Photo: WTCC Media

Macau and Spa could be dropped from the 2015 calendar

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The 2015 FIA World Touring Car Championship calendar has not been officially released yet, but rumours indicate there may be a few surprises on October 30th, when the calendar should be officially revealed by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

In-line with rumours which have already been circulating the paddock for some months, Motorsport Total has revealed an outline of the potential 2015 calendar, which as anticipated will start in South America in 2015, with Termas de Río Hondo in Argentina hosting the curtain raiser in March.

After this, the WTCC would move to Africa for the Race of Morocco, which is due to be held at the new permanent Marrakech track.

On April 27th, there will be an official test day at the Nordschleife before the Hungaroring hosts the start of the European leg of the season. The much anticipated Nordschleife race has already been confirmed to be taking place on May 16th, after which Moscow, Paul Ricard and Bratislava will host the Russian, French and Slovakian rounds of the championship respectively in June.

The end of the European season will either be in Portugal with the return of the Porto street track, or the high-speed Salzburgring in Austria. The series will then head to Asia for the final leg of the championship, although TouringCarTimes understands it’s also possible that there could be a return to North America during this three month break.

After Suzuka, which is due to be held in September and most likely on the Japanese track’s Grand Prix layout depending upon the success of this year’s event, the Beijing round should be dropped in favour of Shanghai to host the Race of China. The biggest news is that the traditional season finale at Macau should be replaced by a final round in a Middle East country, a race which would be likely to be run under floodlights at night.

The revisions mean that Macau, the only race which has been a mainstay of the calendar, after the Italian round was dropped this year (though Italy had hosted its event at both Imola and Monza), is set to be removed, while Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium will disappear after just one year back on the calendar in 2014, effectively making way for the Nordschleife round at the nearby Nürburgring.

The calendar will be officially released on October 30th.

Outline of the potential 2015 calendar:

Argentina (March)
Morocco (April)
Hungary (May)
Germany (May 16th)*
Russia (June)
Slovakia (June)
Portugal/Austria (June)
North America (August)
Japan (September)
China (October)
Middle East (November)

* Only race confirmed. All others are conjecture until October 30th.