WTCC set for 26 car grid at Macau finale

The provisional entry list for the 2011 World Touring Car Championship finale features 26 cars, with additional entries being run by several teams as often has been the case in recent years.

Chevrolet will field four cars, with the championship challengers Yvan Muller, Rob Huff and Alain Menu joined by an as yet unnamed driver. The team’s fourth Cruze 1.6T will be driven by Rallying veteran Toshi Arai at the next round at Suzuka.

Independent Teams’ Trophy leaders Liqui-Moly Team Engstler will field five cars in the finale, with season entrants Kristian Poulsen and Franz Engstler’s turbocharged BMWs being joined by Charles Ng and Joseph Merszei in normally aspirated BMW 320sis. Ng, the 2010 Asian Touring Car Series champion will also race at Suzuka and China for Engstler.

The team’s fifth car, a BMW 320 TC run under the DeTeam KK Motorsport banner, will see Hong Kong driver Marchy Lee make his return. Lee was originally set to compete in the full season but has been absent from the championship since Monza, with Russian driver David Sigacev racing the car at Valencia before it was freighted to Asia.

SUNRED,as previously announced, will be running an additional SEAT León 1.6T for André Couto in his home race, whilst Macau-based team Corsa Motorsport will enter a normally aspirated Chevrolet Lacetti for Felipe de Souza.

Proteam’s BMW 320si, driven by Fabio Fabiani for the majority of this season, will race at Macau but with the driver yet to be confirmed alongside the team’s two turbocharged BMWs for Javier Villa and Mehdi Bennani.

Wiechers-Sport similarly feature on the entry list but have not confirmed the driver of their BMW 320 TC. The car has been driven by Urs Sonderegger, Colin Turkington & Stefano D’Aste so far this season.

ROAL Motorsport, despite speculation they may expand to run a second car for their International Superstars Series driver Thomas Biagi, have entered just the one car for Tom Coronel.

Entry List for FIA WTCC Race of Macau – Nov 20th

No – Driver – Team – Car
1 – Yvan Muller – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
2 – Robert Huff – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
3 – Gabriele Tarquini – SUNRED Engineering – SUNRED SR León 1.6T
4 – Aleksei Dudukalo* – SUNRED Engineering – SUNRED SR León 1.6T
5 – Norbert Michelisz* – Zengö Dension Team – BMW 320 TC
7 – Fredy Barth* – SUNRED Engineering – SUNRED SR León 1.6T
8 – Alain Menu – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
9 – Darryl O’Young* – bamboo-engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
10 – Yukinori Taniguchi* – bamboo-engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
11 – Kristian Poulsen* – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
12 – Franz Engstler* – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
15 – Tom Coronel – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
17 – Michel Nykjaer* – SUNRED Engineering – SUNRED SR León 1.6T
18 – Tiago Monteiro – SUNRED Engineering – SUNRED SR León 1.6T
20 – Javier Villa García* – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
23 – TBA*^ – Proteam Racing – BMW 320si
25 – Mehdi Bennani* – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
28 – TBA* – Wiechers-Sport – BMW 320 TC
30 – Robert Dahlgren – Polestar Racing – Volvo C30 Drive
32 – TBA – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
51 – Charles Kaki Ng*^ – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320si
52 – Joseph Rosa Merszei*^ – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320si
65 – Marchy Lee Ying Kin* – DeTeam KK Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
66 – André Couto* – SUNRED Engineering – SUNRED SR León 1.6T
74 – Pepe Oriola* – SUNRED Engineering – SUNRED SR León 1.6T
75 – Felipe C. De Souza*^ – Corsa Motorsport – Chevrolet Lacetti

* Drivers eligible for Yokohama Independents’ Trophy
^ Drivers eligible for Jay-Ten Trophy