Minimum weight for Lada and BMW at Slovakia
The FIA has published the first wave of compensation ballasts of the season for the third round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship at the Slovakiaring. The changes will see Lada and BMW allowed to run at the minimum weight possible of 1,130kg.
Using the lap times of the two fastest drivers in each car model from the first two rounds, the Chevrolet Cruze will unsurprisingly continue to run with the maximum additional ballast of 40kg, keeping them at 1,190kg.
The SEAT León WTCC and Honda Civic Super 2000 TC models will continue with no ballast and will compete at their base weights of 1,150kg.
The slow performances of the BMW 320 TC at the first two rounds sees the German model permitted to drop 20kg from their base weight, though all of the teams have told TouringCarTimes that they’re already at their lightest possible weight and are unable to get to their base 1,150kg as it stands.
The BMW teams are waiting for a waiver to run carbon fibre doors from the Slovakiaring round, which will see them save anything from 20-25kg in weight, but only the newer specification BMWs of ROAL Motorsport and PB Racing are likely to get anywhere near the 1,130kg minimum weight even with this change.
Lada’s weight has been calculated using notional times applied for Monza as both James Thompson’s and Aleksei Dudukalo’s cars were unable to take part in the race due to an incident in qualifying.
Despite strong pace seen from Thompson at Monza and Marrakech, with the times from each marque’s two fastest drivers’ lap times used to determine the compensation ballast, the relatively slow times of WTCC rookie Mikhail Koslovskiy has worked in the Russian manufacturer’s favour, and the Granta Sport can run a full 60kg lighter than the Championship leading Chevrolet Cruzes at next week’s race.
Compensation Ballast for Race Of Slovakia
Car – Total Weight – Ballast
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T – 1,190kg – +40kg
SEAT León WTCC – 1,150kg – +0kg
Honda Civic Super 2000 TC – 1,150kg – +0kg
BMW 320 TC – 1,130kg – -20kg
Lada Granta Sport – 1,130kg – -20kg
