Macau adventure closes off the 2014 WTCC season

The FIA World Touring Car Championship heads to Macau this weekend for what is set to be the last time, having been host to the final round of the WTCC since the current form’s inception in 2005, with pride the main honour to be fought for with every trophy already allocated.

José María López enters his first Macau meeting knowing he is the first ever rookie champion of the Championship, with a 117 point margin over Citroën Total WTCC team-mate Yvan Muller.

Muller is a safe bet for second, but the drivers’ motto is always “anything can happen in Macau”, and with a 30 point gap behind him to Sébastien Loeb, with 55 points available, at a track where the nine-time World Rally champion drove last year in a Porsche, it’d be dangerous to be complacent.

“I took part in a race in Macau last year, to prepare for this year,” said Loeb. “I found it a fun circuit. There’s a really fast section along the seafront, then a winding, hilly sequence, with testing combinations, crossroads, and the famous Melco hairpin. It’s always hard to compare rallying and track racing, but it’s probably the closest to what I’m used to. More than ever, qualifying will be crucial if I want to have a chance of coming out on top. I’m really keen to round off my first FIA WTCC campaign with a good result.”

It’s not just the drivers’ title that is already wrapped up, but the manufacturers’ title was already, and inevitably, secured by Citroën in China two months ago, while the Yokohama Trophy for TC2T is already confirmed as going to Franz Engstler, the Yokohama Teams Trophy for non-manufacturer teams will go to ROAL Motorsport, while the Eurosport Asia Trophy has already been won by Filipe de Souza, with the Macanese driver the only Asian to have entered all of the Asian flyaway races.

There are some key battles still to be fought further down the field. Honda, which have been much closer to Citroën in the last few races, taking wins in Shanghai and Suzuka, will play host to the battle for “best of the rest”, with just seven points covering Tiago Monteiro, Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini, with the first two drivers still chasing their first win of the season.

The unofficial “privateers” battle between the customer Chevrolet teams also rages on, with ROAL team-mates Toms Coronel and Chilton separated by four points, with Münnich Motorsport’s Gianni Morbidelli a distant but still achievable 40 points behind Coronel.

Meanwhile, amongst the Lada camp there is another accolade to be maintained, with Rob Huff having won six races at the Guia Circuit, the most any driver has achieved at the track, but with DTM driver Edoardo Mortara, a five-time winner, entered in the support GT Cup event, the threat of being equalled is ever present.

With Macau one of, if not the hardest circuit to overtake on the calendar, and given how difficult it was proven that overtaking was to accomplish in the current TC1 class cars at the Hungaroring in May, any driver who starts from the reversed grid front row for race two would be a comfortable bet for victory, making ninth and tenth in the second part of qualifying all the more important this weekend.

A fly in the ointment amongst the Chevrolet RML drivers will be Pepe Oriola, with the 2012 Yokohama Trophy runner-up aiming to impress in front of his sponsors and on his only outing of the season at Campos Racing, replacing the injured Dusan Borkovic.

The Chevrolets have gained weight ahead of this weekend, with Citroën running on the full 60kg compensation weight as they have all season, with Honda carrying 30kg and the Ladas ballast free.

Practice begins on Thursday, with Qualifying on Friday, and no track activity for the WTCC scheduled on Saturday before the two races take place back-to-back on Sunday at 11:15 local time.

Entry List

No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car
1 – Yvan Muller – FRA – Citroën Total WTCC – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
2 – Gabriele Tarquini – ITA – Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic WTCC
3 – Tom Chilton – GBR – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
4 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – Zengõ Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC
6 – Franz Engstler* – GER – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
7 – Hugo Valente – FRA – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
9 – Sébastien Loeb – FRA – Citroën Total WTCC – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
10 – Gianni Morbidelli – ITA – Münnich Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
11 – James Thompson – GBR – Lada Sport – Lada Granta 1.6T
12 – Rob Huff – GBR – Lada Sport – Lada Granta 1.6T
14 – Mikhail Kozlovskiy – RUS – Lada Sport – Lada Granta 1.6T
18 – Tiago Monteiro – POR – Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic WTCC
19 – Henry Kwong* – HKG – Campos Racing – SEAT León WTCC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – MOR – Proteam Racing – Honda Civic WTCC
26 – Filipe de Souza* – MAC – Liqui Moly Team Engstler – BMW 320 TC
27 – John Filippi* – FRA – Campos Racing – SEAT León WTCC
33 – Ma Qing Hua – CHN – Citroën Total WTCC – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
37 – José María López – ARG – Citroën Total WTCC – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
38 – William Lok* – HKG – Campos Racing – SEAT León WTCC
44 – Mak Ka Lok* – MAC – RPM Racing – BMW 320 TC
74 – Pepe Oriola – SPN– Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
77 – René Münnich – GER – Münnich Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1

* Drivers eligible for the Yokohama Trophy (TC2T class)

Timetable

Thursday 13th November
07:15 – Testing (FP0)
13:55 – Free Practice 1

Friday 14th November
09:25 – Free Practice 2
15:10 – Qualifying

Sunday 16th October
11:15 – Race 1 (10 Laps)
12:30 – Race 2 (10 Laps)

* All times CST (CET -6, BST-7)

Compensation Weight

Car – Ballast – Final Weight

TC1:
Citroën C-Elysée WTCC – +60kg – 1,160kg
Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 – +40kg – 1,140kg
Honda Civic WTCC – +30kg – 1,130kg
Lada Granta 1.6T – +0kg – 1,100kg

TC2T:
BMW 320 TC – N/A – 1,150kg
SEAT León WTCC – N/A – 1,150kg