Motegi hosts the WTCC this weekend for potential title decider

The ninth weekend of the 2016 World Touring Car Championship this weekend at Twin Ring Motegi, the circuit which hosted its first WTCC round last season and delivered two exciting races with wins for Citroën’s José María López and Honda’s Tiago Monteiro.

It was also last year at Motegi that the TC1-spec Honda Civic scored its first ever pole position, perhaps signalling the start of the turnaround in performance for the Japanese brand which has carried on into to the 2016 season.

Despite the strong performance from Honda this season, with three wins and a pole position and with Tiago Monteiro sitting in second place in the drivers’ stadings, Formula E-bound José María López could wrap up his third consecutive drivers’ title this weekend subject to the pending (but inevitable) cancellation of the Thailand round of the championship, which was set to take place on November 6th.

The Argentinian is 117 points ahead of Monteiro going to Motegi, and just needs to make sure his lead isn’t reduced by more than seven points to secure his third FIA world drivers’ championship title.

“I won my first world title (in Japan) at Suzuka in 2014 so I suppose that makes this place is a little bit more special for me,” said López. “As regards to Motegi, we know that our rivals are very strong at this track. In fact, it’s the only circuit at which we missed out on pole position in 2015, but I managed to grab the lead during the race, so that means that the Citroën C-Elysée WTCC is comfortable on this surface.”

Honda add a Japanese driver for their home race

Honda head to their home race after showing formidable pace against Citroën in recent events. That has worked against the Japanese marque in that they will carry the full compensation weight allocation of 80kg for the first time this season, and the first time they’ve ever been allocated maximum ballast based on performance.

“I’m in the privileged position of having won for Honda in Japan, so I’ve seen first-hand what a victory can do for a manufacturer when it comes on home soil and the kind of reaction you get from the supporters in the grandstands,” said Monteiro. “Having 80kg of compensation weight gives all the Honda drivers an additional challenge, but we were only 20kg lighter than that in Argentina and had very good speed in racing conditions, so I think we have some reasons to be optimistic about our chances of strong results.”

Honda will be entering a fourth factory car for the first time this weekend, with former Super GT racer Ryo Michigami making his debut for his home race.

“I’m very excited to be making my WTCC debut at Motegi and very thankful for the opportunity given to me by Honda Racing Team JAS,” he said. “I tested the Civic WTCC at Barcelona in the summer and I was impressed with how consistently fast it felt. I was reasonably pleased with my own pace, both in qualifying simulations with new tyres, and on race runs, and I have done more work since then on the Honda simulator. I will race with my heart and soul and put all my experience to best use.”

Another Argentinian added to the grid with Volvo

Another new name on the grid this weekend is Néstor Girolami, with the Argentinian making his WTCC return with the Polestar Cyan Racing team in their Volvo S60, taking over from Robert Dahlgren who will fight for this first Scandinavian Touring Car Championship drivers’ title this weekend at Solvalla.

James Thompson will also make his sixth appearance of the season for the Münnich Motorsport team, with team owner/driver René Münnich competing in the World Rallycross Championship this weekend, though in effect this has almost become Thompson’s full season drive.

WTCC Race of Japan Entry List

No – Driver – Team – Car
2 – Gabriele Tarquini – Lada Sport – 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 – Lada Vesta WTCC
9 – Tom Coronel – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
10 – Nicky Catsburg – Lada Sport – Lada Vesta WTCC
11 – Gregoire Demoustier – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
12 – Rob Huff – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
15 – James Thompson – Münnich Motosport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
18 – Tiago Monteiro – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
27 – John Filippi – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
34 – Ryo Michigami – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
37 – José María López – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
55 – Ferenc Ficza – Zengo Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
62 – Thed Björk – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
68 – Yvan Muller – Citroën Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
81 – Néstor Girolami – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
99 – Daniel Nagy – Zengo Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC

WTCC Race of Japan Timetable

Friday 2nd September
17:00 – Shakedown

Saturday 3rd September
08:45 – Free Practice 1
11:00 – Free Practice 2
15:00 – Qualifying
16:00 – MAC3

Sunday 4th September
14:35 – Opening Race (13 Laps)
15:50 – Main Race (14 Laps)

WTCC Race of Japan Compensation Weights

Car – Lap Difference (seconds) – Ballast – Final Weight
Citroën C-Elysée WTCC – 0.0 – +80kg – 1,180kg
Honda Civic WTCC – 0.0 – +80kg – 1,180kg
Lada Vesta WTCC – +0.3 – +50kg – 1,150kg
Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 – +0.7 – +10kg – 1,110kg
Volvo S60 WTCC – +1.1 – +0kg – 1,100kg