The WTCC heads to China for the third time this weekend

The FIA World Touring Car Championship will make its third visit to China, and its second to the Shanghai International Circuit for the 11th and penultimate round of this year’s Championship, with the title fight now over, the battle is hotting up for second place.

Yvan Muller is this year’s champion elect, the RML Chevrolet driver now with a 149 point lead of Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini with just 110 points available from the final two races.

Tarquini however has a relatively comfortable margin from second position, with a 28 point gap to the other RML driver Tom Chilton, who is just two points ahead of bamboo-engineering’s James Nash. The Italian is looking forward to racing at the Formula One track, inaugurated in 2004, and defending his championship position.

“There are no kerbs, it is quite flat and very wide,” explained Tarquini. “It is great spectator viewing and the TV show will be great. At the end of the long, long straight there is very hard braking into a slow hairpin. It gets quite exciting there! The first corner is a very long slow turn, possibly the longest corner in the whole World Championship but it all makes it an exciting track to drive. I know it won’t be easy for us because of our extra weight but, as always, I will fight for every position.”

The next ‘battle group’ is lead by Norbert Michelisz, who took his first win of the season last time out at Suzuka with a dominant display from pole position in the independent Zengõ Motorsport Honda. The Hungarian has the chance to close in on fifth in the standings thanks to the departure of Michel Nykjaer from the Championship, but is just three points ahead of reigning champion Rob Huff, who has a point to prove in the top placed SEAT in the standings.

“I do feel that our recent finishes are far from representative of our true pace and potential and I think this weekend’s meeting in Shanghai represents the perfect opportunity to flip our fortunes back around,” said Huff.

“I had a really solid outing there last year, albeit in very different equipment, but I truly feel we can compete at the front for a spot on the podium. I have absolutely nothing to lose by going all out and my main aim will be to simply lift myself back up the championship leaderboard before the season finale in Macau.”

A large 31 car grid will take part in this weekend’s race, with the addition of another manufacturer to the grid with Volvo Polestar Racing making a one-off return to the Championship, with this year’s STCC champion Thed Björk behind the wheel. Another Swedish addition is the return of Rickard Rydell, taking over Nika Racing’s Chevrolet Cruze for one race. The Swede will be back in action in two weeks’ in Macau in the Volkswagen Scirocco Masters race, part of the numerous series competing at the 60th running of the Macau Grand Prix.

Race Of China 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
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – Castrol Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic
19 – Fernando Monje* – SPN – Campos Racing – SEAT León WTCC
20 – Hugo Valente* – FRA – 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
33 – Yukinori Taniguchi*^ – JPN – Campos Racing – SEAT León WTCC
37 – René Münnich* – GER – Münnich Motorsport – SEAT León WTCC
38 – Marc Basseng – GER – Münnich Motorsport – SEAT León WTCC
40 – Thed Bjork˚ – SWE – Volvo Polestar Racing – Volvo C30 DRIVe
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
69 – Rickard Rydell – SWE – Nika Racing – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
73 – Fredy Barth* – SUI – Wiechers-Sport – BMW 320 TC
74 – Pepe Oriola – SPN – Tuenti Racing Team – Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
77 – Mak Ka Lok*^ – MAC – RPM Racing – BMW 320si
88 – Henry Ho*^ – MAC – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320si

* Drivers eligible for the Yokohama Trophy
^ Drivers eligible for the Eurosport Asia Trophy
˚ Drivers not eligible to score points

Race Of China Compensation Weight

Car Model – Ballast – Final Weight
Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T – +40kg – 1,190kg
Honda Civic Super 2000 TC – +40kg – 1,190kg
Volvo C30 DRIVe – +20kg* – 1,170kg
Chevrolet Cruze LT** – +0kg – 1,150kg
BMW 320si** – +0kg – 1,150kg
BMW 320 TC – -20kg – 1,130kg
SEAT León WTCC – -20kg – 1,130kg
Lada Granta Sport – -20kg – 1,130kg

* +20kg for the Volvo is for national homologation and not compensation weight
** No ballast calculated for the Chevrolet Cruze LT and BMW 320si (normally aspirated cars) as they have not competed in two events this year as yet.

Race Of China Timetable

Friday 1st November
12:25 – Testing

Saturday 2nd November
08:00 – Free Practice 1
11:10 – Free Practice 2
14:10 – Qualifying

Sunday 3rd November
08:50 – Warm Up
15:20 – Race 1 (13 Laps)
16:20 – Race 2 (13 Laps)

All times are CST. GMT -8/CET -7