Preview: José María López races at home for the last time at Termas

José María López returns home for the eighth round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship at Termas de Río Hondo, Argentina this weekend in front of his home crowd for the last time in the WTCC. The Citroën driver leads Honda’s Tiago Monteiro by some 101 points, despite only scoring 35 points at Russia and Portugal.

López has an impressive streak of results at Termas, as ever since he joined Citroën he always scored pole position, and his lowest finish was second in 2014, winning the other three races. Termas is also where he took a surprise win at the wheel of a Wiechers Sport BMW 320 TC in 2013.” Over the course of the season, there are two meetings I’m particularly fond of: the Nürburgring and Termas de Río Hondo,” said the Argentinian. “On the Nordschleife, I was delighted to win pole position and both races. It will probably be hard to do as well in Argentina, even though I managed it in 2014! In any case, I’m happy to see my country and my fans again. The Termas circuit isn’t the one I know best in Argentina, but it’s a nice course and it’s perfectly suited to the WTCC. There are multiple overtaking opportunities and the races should be lively. With my lead in the World Championship, I could play it safe, but I will be aiming for victory to try and relive the joys of the past two years.”

In order to repeat the feat achieved last year, the double champion will have to face some tough competition though, starting with Honda’s Tiago Monteiro, who comes off the back of a home win at Vila Real, scored after starting from pole position: “I won the last race in Portugal, which was a fantastic feeling,” said Monteiro. “It’s allowed me to go into the summer break feeling on top form and ready for the rest of the season. I finished third in Argentina last year and the aim has to be to improve on that result this weekend. I’m currently second in the championship, but with seven other drivers really close to me, so a strong weekend is critical.”

Citroën’s Yvan Muller is also hungry for success, as he seeks his maiden win of the season. With the usual testing session on Friday replaced by a short shakedown, Muller believes it will be important to get to grips with the track quickly: “We did a test session at the Barcelona circuit to prepare for the end of the season,” said the Frenchman. “We tried out different setups, which we have never had the chance to try out during a racing weekend. The results were interesting, and we learnt lessons that could prove useful on some circuits. The main new thing is the lack of free practice on the Friday. I’m not sure that changes much. We’ll just have to get down to business quickly to make sure we understand the car and particularly the track. It shouldn’t be too hot, but we’ll have to be attentive to changes in grip if we set off on a dirty track. As far as I’m concerned, I would obviously like to notch up my first win of the season! I’ve never been in this position before, but I’m not too worked up about it. It will happen at some point.”

Honda expecting to be in the hunt

Rob Huff is a bit concerned over the effects of the 60kg of ballast the Civics will have to carry: “Rio Hondo is typical of modern circuits with a good blend of corners and a hairpin at the end of a long straight that should provide a decent overtaking opportunity. After the great team performance in Portugal we’re again carrying 60kg of compensation weight, which could make things a little tricky if we get high temperatures, but we’ve seen the car perform well virtually everywhere this year and there’s no reason to think we can’t be in the hunt again this weekend.”

Team-mate Norbert Michelisz echoed: “With 60kg of compensation weight, a lot of long corners and high temperatures expected, tyre management will be key. I’m sure we can do a good job and score some big points for Honda to help improve the championship position. The last six races have been very good for me as I’ve scored points in all of them and made it to the podium four times, which has helped me to keep up a good position in the championship; only a few points away from second place overall.”

Lada still in the championship battle with Honda

While the battle for the overall honours is expected to be fought mostly between Honda and Citroën, one should not underestimate the two other manufacturer teams, as Lada had a remarkably good weekend at home in Moscow, and made it to the podium with their top-placed driver Nicky Catsburg, who is third in the championship, four points behind Monteiro: “We are now third in the championship and obviously we are all happy with this,” said the Dutchman. “We had a good test session at Motorland Aragon in mid-July and we hope that some improvements we’ve made will allow us to be even stronger. I’m really looking forward to the Race of Argentina, which I have never visited, but the circuit layout looks very nice and flowing. I expect it to be good for us. It’s so nice to resume the battle for WTCC points again and we have very ambitious goals.”

Team-mate Gabriele Tarquini added: “It will be interesting to see how the Lada Vesta performs and I am sure we will be competitive. I am happy to see how our car has progressed so far and I am pleased to have contributed as much as possible to this development. I am also delighted to share my experience with my team-mates and watch their progress also.”

Volvo ready to leap forward after summer break

Volvo are also making steady improvements, and are looking to capitalise on what they have learned so far this season.” We are going to attack the challenge of the final season part from a new angle both from me as a driver and the engineers,” said Thed Björk. “The summer break has been great to charge our batteries and to get time to think, especially as the spring schedule was so hectic.”

Team-mate Robert Dahlgren is also keen on going back to racing after the summer break: “I really love driving a race car and I get the best of two worlds by developing a new car in the WTCC and fighting for victories in the STCC. I have longed all summer to start racing again and I am really looking forward to this weekend’s race on a for me completely new track.”

Independents will joined by a new local hero

As for the independents, Mehdi Bennani has a strong 27 point advantage over Sébastien Loeb Racing team-mate Tom Chilton. ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel is 28 points further behind, despite two overall wins this season. James Thompson will be at the wheel of the Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1, joined this time around by local driver Esteban Guerrieri, who makes his WTCC debut with Campos Racing in the Chevrolet Cruze last run for Tin Sritrai in Thailand last year.

The weekend will start with a shakedown session on Friday, which will start at 18:30 local time and will be made up of 10-minute sessions, with a break between the two. The two free practice sessions will take place on Saturday at 8:45 and 11:00 respectively, lasting 30 minutes. Qualifying is scheduled for 15:00 local time, followed by the MAC3 challenge at 16:00.

Sunday’s action will begin with the 13 lap opening race at 14:05, while the second race will start at 15:20 ART.

WTCC Argentina Entry List

No – Driver – Team – Car
2 – Gabriele Tarquini – Lada Sport Rosneft – Lada Vesta WTCC
3 – Tom Chilton – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
5 – Norbert Michelisz – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
7 – Hugo Valente – Lada Sport Rosneft – Lada Vesta WTCC
9 – Tom Coronel – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
10 – Nicky Catsburg – Lada Sport Rosneft – Lada Vesta WTCC
11 – Grégoire Demoustier – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
12 – Rob Huff – Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic WTCC
15 – James Thompson – Münnich Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
18 – Tiago Monteiro – Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team – Honda Civic WTCC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
27 – John Filippi – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
37 – José María López – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
55 – Ferenc Ficza – Zengo Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC
62 – Thed Björk – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
63 – Robert Dahlgren – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
68 – Yvan Muller – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
86 – Esteban Guerrieri – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
99 – Dániel Nagy – Zengo Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC

WTCC Argentina Timetable

Friday 5th August
18:30 – Shakedown

Saturday 6th August
08:45 – Free Practice 1
11:00 – Free Practice 2
15:00 – Qualifying
16:00 – MAC3

Sunday 7th August
14:05 – Opening Race (13 Laps)
15:20 – Main Race (14 Laps)