First time in the USA for the WTCC
The World Touring Car Championship will race at Sonoma Raceway, California for its North American debut this weekend, with the title between the three Chevrolet drivers becoming even more intense in the last few rounds for the American manufacturer in the Championship.
Three-time champion Yvan Muller leads the standings on 287 points, just 17 points ahead of British team-mate Rob Huff and 37 ahead of Swiss team-mate Alain Menu with 55 points available each weekend.
After the longest break of the year with two months having elapsed since the last round at Curitiba, the drivers will be aiming to get back to the swing of things as quickly as possible. For all three Chevrolet drivers, there’s a new challenge ahead as none of them have ever raced at Sonoma Raceway, formerly known as Infineon Raceway and before that Sears Point, before.
“It is certainly a big thing for the WTCC to be racing in the US for the first time, and everybody is excited,” said Muller. “This is especially the case for me as I’m a great fan of the US, and of the American culture and way of life.”
“I have never been to Sonoma, so there is little I could say about the track. I will approach this round as always – trying to do the best I can on and off the track. We’re entering the final straight of the championship and things are starting to get serious.”
Muller’s team-mate Alain Menu added:
“The Sonoma track is unknown territory for me. What I know is that it is a natural track, which could be compared to Spa or Brno in Europe, and that’s great news for me because I love that type of circuit.”
“I am still in a great position to claim the title and won’t give up, although I also need Yvan and Rob to be unlucky at some point to have a real shot at it.”
Arguably the drivers with the most track time in touring cars between rounds have been SEAT drivers Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro, but not in SEATs, but in JAS Motorsport’s all new Honda Civic as the team prepares for their debut next month at Suzuka.
This weekend will be Tiago Monteiro’s last race for the Spanish marque, racing the SUNRED-engined SR León 1.6T for the final time this weekend before racing the new Honda in Japan, whilst Gabriele Tarquini will carry on with the SEAT-supported Lukoil Racing Team until the end of the season and will be aiming to defend his fourth place in the points standings from Tom Coronel in his ROAL Motorsport-run BMW.
This weekend will also see the WTCC debut of Italian Felice Tedeschi in Proteam’s second BMW, whilst Bamboo Engineering are yet to confirm their final line-up, with Alex MacDowall’s team-mate for this weekend yet to be formally confirmed by the team, though Pasquale Di Sabatino remains on the entry list.
Along with Chevrolet, this will also be the home race for Ford, and the team’s two young British drivers will be hoping to make the best use of a number of upgrades which will be fitted to the cars, after Arena Motorsport have been working hard on developing the car using a third car back at base in the UK.
“We’ve been doing a lot of testing recently on tracks which have similar aspects to Sonoma, such as the various corners and undulations, and the data is looking good for us so I’m feeling really confident heading to America and can’t wait to get on track,” said Tom Chilton, driver of the #23 Ford Focus.
James Nash was able to get a look at the track a few weeks ago, attending Sonoma along with Tiago Monteiro and Gabriele Tarquini as the WTCC’s ambassadors, attending the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at the Californian circuit.
“I was really impressed when I went over to take a look at Sonoma Raceway a few weeks back,” said Nash. “The track is awesome and I really can’t wait to get out there myself in the Team Aon Ford Focus and try it for myself. It is easy to see why so many have rated it as the best drivers’ road course in America.”
FIA World Touring Car Championship – Race Of USA Entry List
No – Driver – Team – Car
1 – Yvan Muller – FRA – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
2 – Robert Huff – GBR – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
3 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – Lukoil Racing Team – SEAT León WTCC
4 – Aleksei Dudukalo *- RUS – Lukoil Racing Team – SEAT León WTCC
5 – Norbert Michelisz * – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
6 – Franz Engstler* – GER – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
7 – Charles Kaki Ng* – HKG – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
8 – Alain Menu – SUI – Chevrolet – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
11 – Alex MacDowall* – GBR – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
12 – Pasquale Di Sabatino* – ITA – Bamboo Engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
14 – James Nash – GBR – Arena International Motorsport – Ford Focus S2000 TC
15 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
16 – Alberto Cerqui* – ITA – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – SUNRED Engineering – SR León 1.6T
20 – Darryl O’Young* – HKG – Special Tuning Racing – SEAT León WTCC
22 – Tom Boardman* – GBR – Special Tuning Racing – SEAT León WTCC
23 – Tom Chilton – GBR – Arena International Motorsport – Ford Focus S2000 TC
25 – Mehdi Bennani* – MOR – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
26 – Stefano D’Aste* – ITA – Wiechers-Sport – BMW 320 TC
48 – Felice Tedeschi – ITA – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
74 – Pepe Oriola* – SPN – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León WTCC
88 – Fernando Monje* – SPN – SUNRED Engineering – SEAT León WTCC
* Eligible for Yokohama Independents” Trophy
WTCC Race of USA Timetable
Friday 21st September
13:45 – 14:15 – Testing (FP0)
Saturday 22nd September
09:00 – 09:30 – Free Practice 1
11:30 – 12:00 – Free Practice 2
14:15 – 14:50 – Qualifying
Sunday 23rd September
09:00 – 09:15 – Warm Up
12:20 – Race One (15 Laps)
13:35 – Race Two (15 Laps)
* All times PST (BST +8 Hours, CET +9 Hours)
WTCC Race of USA Compensation Weights
Car – Weight – Breakdown
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T – 1,200kg – 1,160 +40kg success ballast
SEAT León WTCC – 1,150kg – 1,150 + 0kg success ballast
SR León 1.6T – 1,150kg – 1,150 – 20kg penalty ballast + 20kg national ballast
BMW 320 TC – 1,140kg – 1,160 -20kg success ballast
Ford Focus S2000 TC – 1,130kg – 1,150 -20kg success ballast
