni, Krisian Poulsen & Jaap van Lagan.

1 –  Gabriele Tarquini – 312
2 –  Yvan Muller – 303
3 –  Augusto Farfus – 284
4 –  Andy Priaulx – 213
5 –  Robert Huff – 201
6 –  Jörg Müller – 185
7 –  Rickard Rydell – 162
8 –  Jordi Gené – 123
9 –  Tiago Monteiro – 113
10 –  Alain Menu – 108
11 –  Sergio Hernández – 101
12 –  Alessandro Zanardi – 83
13 –  Nicola Larini – 74
14 –  Tom Coronel – 53
15 –  Félix Porteiro – 35
16 –  Franz Engstler – 20
17 –  Stefano D’Aste – 19
18 –  James Thompson – 16
19 –  Tom Boardman – 6
20 –  Eric Cayrolle – 5
21 –  Mehdi Bennani – 4
22 –  Vito Postiglione – 2
23 –  Kristian Poulsen – 1
24 –  Jaap van Lagen – 1

The FIA also confirmed that if the new system was adopted, the top eight grid reversal would remain in place despite the points paying positions going back to tenth.