Arena’s request for a weight break denied

Arena International Motorsport have been denied permission by the FIA to reduce their weight penalty by 15kg this weekend despite having changed a number of components as requested by the FIA Touring Car Committee at Valencia.

The British team which is running two Ford Focus S2000 TCs for Tom Chilton and James Nash in their first year in the WTCC had petitioned the FIA for a reduction of the 30kg weight penalty, which was awarded to the team at the start of the season for running a number of parts which the FIA deemed didn’t meet the stringest requirements of the Championship’s Super 2000 regulations.

The team has already replaced the front and rear subframes as well as fitting a revised rear camber link to the cars at the last race meeting at Valencia, with the remaining disputed suspension components, which are composed of steel and aluminium and need to be made of one material only, due to replaced at the next round in the Slovak Republic.

Ford requested a reduction in the weight penalty in light of the changes which have already been made but this was denied by the Touring Car Committee, as was as a request to fit plastic material to the rear and lateral windows to help bring the cars down to their minimum weights as is already fitted to the BMW and SUNRED cars. This request can be resubmitted when the cars are fully homologated at the next round, with the FIA already making clear at Valencia that no further waivers will be granted after this weekend’s race at Marrakech.

The team’s request for a flat floor, which is used by all of the other teams which helps the car’s aerodynamics was granted, though can only be fitted from behind the front axle.

The team will still benefit from a reduction in weight this weekend thanks to the new compensation weights being applied, with the Ford Focus evaluated to have been 1.6 seconds slower than the benchmark Chevrolet Cruze in qualifying and the races at Monza and Valencia. As a result, they’ll be able to drop 20 kilograms of weight if the car is able to reach this weight without fitting plastic windows, though the flat floor will also add weight to the car.