Preview: The most exciting WTCC finale lies ahead in Qatar

This Friday, everything is set for the most exhilarating season finale of the World Touring Car Championship to-date, when the short-lived TC1 era cars race under the floodlights at the Losail circuit in Qatar, as Volvo’s Thed Björk and Honda’s Norbert Michelisz go head-to-head for the 2017 drivers’ title.

No matter what happens, we’re guaranteed a new champion come midnight on Friday – and to call the battle a head-to-head undermines the fact that six drivers in fact could walk away with the trophy, and pick up a late invitation to the FIA gala next week.

With just 6.5 points separating Björk and Michelisz, the Swede and his Hungarian rival’s title could depend on support from their team-mates this weekend, though the first curveball there is that both drivers’ have team-mates which are also mathematically in the running, with Dutchman Nicky Catsburg 44 points behind Björk in the standings with 60 still at play, and Michelisz’s newish team-mate Esteban Guerrieri 50.5 behind, and in the odd position of being able to win the championship for Honda despite having scored most of his points and both of his wins this season in a privateer Chevrolet.

The Sébastien Loeb Racing Citroën pair of Mehdi Bennani and Tom Chilton can also mathematically win the championship, though they’re also fighting for the independents’ title, and should they take their eye off that, they could lose that accolade to Macau winner Rob Huff, who’s out of play for the overall title, but still there in the hunt for his first privateer title in the Münnich Motorsport Citroën.

With Bennani third in the standings, 39.5 points behind Björk, it’ll take a very mixed up race to stop Björk or Michelisz from becoming the 2017 champion – after all, Losail is certainly not Macau – which only really brings up a sad point – imagine if this showdown was happening in Macau!

Nevertheless, we’ll have to make do with Losail, not the world’s most exciting track for touring cars, but passing is certainly possible. The Qatari track has only hosted demonstration runs for the already-crowned José María López in 2015 and 2016, but this year they get the finale they’ve paid for, a finale of a season where the title battle has gone to the last round for the first time since 2012, and the first time it’s been between drivers racing for different manufacturers’ since 2009.

The surprises keep coming of course – speculation was rife that Honda would add a fourth car for ‘super-sub’ Gabriele Tarquini, who was called out of involuntary redundancy in China to help Michelisz’s title bid, or perhaps replace Ryo Michigami to make sure they field an all-star line-up for TC1’s apparent swansong.

As it stands, it’s situation normal for Honda, while Volvo decided to play their joker, dropping their super-fast Argentine Néstor Girolami for touring car goliath Yvan Muller for the race, bringing him out or voluntary retirement – and in doing so throw the proverbial kitchen sink at what could be their one shot of the world title, with the landscape in terms of technical regulations and manufacturer programmes for 2018 still unclear.

The off-centre Qatari weekend means qualifying and races all take place this Friday, with nerves and nails set to be wracked and bitten off all the way down the pit lane.

Björk has the mathematical lead, but not the momentum – and Michelisz is only behind due to another round of snakes and ladders played by the Honda technical department, as a homologation issue cost the Hungarian a number of points in China.

In a topsy-turvy year which has seen the mid-season championship leader, Tiago Monteiro, sidelined after a crash in testing, an unpredictable end is all that can be predicted.

Timetable

Thursday 30th November
18:30 – Free Practice 1
21:15 – Free Practice 2

Friday 1st December
14:30 – Qualifying
15:40 – MAC3
21:20 – Opening Race (10 laps)
22:35 – Main Race (12 laps)

* All times local – CET+2hrs

Entry list

No – Driver – Nat – Team – Car
3 – Tom Chilton – GBR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
5 – Norbert Michelisz – HUN – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
9 – Tom Coronel – NED – ROAL Motorsport – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
11 – Kris Richard – SUI – Campos Racing – Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1
12 – Rob Huff – GBR – Münnich Motorsport – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
24 – Kevin Gleason – USA – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
25 – Mehdi Bennani – MOR – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
27 – John Filippi – FRA – Sébastien Loeb Racing – Citroën C-Elysée WTCC
34 – Ryo Michigami – JPN – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
62 – Thed Björk – SWE – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
63 – Nicky Catsburg – NED – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
64 – Yvan Muller – FRA – Polestar Cyan Racing – Volvo S60 TC1
66 – Zsolt Szabo – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC
68 – Yann Ehrlacher – FRA – RC Motorsport – Lada Vesta WTCC
86 – Esteban Guerrieri – ARG – Honda Racing Team JAS – Honda Civic WTCC
99 – Daniel Nagy – HUN – Zengő Motorsport – Honda Civic WTCC