Suzuka kicks off the Asian portion of the 2013 WTCC season

The FIA World Touring Car Championship heads to Suzuka this weekend for the third time, which sees Honda arrive having already won this year’s manufacturers’ title, and Yvan Muller all set, barring disaster, to secure a record-breaking fourth drivers’ title with RML.

Last season saw Chevrolet’s Alain Menu continue to build his late season championship charge, which eventually saw him finish second in the drivers’ standings, with pole position and a victory in race one, whilst Stefano D’Aste was able to hold the field at bay in the reversed grid second race and take his second career victory with Wiechers-Sport in race two.

This year, Menu doesn’t return to defend his win, whilst D’Aste will be hoping to emulate his success with his own PB Racing team in the BMW 320 TC, which will be 60kg lighter than the Championship leading Chevrolet Cruzes thanks to a tough couple of races for the Bavarian cars.

Wiechers-Sport, already race winners this year with José María López, will field a local for the second time with Yukinori Taniguchi making his WTCC return with the team, having last raced with bamboo-engineering in 2011.

Taniguchi will also be a strong contender in the Eurosport Asia Trophy, a mini-championship for drivers competing in the final three rounds which has seen the field bolstered by the addition of a number of older Chevrolets and BMWs for drivers from Macau for the final three meetings, which brings the field up to 30 cars for Suzuka, with more set to follow at Shanghai and the Guia Race at Macau in November.

In terms of the Championship, Yvan Muller went to Sonoma with a outside chance of wrapping the title up early in the USA, but now heads to Japan almost certain to leave as the champion, unless he has his worst weekend of the season and title rival, Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini adversely has his best.

Tarquini would have to outscore Muller by 35 points over the course of the weekend to remain in mathematical contention, whilst Nika Racing’s Michel Nykjaer would have been in for a mathematical shot at the title as well, but had his contract terminated earlier today by the team due to financial reasons.

In terms of performance ballast, Honda’s strong showing at Sonoma Raceway has hurt them, with the car now just 20kg lighter than the Chevrolets, but all of the other regulars, SEAT, BMW and Lada will all benefit from running at the minimum weight at Suzuka, and given the strong pace of SEAT at the short Suzuka East circuit last year that could very much play into the favour of reigning champion Rob Huff and GT1 World Champion Marc Basseng at Münnich Motorsport, and the Campos Racing SEATs of Fernando Monje and his as-yet undisclosed new team-mate for the race.

Always strong at Suzuka of course is Tom Coronel, a fan of Japan with a lot of his career history there, and a man who has taken two wins in the country before in the WTCC. With his BMW on minimum weight, the ROAL Motorsport driver will also be expected to give a strong performance on his ‘second home’ soil.

Race Of Japan Entry List

No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car
1 – Rob Huff – GBR – Münnich Motorsport – SEAT León WTCC
3 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – Castrol Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – Zengõ Motorsport – Honda Civic Super 2000 TC
6 – Franz Engstler* – GER – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
7 – Charles Ng* – HKG – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
8 – Mikhail Kozlovskiy – RUS – LADA Sport Lukoil – Lada Granta Sport
9 – Alex MacDowall* – GBR – bamboo-engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
10 – James Thompson – GBR – LADA Sport Lukoil – Lada Granta Sport
12 – Yvan Muller – FRA – RML – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
14 – James Nash* – GBR – bamboo-engineering – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
15 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
17 – TBA – Nika Racing – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – Castrol Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic
19 – Fernando Monje* – SPN – Campos Racing – SEAT León WTCC
22 – Tom Boardman* – GBR – Special Tuning Racing – SEAT León WTCC
23 – Tom Chilton – GBR – RML – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
25 – Mehdi Bennani* – MOR – Proteam Racing – BMW 320 TC
26 – Stefano D’Aste* – ITA – PB Racing – BMW 320 TC
37 – René Münnich* – GER – Münnich Motorsport – SEAT León WTCC
38 – Marc Basseng – GER – Münnich Motorsport – SEAT León WTCC
45 – TBA* – Campos Racing – SEAT León WTCC
55 – Darryl O’Young* – HKG – ROAL Motorsport – BMW 320 TC
60 – Filipe de Souza^* – MAC – China Dragon Racing – Chevrolet Cruze LT
61 – Ng Kin Veng^* – MAC – China Dragon Racing – Chevrolet Cruze LT
66 – Jerónimo Badaraco^* – MAC – Son Veng Racing – Chevrolet Cruze LT
74 – Pepe Oriola – SPN – Tuenti Racing Team – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
75 – Yukinori Taniguchi^* – JPN – Wiechers-Sport – BMW 320 TC
77 – Mak Ka Lok*^ – MAC – RPM Racing – BMW 320si
88 – Henry Ho*^ – MAC – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320si
99 – Takuya Izawa – JPN – Castrol Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic (2012)

* Drivers eligible for the Yokohama Trophy
^ Drivers eligible for the Eurosport Asia Trophy

Race Of Japan Compensation Weight

Car Model – Ballast – Final Weight
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T – +40kg – 1,190kg
Honda Civic Super 2000 TC (2013 WTCC homologation)- +20kg – 1,170kg
Chevrolet Cruze LT – +0kg – 1,150kg
BMW 320si – +0kg – 1,150kg
Honda Civic Super 2000 TC (2012 STCC homologation) – +0kg – 1,150kg
BMW 320 TC – -20kg – 1,130kg
SEAT León WTCC – -20kg – 1,130kg
Lada Granta Sport – -20kg – 1,130kg

Race Of Japan Timetable

Friday 20th September
13:30 – Testing

Saturday 21st September
09:00 – Free Practice 1
12:00 – Free Practice 2
15:30 – Qualifying

Sunday 22nd September
08:50 – Warm Up
14:35 – Race 1 (26 Laps)
15:35 – Race 2 (26 Laps)

All times are JST. BST -8/CET -7