SEAT and Ford drop weight for Portugal

Teams running the latest SEAT León and Ford Focus cars will each drop 10kg in weight at the next race in Portimão, whilst BMW and Chevrolet will continue to run at the maximum compensation weight.

With the FIA taking the two best laps of each driver of each model in qualifying and the races over the last three meetings, the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T has been judged to have been the fastest car, at just 0.3 seconds ahead of the BMW 320 TC.

The latest calculation sees the SEAT León WTCC lose 10kg to run at 1,180kg, carrying 30kg of penalty ballast after being assessed as 0.4 seconds slower than the Cruze, whilst the SR León 1.6T of Tiago Monteiro and the two Ford Focus S2000 TCs will drop 20kg from their base weight on account of being over a second slower than the Championship dominating Chevrolets – though that benefit is neutralised for Monteiro with an extra 20kg ballast applied because his car is nationally homologated.

The same homologation penalty applies to the Lada Granta Sport, which makes its second and last scheduled appearance in the 2012 WTCC. The car, with James Thompson driving, will also carry a further 20kg of late entry ballast, making it the third heaviest car on the grid at Portimão.

The FIA has also calculated a compensation weight of -20kg for the SEAT León TDI, but with Special Tuning Racing’s Tom Boardman switching to the new SEAT Sport 1.6 turbocharged engine from this round, there are presently none scheduled to be on the grid.

FIA World Touring Car Championship – Compensation Weight for Portugal

Car – Weight – Detail
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T – 1,200kg – 1,160kg + 40kg compensation ballast
BMW 320 TC – 1,200kg – 1,160kg + 40kg compensation ballast
LADA Granta Sport – 1,190kg – 1,150kg + 20kg late entry + 20kg national ballast
SEAT León WTCC – 1,180kg – 1,150kg +30kg compensation ballast
SUNRED León 1.6T – 1,150kg – 1,150kg -20kg compensation + 20kg national homologation ballast
Ford Focus S2000 TC – 1,130kg – 1,150kg – 20kg compensation ballast