Championship leader Yvan Muller lead a Chevrolet top three in the first practice session on Saturday, with Rob Huff and Alain Menu behind. The SEAT of Gabriele Tarquini was fourth fastest, the closest non-Chevrolet.
Alain Menu was the fastest driver in the Friday test session at the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba, displacing Chevrolet team-mate Rob Huff in the last few minutes of the session.
Michel Nykjaer will fill in for an unwell Pasquale Di Sabatino at this weekend’s round of the FIA World Touring Car Championship in Curitiba, racing the Chevrolet Cruze of Bamboo Engineering.
The legendary Pergusa track is back on an international calendar this year. Sources say that the track, located in Sicily and recently brought back to racing by a Campionato Italiano Turismo Endurance event, will host the seventh round of the International Superstars Series.
After almost six years with SEAT, Tiago Monteiro will join the Honda works programme run by JAS Motorsport, racing from Suzuka this year as the Italian team return to the WTCC for the first time since 2006 with the new Honda Civic.
Honda today announced that Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro will drive for them in the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
TouringCarTimes met up with Jaime Puig, head of SEAT Sport, to discuss hot topics such as a SEAT’s comeback as a works team, the supply of the most recent SEAT 1.6 turbo engine and the European Touring Car Cup.
Arena Motorsport driver James Nash has enjoyed the mid-season break, but the 26-year-old is ready to get racing again this weekend in Brazil with the team’s Ford Focus TC 2000, which will have a few more upgrades at the Autódromo Internacional de Curitiba.
2012 FIA European Touring Car Cup S2000 champion Fernando Monje will take part in his second ever WTCC race next weekend at Brazil, and with the second new 1.6 litre SEAT Sport engine at SUNRED. Team-mate Tiago Monteiro will still have to wait till he gets his.
SEAT and BMW will be 30kg lighter than the Championship leading Chevrolet Cruzes at the next round of the World Touring Car Championship at Curitiba, Brazil.