Event preview:
FIA WTCR Race of China
WTCR – FIA World
Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO
Rounds 19-21 of
30, Ningbo International Speedpark, 28-30 September
Rounds 22-24 of
30, Wuhan International Street Track, 5-7 October
GOLDEN TIMES AHEAD AS CHINA PREPARES FOR DOUBLE ACTION
FROM WTCR OSCARO RACERS
*Ningbo and
Wuhan events book-end China Golden Week celebrations
*WTCR OSCARO
visits world’s largest car market for two race weekends
*Wuhan gets set
to host first FIA touring car event on exciting street track
*Home-grown hero
Ma to battle WTCR OSCARO title-chasing drivers
The WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup presented by OSCARO is back on
track in China next week with the first part of a double-header that
could begin to shape the outcome of the inaugural title battle that has
produced 11 different winners from 18 action-packed races.
Gabriele
Tarquini is three points in front of fellow touring car
titan Yvan
Muller with Norbert
Michelisz, Yann
Ehrlacher and Jean-Karl
Vernay close behind. However, with 12 races over four
weekends remaining, all drivers on the grid at the Ningbo International
Speedpark from 28-30 September have a mathematical shot at championship
glory, such is the wide-open nature of WTCR OSCARO season one.
Not one but two
events: WTCR does the double in China
WTCR Race of China-Ningbo will be followed one week later by WTCR Race
of China-Wuhan. Dubbed the ‘Detroit of China’, Wuhan is a major car
manufacturing hub and is gearing up to host world championship motor
racing for the first time. While Ningbo is a purpose-built race
circuit, Wuhan offers an intriguing prospect. A temporary street course
around the city’s sports stadium complex, Rob Huff is the only WTCR
OSCARO regular with experience of the layout and even that was prior to
its lengthening for this year, making the weekend an exciting level
playing field.
Can Ma deliver
magic at home?
Ma Qing Hua,
the first Chinese driver to win an FIA world championship motor race,
is gearing up for his debut in the WTCR – FIA World Touring Car Cup
presented by OSCARO at Ningbo. The 30-year-old from Shanghai has been
called up to drive a Honda Civic Type R TCR for Boutsen Ginion Racing
in place of teenage talent Benjamin
Lessennes. Ma will also be in action at WTCR Race of
China-Wuhan one week later and is expected to be a contender for
honours.
Scheider set for
WTCR debut, Ceccon returns
Germany’s Timo
Scheider, a two-time DTM champion, is set to make his
first WTCR OSCARO appearance in China after being signed by
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport to drive its third Honda Civic Type R
TCR for the Asian leg of the championship. Meanwhile, having impressed
Team Mulsanne with WTCR OSCARO points on his debut in Slovakia in the
summer, Italian promise Kevin
Ceccon will continue to partner Fabrizio Giovanardi
for the remainder of the season in an Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR by Romeo
Ferraris.
New era goes
from strength to strength
With a rulebook designed to promote corner-by-corner overtaking, a
packed grid featuring four world champions and a host of national and
international touring car title-winners, an abundance of young stars,
ex-Formula One drivers and seven customer racing brands, the stage is set
for a thrilling China double-header. In an intriguing twist, WTCR – the
new name for the FIA World Touring Car Championship from 2018 – gets
three races per weekend, plus a second shot at the DHL Pole Position
Award
due to the scheduling of not one but two qualifying sessions. There’s
also the ground-breaking TAG
Heuer Most Valuable Driver award, which goes to the
racer scoring the most points during a weekend, plus the TAG Heuer Best Lap Trophy.
In addition to live global television coverage, Race 1 will be shown
live in selected territories on Facebook and at wtcr.oscaro.com
– website of the WTCR Series Presenting Partner partner and the world’s
leading online retailer of original automotive spare parts.
They said what?
WTCR drivers look ahead to China
Kevin Ceccon
(Team Mulsanne, Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR by Romeo Ferraris):
“These races are a really good chance for me and I’m really happy. I
have been a lot of times to China as a driver instructor and driver
coach but I have never seen Ningbo or Wuhan, only Shanghai and a small
go-kart circuit around Beijing, so everything will be new for me there.
I only drove Monaco as a street circuit but I did three race weekends
there and got two podiums so I love street circuits and I’m excited for
Wuhan.”
Esteban
Guerrieri (ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R TCR):
“I won the first race at Ningbo in 2017 but it was quite crazy in the
wet conditions with a new track that we didn’t know what to expect
from. Qualifying was quite intense with a wet track and I remember we
had to sort the tyre pressures and that it was very important to have a
spot-on set-up for the race. It’s a very technical track and in 2017 it
was new asphalt so no grip and that meant it was difficult to find the
limits. Because you have a lot of corners that are connected one after
the other, if the car is washing away at the front it’s difficult to
point it in the direction you want to go so you need a good front end.
There are a lot of corners at this track so hopefully Honda can be
strong and the races should be fun because are a few places where you
can overtake.”
Rob Huff
(Sébastien Loeb Racing, Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR):
“Wuhan is a very interesting, high-speed, and quite short, tricky
little street circuit. As with any street circuit, there’s no run-off
room at all. There’s quite a few changes in Tarmac, some of it is brand
new, and some of it is much older and more aggressive. There’s a lot of
bumps and a lot of undulation, but with the typical high-speed corners
you’d get on a street circuit. Last year I started the reversed-grid
race in eighth and came back to finish second behind my Volkswagen
team-mate, which shows there’s a potential for overtaking. But as with
all street races, it's still quite difficult. The WTCR races should be
very exciting, and a new challenge for the field, since the track is
very different to the street circuits we've had so far, such as at
Marrakech and Vila Real.”
Ma Qing Hua
(Boutsen Ginion Racing, Honda Civic Type R TCR): “I am
really happy to be racing in my home country. It’s really good to be in
this series, even though I don’t know the car and have not had one lap
at either of the circuits. I’m also jumping in at the middle of the
season when everybody else will have a lot more experience than me. It
will be tough with only two practice sessions before qualifying but I
really enjoy fighting with drivers like Rob Huff, Gabriele Tarquini and
Yvan Muller and really enjoy the competition. I would like to thank
everybody for this opportunity, I really appreciate it. I will take it
step-by-step and do my best to finish the races to get the maximum
track time possible.”
Gabriele
Tarquini (BRC Racing Team, Hyundai i30 N TCR): “Like
the previous races I will approach each event race by race because
everything can happen. At some race weekends I scored more than 60
points, at other weekends I had three zeros. It is easy to have a
strange weekend and to lose a lot of points. The best thing is to be
concentrating on points every race. It’s important to score 20 or 25
points per weekend, this could be very important until the end of the
season. There are three races each weekend and the gap is small. Other
drivers will join the title battle, not just me and Yvan [Muller].”
Jean-Karl Vernay
(Audi Sport Leopard Lukoil Team, Audi RS 3 LMS): “I’m
36 points behind, which is a victory pretty much, so I believe I can
still win the title. For sure I don’t know Ningbo and I don’t know
Wuhan but I can adapt myself really, really quickly – we are always
really quick at the beginning of the weekend. I am more or less the
only Audi driver able to fight for the title, so for sure I will have
the support of my team and this is definitely going to be important.
I’m really happy with the season until now and really proud of the
performance of the team and the work of everybody. We are just missing
a little bit of experience with the tyres and we need more front grip
[because] we have a lot of tyre degradation. We are working on
[developing the car]. We are still learning [but] I’m really proud of
Audi and WRT. There is no pressure, just full attack and let’s see.”
Five to watch
1 Norbert
Michelisz: Hungarian hero Michelisz reckoned his
long-awaited maiden WTCR OSCARO victory was the catalyst to him getting
his title challenge back on track. The China double-header provides the
perfect opportunity to do just that.
2 Mehdi Bennani:
Moroccan maestro Bennani has history when it comes to
winning in China following his maiden World Touring Car Championship
success in the country in 2014. Following a tough recent run, the
Sébastien Loeb Racing man will be gunning for an upturn in form.
3 Pepe Oriola:
The Team OSCARO by Campos Racing driver entered the summer a winner
after his breakthrough success in Slovakia. Expect another top
performance from the Spaniard.
4 Norbert Nagy:
A podium finisher in Slovakia, more giant-killing will be the aim for
Zengő Motorsport’s Hungarian prospect.
5 Aurélien
Panis: Frenchman Panis is overdue a big result in WTCR
OSCARO. Could the trip to China mark the turning point for Comtoyou
Racing’s Audi-powered driver?
Essentials
All you need to
know about WTCR Race of China-Ningbo: Click here for
the event guide, timetable and other essential information
All you need to
know about WTCR Race of China-Wuhan: Click here for
the event guide, timetable and other essential information
Who’s in it to
win it? Click here to
find out more about the WTCR drivers
WTCR explained?
Click here to
find out more
Standings: Click
here to
find out who is in front after the opening three races
For everything
else… Go to the online WTCR Media Centre by clicking here
Ningbo in 100
words: Located in Chunxiao in the rapidly-expanding
Beilun coastal development near Ningbo – a major port and industrial
city with a population of more than seven million – in Zhejiang
province, the track opened in time for WTCC Race of China in October
2017 following more than a year of construction work at a cost of
950-million CNY (122 million euros). Around 500 people were involved in
turning what was a disused quarry into a state-of-the-art venue, which
is built to FIA and FIM Grade 2 standards. It runs in an anti-clockwise
direction, is between 12-18 metres in width and features 21 turns.
Wuhan in 100
words: WTCR OSCARO will visit the largest car market on
the planet not once but twice in 2018 with Wuhan following Ningbo as
part of the China double-header. The challenging street track is a
popular fixture on the China Touring Car Championship calendar and is
located adjacent to a major sports stadium complex. The capital of
Hubei province and 900 kilometres east of Shanghai on the banks of the
Yangtze River, Wuhan is a major transportation and industrial hub. It’s
home to several car manufacturing plants including Honda, Hyundai and
Peugeot, plus an expanding population of more than 15 million people.
Key timings:
WTCR RACE OF
CHINA-NINGBO
28 September:
Free Practice 1: 12h40-13h10; Free Practice 2: 15h20-15h50
29 September:
First Qualifying: 11h00-11h30; Race 1: 15h30 (13 laps)
30 September:
Second Qualifying Q1: 09h00-09h20; Second Qualifying Q2: 09h25-09h35;
Second Qualifying Q3: 09h40 (first car starts); Race 2: 14h20 (13
laps); Race 3: 15h40 (16 laps)
WTCR RACE OF
CHINA-WUHAN
5 October:
Free Practice 1: 13h00-13h30; Free Practice 2: 15h30-16h00
6 October:
First Qualifying: 10h30-11h10; Race 1: 16h00 (18 laps)
7 October:
Second Qualifying Q1: 09h00-09h30; Second Qualifying Q2: 09h35-09h50;
Second Qualifying Q3: 10h00 (first car starts); Race 2: 15h45 (18
laps); Race 3: 17h05 (21 laps)
Who’s on the
grid?
World Touring
Car champions: Thed Björk, Rob Huff, Yvan Muller,
Gabriele Tarquini
WTCC Trophy
winners: Mehdi Bennani, Tom Coronel, Norbert Michelisz
WTCC race
winners: Yann Ehrlacher, Esteban Guerrieri, Ma Qing
Hua, Pepe Oriola
British Touring
Car champions: Fabrizio Giovanardi, Gordon Shedden
DTM champion:
Timo Scheider
TCR title
winners: Aurélien Comte, Jean-Karl Vernay
Young racing
hopefuls: Kevin Ceccon, Denis Dupont, John Filippi, Mato
Homola, Norbert Nagy, Aurélien Panis, Zsolt Szabó
International
racers: Nathanaël Berthon, Frédéric Vervisch
Weekend format
explained
In a major change to the previous WTCC race weekend format, each WTCR
OSCARO event will consist of three races – an increase from the
previous two plus an additional qualifying session. The points
allocation has been changed as follows:
Race
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
SQ
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
2
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
R1
|
27
|
20
|
17
|
14
|
12
|
10
|
8
|
6
|
4
|
2
|
R2
|
25
|
18
|
15
|
12
|
10
|
8
|
6
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
R3
|
30
|
23
|
19
|
16
|
13
|
10
|
7
|
4
|
2
|
1
|
Key: SQ = Second Qualifying;
R1 = Race 1; R2 = Race 2; R3 = Race 3
WTCR Race of
China in numbers
10:
Just 10 of 25 drivers contesting WTCR Race of China-Ningbo have
previous experience of the track. However, that’s nine more than will
have driven in Wuhan…
12: China
is the world’s largest car market with 12 million cars sold in the
country in the first half of 2018, a four per cent rise compared to the
same period last year. In comparison, 8.6 million cars were sold in the
USA up until July of this year.
2.984:
At 2.971 kilometres only Circuit Moulay El Hassan is shorter than the
2.984-kilometre Wuhan street course.
705:
Ningbo and Wuhan are 705 kilometres apart, which equates to a flight
time of 1hr50 minutes.
54,357:
When they take to the streets of Wuhan, the WTCR OSCARO drivers will be
racing under the backdrop of the Zhuankou Stadium complete with its
capacity of 54,357.
ENDS
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