Weights unchanged for WTCC Austrian debut

Chevrolet, BMW and SEAT will again carry the maximum weight at the Salzburgring as the World Touring Car Championship makes its first appearance there next weekend, with the weights for the SUNRED León and Ford Focus also unchanged from Hungary.

The Chevrolet Cruze is again listed as the benchmark, but the average lap time of the 2010-2011 Championship winning car over the last three rounds has been calculated as being just 0.1 seconds faster than those of the BMW 320 TC, which won last time out at the Hungaroring, with Norbert Michelisz taking the first win for the German manufacturer of the season.

The SEAT León WTCCs of Gabriele Tarquini, Pepe Oriola, Darryl O’Young and Aleksei Dudukalo will also carry maximum ballast of 40kg, with their lap times calculated as 0.3 seconds down on the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T.

The two Ford Focus S2000 TCs of James Nash and Tom Chilton will again be permitted to remove 10kg from their base weight, with the Fords 0.8 seconds on average slower than the Chevrolets, whilst the SR León 1.6T of Tiago Monteiro and the SEAT León TDI of Tom Boardman can run as much as 20kg under their base weights at the Salzburgring. The benefit will be neutralized for Monteiro however, with the SUNRED car having to also carry an additional 20kg due to its national homologation status.

FIA World Touring Car Championship – Compensation Weight for Austria

Car – Weight – Detail
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T – 1,200kg – 1,160kg + 40kg compensation ballast
BMW 320 TC – 1,200kg – 1,160kg + 40kg compensation ballast
SEAT León WTCC – 1,190kg – 1,150kg +40kg compensation ballast
SUNRED León 1.6T – 1,150kg – 1,150kg -20kg compensation + 20kg national homologation ballast
Ford Focus S2000 TC – 1,140kg – 1,150kg – 10kg compensation ballast
SEAT León TDI – 1,130kg – 1,150kg -20kg compensation ballast