Rob Huff dominated the test session on Porto’s Circuito da Boavista. The Briton and his Chevrolet Cruze car emerged as the fastest from the very beginning, improving four times the fastest lap and eventually posting a 2:09.026 that no one was able to match.
Huff’s team-mates Alain Menu and Yvan Muller were second and third fastest with laps of 2:09.667 and 2.09.758 respectively. All the other competitors remained above the 2:10 mark.
Norbert Michelisz was the best of the rest, posting the fourth fastest lap of 2:10.576 just ahead of WTCC comebacker Stefano D’Aste (2:10.814) and an impressive Mehdi Bennani (2:10.969).
With Tom Coronel in seventh, Pepe Oriola was the fastest of the SUNRED drivers, posting the eighth fastest lap of 2:11.950. His team mate Gabriele Tarquini was not able to clock any lap times because on some technical issues. "It looks like a fuel feeding problem," he explained.
The drivers had a very cautious approach during this first session and no major incidents were reported. However, the session was red flagged (and not resumed) with four minutes on the clock, when Robert Dahlgren’s Volvo C30 hit the barriers at Turn 2 and stopped on the track.
Huff commented: "I really love street circuits! I managed to build up consistently, looking for the grip when I needed it. The car’s balance was fantastic, perfect for this track!"
The WTCC field will hit the track again tomorrow for the usual two 30-minute free practices and the 45-minute extended qualifying.

Rob Huff set the fastest lap in today’s test session at Porto

DRIVERS IMPRESSED BY RACETRACK IMPROVEMENTS
Rob Huff’s fastest lap in today’s test session set already a new track record for WTCC car on the Circuito da Boavista. Huff’s 2:09.026 improved the previous record of 2:09.308 clocked by Gabriele Tarquini during 2009 qualifying session.
This was mainly due to extensive improvements made to the street circuit located between Porto and Matosinhos.
"I am positively impressed," said local hero Tiago Monteiro. "The chicanes are now proper chicanes, most of the tarmac is new and smooth, and most of the track is considerably wider. This means that is also faster, but they have provided larger run-off areas that help to correct mistakes. I would say that 90% of the circuit is now very good. In my view they should just resurface the roundabout at Turn 1 and – possibly – the sector in between the houses at rua de Vilarinha and rua de Vila Nova."
Huff echoed: "The circuit needed to be improved and I think they have done a great job. They have turned what was a special circuit in a VERY special circuit that is actually enjoyable to drive. Look at Turn 4, it used to be a first-gear slow corner, not is a third-gear one. And the chicanes along the back straight are now very challenging."
Championship promoter Marcello Lotti was also satisfied: "The municipality of Porto, the Portuguese National Sporting Authority and Porto Lazer have put in a huge joint effort to improve the track a lot. They had promised it and they have kept their word."

Tiago Monteiro was impressed by the improvements made to his home track

RTP TO BROADCAST WTCC RACES ON SUNDAY
Portuguese national free-to-air public TV, RTP will grant extensive coverage to the WTCC event in Porto. RTP2 will broadcast both races on Sunday: Race 2 live from 16.35 to 17.30 and Race 1 on a delay basis from 17.30 to 18.25. RTP1 will broadcast live stand up on Sunday at 13.00 and reports in the evening news at 20.00.
Finally RTPN sports channel will focus on pre-event promotion within their magazine "Speed" on Saturday at 14.00.
Additional coverage will be granted by TVI and SIC through highlights and news.

www.fiawtcc.com

Franz Engstler siegt im zweiten Lauf bei den Privatfahrern und macht mit Platz 6 zusätzliche WM Punkte

Platz 9 im Qualifying, Platzregen und Rennabbruch: spannender hätte das Rennen der Tourenwagenweltmeisterschaft in Ungarn für Franz Engstler und sein LIUQI MOLY Team Engstler nicht sein können. Franz Engstler hatte sowohl bei den freien Trainings als auch dem Qualifying mit seinem LIQUI MOLY BMW zu kämpfen, letztendlich konnte er als Neunter bei den Privatfahrern an den Start gehen.
Auch beim ersten Lauf am Rennsonntag lief es aus Allgäuer Sicht zunächst nicht wie erhofft. Franz Engstler konnte zwar einige Plätze gut machen, musste sich aber mit Platz 7 bei den Privatfahrern zufrieden geben. „Leider konnte ich im ersten Lauf nicht mehr zeigen“, so Engstler nach dem ersten Rennen.
Nach der allgemeinen Reparaturpause ging es dann direkt in die Startaufstellung für Lauf zwei. Die Zuschauer auf den vollbesetzten Tribünen feuerten die Teams an und sorgten so für eine euphorische Stimmung am Hungaroring. Doch plötzlich zogen dunkle Wolken auf und noch in der Einführungsrunde begann es zu tröpfeln. Aus ein paar einzelnen Regentropfen wurde innerhalb kürzester Zeit Platzregen, so dass die Rennleitung das Rennen abbrach. In der Startaufstellung wechselte die Crew vom LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler den BMW auf Regenreifen, kurze Zeit später wurde das Rennen hinter dem Safety Car wieder gestartet. Ab diesem Moment machte sich die Routine von Franz Engstler einmal mehr bemerkbar. Während seine Mitstreiter mit den wechselnden Wetterbedingungen zu kämpfen hatten und es immer wieder zu Kollisionen kam, konnte Engstler nach vorne fahren. Im letzten Drittel des Rennens machte er pro Runde nahezu kontinuierlich einen Platz gu t und fuhr von Platz 4 bei den Privatfahrern auf den ersten Platz vor. Gesamt wurde er Sechster, was zusätzlicg WM-Punkte gibt. Der Jubel beim gesamten LIQUI MOLY Team Engstler war groß und Peter Baumann von LIQUI MOLY brachte es auf den Punkt: „Wer hätte das geglaubt, nach den Trainingszeiten vom gesamten Wochenende!“ … das kleine Wunder von Ungarn eben! In zwei Wochen wird die WTCC in Brünn/ Tschechien zu Gast sein, kommendes Wochenende geht es für das LIQUI MOLY Team bereits nach Zolder/ Belgien: hier finden die GT Masters und die ADAC Procar statt.

Chevrolet collected two more victories in Budapest and improved the team’s tally to an impressive seven wins out of the eight races held so far.
The first visit paid by WTCC to the Hungaroring turned into a hugely popular event, as a crowd of enthusiastic fans flocked to the track, cheering for home boy Norbert Michelisz, showing green, red and white boards to form a giant national flag on the grandstands, and roaring during the two exciting races provided by WTCC drivers.
Official figures were of 75,000 over the weekend, 60,000 of them on Sunday. Not even the rain spoiled the party, as the Hungarian fans stoically remained sitting and waiting for the second race to resume after the break for a torrential shower.
Alain Menu and Yvan Muller shared victories – the first of the season for the 2010 champion – but Rob Huff was probably the happiest of the Chevrolet men, as he collected two valuable results (fourth and second) that salvaged his leadership put in danger by a disappointing qualifying.
The races in Budapest gave other drivers the opportunity to shine.
Gabriele Tarquini finished third in Race 2, but would have deserved more as he lost a podium in Race 1 after a contact with Villa and was leading the second race when the rain intensified and forced the red flag out.
Norbert Michelisz ended as runner up in the first race, but spoiled his chances to do even better in the second one, trying an impossible manoeuvre at the start.
Javier Villa claimed his first WTCC podium and proved once again he is one of the championship’s best prospects for the future.
Robert Dahlgren was probably the day’s most disappointed man. For the whole weekend his Volvo C30 had proved to be competitive on this track. Dahlgren had high expectations for the races, but he crashed at the beginning of the first one and then received a penalty in the second for hitting Oriola. This wasted a great opportunity for the Swedish team of achieving their best result ever in WTCC.
The championship will resume at Brno, Czech Republic, on June 19^th for rounds 9 and 10.

WTCC Race of Hungary – Hungaroring, Budapest – 4 / 5 June 2011
www.fiawtcc.com – www.hungaroring.hu

Chevrolet’s qualifying domination continued at Budapest, where the blue Cruze cars claimed their fourth pole position out of four events. However, it was Alain Menu who reaped the honours, beating his team-mate Yvan Muller by 0.111 seconds. It was Menu’s first pole since Brands Hatch 2009.
Proteam Racing’s Javier Villa topped the Yokohama Trophy, but more than this he created a surprise by qualifying third overall and best of the BMW drivers.
Another surprise – a negative one – was provided by current WTCC leader Rob Huff, the pole man in the three previous race meetings. The Briton set only the 12^th fastest lap in Q1 and therefore failed to advance to Q2.

Q1 – Javier Villa posted the fastest lap of 1:57.166 midway through the session and only Robert Dahlgren was able to threat his leadership. The Swede lapped in 1:57.207 securing his first trip to Q2 so far in the season.
Behind them, all other drivers had to fight hard to make it to Q2 and positions changed at every lap. Norbert Michelisz and Tom Coronel were the last two to secure a place among the top ten, just before the end of the 20-minute Q1.
The following drivers qualified for Q2: Villa, Dahlgren, Muller, Tarquini, Michelisz, Monteiro, Coronel, Poulsen, Menu and Bennani, who won pole position for tomorrow’s Race 2.
Darryl O’Young and Rob Huff were the first two drivers excluded from Q2 as they qualified 11^th and 12^th respectively.

Q2 – Alain Menu settled the pole position matter on his first flying lap, becoming the first WTCC driver to break the 1:57 wall at the Hungaroring. The Swiss driver’s 1:56.546 was not to be beaten.
Javier Villa set a provisional second fastest lap of 1:56.710, but he was demoted to third by Yvan Muller when the reigning world champion completed his last attempt in 1:56.657.
Tom Coronel and Norbert Michelisz tried in vain to squeeze among the top three and eventually had to settle in fourth and fifth positions respectively, with Robert Dahlgren in sixth ahead of Tiago Monteiro, Kristian Poulsen and Gabriele Tarquini. The first nine drivers were all covered by only half-a-second.
Mehdi Bennani closed the time sheet in 10^th position after spoiling his chances when he ran wide at turn 1.

WTCC Race of Hungary – Hungaroring, Budapest – 4 / 5 June 2011
www.fiawtcc.com – www.hungaroring.hu

The fourth race meeting of the season will take place at Budapest’s Hungaroring next week, marking the WTCC’s first visit to Hungary and its 4.4-km circuit that is home to the Formula One Grand Prix since 1986.
However, the Hungaroring had hosted once the FIA European Touring Car in 2001 when Fabrizio Giovanardi (Alfa Romeo) and Roberto Colciago (Audi A4) shared victories in the Super Touring class, while Duncan Huisman (BMW) won the Super Production race.
The World Championship stops in Budapest after Chevrolet and Rob Huff have nearly monopolised the attention in the three previous events. The twisty layout of the Hungarian track is due to suit better to the SEAT and BMW cars than Monza’s long straights.
It is still uncertain whether Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro, the fastest drivers in the SEAT patrol, will swap from the current 2.0 TDi to the 1.6-litre turbo engine developed by SUNRED in cooperation with Lehmann Motorentechnik.
At the same time the new BMW 320 TC seems to have the potential to claim its first race win. Tom Coronel and Norbert Michelisz have great expectations to shine in Budapest, especially the young Hungarian who came close to a podium finish in Monza and will race in front of his enthusiastic fans.

Hungarian motor sport fans will be cheering for Norbert Michelisz at Budapest

NO CHANGES TO THE COMPENSATION WEIGHT
In Budapest there will be non changes to the weights of the different cars compared to Monza.
The compensation weight system based on the lap times set in the three previous events (Brazil, Belgium and Italy) identified the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T as the reference model and allocated 40 extra kilos to the five cars ran by Chevrolet-RML and bamboo-engineering. Both, the SEAT León TDi and the BMW 320 TC won’t have any weight added, while the Volvo C30 and BMW 320si will benefit from a 20-kg reduction of their minimum weights.
However these weights may change, should SEAT and Volvo cars switch to the 1.6 turbo engine. In this case they would receive the maximum compensation weight as per art. 79 B5) of the Sporting Regulations.

Compensation weight Budapest
+ 40 kg: Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T
± 0 kg: SEAT León TDI, BMW 320 TC
– 20 kg: BMW 320si, Volvo C30

The Chevrolet Cruze cars will run on the maximum weight once again

BICYCLE TRAINING FOR YVAN MULLER
Reigning WTCC champion Yvan Muller keeps on training for his future participation in the Le Mans 24-Hours of cycling that will take place on August 20 and 21.
In order to improve his form, Muller took part last Sunday in "La Gianoise" race that brings the competitos to climb on the Swiss mountains for 40 kilometres and up to 1080 metres. He managed to complete the race in 2 hours and 16 minutes, improving his last year’s time. This Sunday he will pedal around the Leman lake for a total of 180 km.

FREDY BARTH WINS GT4 IN SPAIN
Fredy Barth claimed victory in the GT4 class during the second round of the Blancpain Enfudrance Series, last Sunday at Navarra, Spain.
The Swiss driver shared a Lotus Evora car run by the Lechner Racing Team with fellow countrymen Lorenz Frey and Rolf Maritz. After setting pole position, they fought for victory with the Lotus Evora driven by Piscopo and Nigel Mansell’s sons Leo and Greg, and the Nissan 370Z of Buncombe-Tresson-Ward.
Eventually Barth, Frey and Maritz won the race with a 2-lap margin.

HUNGARIAN TOURISM SPONSORS BUDAPEST EVENT
Eurosport Events announced the Hungarian National Tourist Office as the Event Presenting Partner of the WTCC Race of Hungary that is hosted by Budapest’s Hungaroring next weekend.
As title sponsor, the Hungarian National Tourist Office will benefit from a premium visibility on TV, the internet and on-site. This sponsorship agreement is further enhanced by an international multimedia advertising campaign on Eurosport and Eurosport 2 channels and on Eurosport’s websites and also includes a global broadcast agreement that will see many exciting sporting events in Hungary aired on Eurosport channels.

www.fiawtcc.com

Though Robert Dahlgren’s normally-aspirated Volvo C30 was outpaced by the turbo cars in Monza, the Swedish driver and Volvo Polestar Racing were satisfied after the Italian event.
"It was our best race weekend so far looking at the steps we have taken forward with the car," said Dahlgren.
Christian Dahl, Managing Director of Volvo Polestar Racing explained: "It was very useful for us to complete both races and we have got loads of new data to analyze."
Compared to the lap times set last year at Monza, when most of the teams used normally-aspirated engines, Dahlgren was only two tenths away from the fastest laps.
"The car keeps getting better and better. We have definitely improved the chassis in both qualifying and race conditions. We are really pleased with the first three race meetings of this development season," said Dahlgren. "It is going to be really interesting in the next event, because the Hungaroring is new to everyone in the championship. The track is twisty and should suit our car much better than Monza."

Robert Dahlgren’s Volvo C30 fighting for mid-field positions at Monza

POULSEN LEADS THE YOKOHAMA TROPHY
Kristian Poulsen and Norbert Michelisz shared victories at Monza in the Yokohama Trophies, with Darryl O’Young claiming one third and one second. The battle for the top positions in the Trophy is incredibly close.
Poulsen has scored three race wins so far in his Liqui Moly BMW 320 TC, one in each event, and managed to build a small gap; the Dane leads with 45 points, 12 ahead of the trio formed by Michelisz (Zengö Dension Team BMW), Darryl O’Young (bamboo-engineering Chevrolet) and Javier Villa (Proteam Racing BMW) who have won one race apiece.
Poulsen’s team mate Franz Engstler has been very consistent so far and lies fifth, 21 points behind the leader, but still did not manage to win a race.
Other drivers have proved to be competitive, but lacked luck so far, like Michel Nykjær and Fredy Barth (both SUNRED SEAT) and Mehdi Bennani (Proteam Racing BMW) who scored only a few points in Monza.

Kristian Poulsen, Norbert Michelisz and Darryl O’Young on the podium

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Rob Huff walked out of Monza with two more victories and a gap of 36 and 41 points respectively ahead of his team-mates Yvan Muller and Alain Menu, which equates to staking an early claim on the world title.
Huff achieved something that had only been done twice before since WTCC was launched: a double win in the same weekend. The two precedents dated back to 2005 (Jörg Müller at Magny-Cours) and 2007 (James Thompson at Valencia).
Huff also took the most out of the crushing supremacy the Chevrolet Cruze cars showed on the fast track of Monza, and managed not to crack under the relentless pressure that Muller and Menu put on him.
Over the 18 laps of the two races, Huff did not commit the slightest mistake, never opened the smallest gap and always kept the most favourable line.
Chevrolet might have outpaced the rest of the field, but the races in Monza were far from boring. Competition between the SEAT and BMW drivers was exciting. Tiago Monteiro, Norbert Michelisz and Kristian Poulsen were the stars among the pursuers, while bad luck disappointed Gabriele Tarquini and Tom Coronel.
As for Robert Dahlgren, on the fastest track in the WTCC calendar, he could do nothing to close the gap between his normally-aspirated Volvo and the turbo cars. His actual season will kick off when the team make the switch to the new engine.
In the meanwhile, it is not hazardous to predict that the following races may contribute to further heat up the atmosphere at the Chevrolet team.
The championship will resume at Budapest, Hungary, on June 5^th for rounds 7 and 8.

WTCC Race of Italy – Autodromo di Monza – 14 / 15 April 2011
www.fiawtcc.com – www.monzanet.it

After Belgium hosted the first European race meeting of the season at Zolder, the World Touring Car Championship will resume in two weeks at Monza, for rounds 5 and 6 of 24.
The Italian event will take place on May 14^th and 15^th, but it will be preceded by a one-day test on Thursday, May 12^th.
In a tentative schedule, WTCC competitors are due to have five sessions of one hour each at their disposal, between 9.00 and 18.00. This will be especially important for Polestar Racing and SUNRED Engineering that have both planned to benefit from the day for completing the first proper test with their new 1.6L turbo engines.
Another important aspect of the event in Monza is that the compensation weight system will be applied for the first time this season in order to balance performance on the track. The weight list for the different model cars – based on the lap times set in the two previous events at Curitiba and Zolder – will be communicated soon by the FIA.

The WTCC will resume in two weeks at Italy’s Autodromo di Monza

IBRAHIM OKYAY COMES BACK IN MONZA
Multiple Turkish touring car champion Ibrahim Okyay will return to WTCC on the occasion of the series‘ next event at Monza.
Okyay will be at the wheel of a BMW 320si car run by the Borusan Otomotiv Motorsport.
The 41-year old from Istanbul claimed five national touring car titles (1999, 2001, 2007, 2009 and 2010) and was a regular competitor in the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship (best result 10^th at Macau) and the 2010 FIA European Touring Car Cup (4^th in the Super 2000 Class).
"Although we managed to achieve brilliant results in the ETCC and in Turkey, we are aware of how difficult is to be successful in the WTCC. I don’t think that the BMW 320si may be competitive against the 1.6 turbo cars. But it’s good to be back in the World Championship, because our plan is to compete in the whole season in 2012 and the races in Monza will help us to understand where we are," Okyay said.

Turkish touring car champion Ibrahim Okyay is ready for WTCC comeback

YOKOHAMA TROPHY PROVIDES THRILLING SHOW
Competitors of the Yokohama Trophy are providing a thrilling show inside the WTCC show.
In Zolder both races were decided by extremely close battles. In the first one, Kristian Poulsen claimed his second victory of the season, beating newcomer Norbert Michelisz by a tight margin; after the 15-lap race the best five drivers – Poulsen, Michelisz, Michel Nykjær, Javier Villa, Darryl O’Young and Pepe Oriola – were all covered by less than five seconds.
In the second race, with Poulsen eliminated by a contact with Tiago Monteiro, O’Young grabbed his first win in the new Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T. The high level of the competition in the trophy was clearly proved by O’Young and Nykjær who were classified in fourth and fifth positions overall, very close to the podium finishers, and by Villa who posted the fastest lap of the race.
The trophy classification is also very close, with Poulsen leading by only three points ahead of the Villa- Nykjær duo.

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Belgian fans flocked to the Zolder track in a sunny Easter Sunday and were rewarded by two close races that saw Rob Huff and Gabriele Tarquini sharing victories.
In Race 1 Huff encored the successful result achieved one month ago in Brazil, converting pole position to his second win of the season. Huff was followed by team-mates Alain Menu and Yvan Muller who secured Chevrolet’s second 1-2-3 finish of the year.
The second race was one of the most exciting ever with Gabriele Tarquini and his SEAT León TDi being able to interrupt Chevrolet’s supremacy. The tough fight for the lead between the Italian and Huff will be remembered and today’s result proved that even a great team with great drivers can fail when put under pressure.
Which is good news for the championship that is still led by Huff who has only a one-point margin ahead of Menu.
The battle for the Yokohama Trophy was equally thrilling. Kristian Poulsen and Darryl O’Young (the latter having just swapped to the Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T) grabbed one victory apiece. But the competition was extremely close and involved Michel Nykjær, Norbert Michelisz, Pepe Oriola and Javier Villa who even managed to post the overall fastest lap in Race 2.
Good news also for Volvo, as Robert Dahlgren scored his first points in what could be the last race for the C30 with the 2.0L normally aspirated engine. Polestar Racing are working hard to bring the new 1.6L turbo at Monza, which could definitely boost the ambitions of the Swedish patrol.
The same aim have SUNRED that hope to fit the turbo unit on Tarquini’s and Monteiro’s cars at the Italian event.
The championship will resume at Monza, Italy, on May 15^th for rounds 5 and 6.

WTCC Race of Belgium – Circuit Zolder – 23 / 24 April 2011
www.fiawtcc.com – www.circuit-zolder.be

Chevrolet’s Rob Huff claimed his second pole position of the season in Zolder. Just like in Curitiba the championship leader emerged as the fastest in Q2, beating his own team-mate Alain Menu and SUNRED’s Gabriele Tarquini by one and two tenths respectively.
Reigning world champion Yvan Muller qualified fourth ahead of Tiago Monteiro, with Kristian Poulsen sixth and best of the Yokohama Trophy.
Tom Coronel was the great disappointed as he failed to move forward to Q2, while Fredy Barth won pole position for Race 2.

Q1 – The red flag stopped the session after four minutes only, due to Michel Nykjær’s SEAT hitting the wall at the Villeneuve chicane.
As soon as the session resumed most of the drivers went for a quick lap with Tiago Monteiro posting the fastest for good with the time of 1:38.952.
Yokohama Trophy competitors Kristian Poulsen (1:39.293) and Mehdi Bennani (1:39.328) were second and third fastest respectively, followed by the Chevrolet trio of Yvan Muller, Alain Menu and Rob Huff.
In the dying moments of the session Tom Coronel was desperately trying to make the top-ten. He eventually improved to 1:39.680 that was not enough as he qualified 11^th, only 0.042 seconds behind Fredy Barth in 10^th.
The following drivers qualified for Q2: Monteiro, Poulsen, Bennani, Muller, Menu, Huff, Michelisz (brilliant on his first outing with the BMW 320TC), Tarquini, Engstler and Barth. The latter will start from pole position on the reverse grid for Sunday’s Race 2.
Javier Villa did not post any lap due to a turbo failure.

Q2 – Chevrolet drivers set the pace straight from the beginning, with Huff (1:38.458) and Muller (1:38.738) posting the provisional fastest laps.
Although Huff’s time eventually proved to be out of reach for the rest of the field, Muller’s was beaten by Menu (1:38.598) and Tarquini (1:38.723) who both managed to improve just before the chequered flag was waved.
Despite a spin, Poulsen won pole for the Yokohama Trophy posting a 1:39.398 that beat Michelisz’s 1:39.450 by 0.052 seconds only.

www.fiawtcc.com

Gabriele Tarquini kicked off the Belgian weekend in style setting the fastest lap in today’s 30-minute test. With ten minutes left on the clock, the Italian driver in his SEAT León Tdi posted a 1:39.848, which he improved to 1:39.726 in the dying moments of the session.
Chevrolet man Alain Menu emerged as the second fastest with a lap of 1:39.765, the only other driver to go under the 1:40. Mark.
Current championship leader Rob Huff placed third (1:40.050) just ahead of Tom Coronel (1:40.132) and Yvan Muller (1:40.308).
The SUNRED duo of Michel Nykjær and Fredy Barth were timed at 1:40.520 and 1:40.694 respectively to be classified sixth and seventh, best of the Yokohama Trophy competitors.
The Volvo C30 of Robert Dahlgren set the 10^th fastest lap of 1:41.018.
The session was disrupted once by the red flag after 17 minutes, when Aleksey Dudukalo’s SEAT crashed into the tyre-wall at the Villeneuve chicane.
During the last minute Marchy Lee stopped his BMW car at Turn 2 because of a throttle failure, and the session was red-flagged for good.
A few drivers received warnings for not respecting the track limits and Kristian Poulsen had one of his fastest laps disallowed for straight-cutting a chicane.

Gabriele Tarquini’s SEAT set the fastest lap in today’s test at Zolder

THE WORD TO. GABRIELE TARQUINI
"I admit I was surprised by the lap time, taking into account that now there are tyres in the second chicane while last year there was none. On the other hand I have to say that track and weather conditions were nearly ideal, though a little bit too warm for our turbodiesel engine.
I went for a set of fresh tyres on my last stint and made good use of them. At the end of a test session you never know what the others did, which tyres they used, how much boost they gave. Therefore we must remain very cautious in evaluating this result.
But indeed it was a good start!"

WTCC AND INFINEON RACEWAY PLAN EVENT FOR 2012
The FIA World Touring Car Championship and Infineon Raceway have tentatively reached an agreement that would bring the world championship to the Sonoma Valley in September 2012.
"Bringing the championship to USA was the next item in our agenda and the last one to fulfill our aim for a really global calendar," said WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti. "So far we had worked to establish our European and South American events, reinforce our presence in Asia and return to Morocco. Now we feel that the time has come to expand to the US market that is a priority for our manufacturers and stakeholders. Infineon Raceway is a modern racetrack with impressive facilities, and I believe it is the ideal location to host a WTCC event. I am very satisfied of the meeting we had with Steve Page that enabled us to find an agreement for submitting to the FIA the proposal to enter the WTCC Race of US in the 2012 calendar."
Steve Page, president and general manager at Infineon Raceway, is excited at hosting the first-ever WTCC event in the United States. He met with Lotti earlier this week in Sonoma.
"The WTCC offers the kind of door-to-door hard-fought competition that American racing fans really respond to and we’re very excited about the opportunity to introduce this series to the North American continent," said Page. "The Infineon Raceway road course is an ideal circuit for these cars and we look forward to introducing Sonoma-style racing to a world-wide audience."

Infineon Raceway at Sonoma is due to host WTCC in 2012

www.fiawtcc.com

The 3^rd and 4^th rounds of the 2011 FIA WTCC will take place at Zolder next week.
This event marks the opening of the championship’s European season that will come to an end on September 4^th at Valencia, before the final tour to the Far East.
This is the second visit to the 4-km Belgian racetrack after last year’s event that saw Gabriele Tarquini and Andy Priaulx sharing victories for SEAT and BMW.
The WTCC resumes in Zolder after a five-week break that followed the season’s kick off at Curitiba, Brazil.
The Chevrolet team go to Belgium with the aim to defend their leadership in both the Drivers‘ and Manufacturers‘ Championship.
Current leader Rob Huff will be the man to watch. Not only because he won this year’s inaugural race in Brazil, as he also wants to make up from the 2010 disappointment, when Priaulx’s masterly defence driving deprived him of a possible victory in the second race.
Besides Huff’s team-mates at Chevrolet Yvan Muller and Alain Menu, other candidates to shine on the Belgian circuit are Gabriele Tarquini and especially Tom Coronel. The latter will benefit from the enthusiastic support of the many fans that will make the short trip from Netherlands to cheer their favourite driver.

Circuit Zolder hosts next week the second event of the WTCC season

TEAMS WORK AROUND THE CLOCK BEFORE ZOLDER
Three WTCC teams are working around the clock to get ready in time for the Belgian event.
Yesterday bamboo-engineering collected their two new Chevrolet Cruze cars today at RML factory in Wellingborough. The cars were shaken down by Chevrolet driver Alain Menu at a nearby airfield.
Bamboo’s drivers Darryl O’Young and Yukinori Taniguchi had started the season in Brazil with the old Chevrolet Lacetti machines powered by the 2.0L normally aspirated engines. From Zolder onwards they switch to the Cruze 1.6 turbo.
Team Principal Richard Coleman said: "We are very pleased, as now we can look forward to regaining our competitiveness. We appreciate the huge effort that RML and Chevrolet have made to get these cars ready for this weekend. The shakedown went well and the cars are now ready to go. Darryl and Yuke will get their first run in the cars in Friday’s test and I’m sure they will adapt very well and quickly get up to speed."
At the same time Wiechers-Sport and Zengö Dension Team are frantically working to finish building their new cars. Both teams were forced to miss the season opening event in Brazil while waiting to receive their new BMW 320 TC cars that will be driven by Urs Sonderegger and Norbert Michelisz respectively. Their plan is to shake down the cars early next week.

Two new Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 Turbo cars were delivered to bamboo-engineering

WTCC TO RACE AT BUDAPEST IN JUNE
Rounds 7 and 8 of the 2011 FIA World Touring Car Championship will take place at Budapest’s Hungaroring on June 5.
The WTCC Race of Hungary replaces the WTCC Race of Morocco that was scheduled on the same weekend at Marrakech but was cancelled after the local promoter was not able to secure the financial support required to keep the event going. This will be the first time the WTCC visits the 4.4km racetrack that is home to the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix.
Championship promoter Marcello Lotti said: "We are very happy that the opportunity arose to find a worthy replacement for Marrakech. Budapest is the perfect solution: it is a modern and demanding circuit with impressive facilities, brings the championship to a new country in which WTCC has a lot of fans thanks to Norbert Michelisz and also means huge saving in terms of logistics as it lies only 350 km away from Brno that hosts the following event."
Zsolt Gyulay, CEO of the Hungaroring Sport Plc. echoed: "I am very glad that Hungary was given the chance to stage a WTCC event. This FIA World Championship is the second most popular series after Formula One. For this reason I think that the Hungaroring has added another prestigious international event to its racing calendar and this is also invaluable to Hungary because of the tourism. We sincerely hope that the WTCC Race of Hungary will be exciting and interesting for the Hungarian and the foreign fans. It is of high importance to us that Hungarian driver Norbert Michelisz can compete in front of Hungarian audience and at a Hungarian track for the first time in the series‘ history."
Norbert Michelisz commented: "I am very happy because this is a great opportunity to show how competitive we are. I was racing at the Hungaroring from the beginning of my career, so I know the circuit well. It makes me very proud to race in front of my home supporters and I will be aiming for some good results to please my fans."

Hungarian motor sport fans will have the opportunity to attend WTCC races

EUROSPORT LAUNCHES THE WTCC SEASON IN MUNICH
For the fifth consecutive year Eurosport Events invited more than 250 guests, including partners, teams and media, to an exclusive season launch in Munich’s "Upside East" roof garden.
Championship promoter Marcello Lotti, Eric Nève, Motorsport Manager of Chevrolet, and Kurt Treml, Marketing and Team Director of Liqui Moly Team Engstler took part in a conversation on the status of the championship after the first two races in Curitiba.

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Eurosport Events announced that the World Touring Car Championship will receive extended international TV coverage in 2011 thanks to new deals in two strategic markets: Germany and China.
The renewal of the broadcasting agreement with RTL means that the leading German commercial channel will air a 10-minute highlight programme of all the WTCC races immediately before the live broadcast of Formula One qualifying sessions.
A new agreement was signed with China’s national television CCTV for the broadcasting of dedicated highlight programmes of each WTCC event within "Auto Times" weekly programme on Wednesday at 7pm on the free-to-air channel CCTV5, that reaches a total of 399 million households. This will enable WTCC to reach not only the motorsport fan community but also a larger base through this leading TV car show in the biggest automotive market in the world.
Géraldine Filiol, Managing Director of Eurosport Events, said: "We are very satisfied with the signing of these new deals which are significant for the development of WTCC. They will ensure that our championship receives a strong visibility on terrestrial channels in Germany and China, two of the largest automotive markets in the world. The coverage of all 2011 races on these channels will definitely contribute to promote even further the WTCC and its partners, and attract larger and diversified audiences."

The WTCC will benefit from improved TV coverage in Germany and China

WTCC PROMOTER ATTENDS CTCC OPENING EVENT
The promoter of the World Touring Car Championship, Marcello Lotti is attending the opening event of the China Touring Car Championship this weekend at Shanghai’s Tianma Circuit.
The trip to China was mainly intended to fix the operative details for the joint event that WTCC and CTCC will run together at the Guangdong International Circuit on November 5, 2011.
Lotti and Chinese promoter Qing Xia had also the opportunity to discuss the future development of the CTCC in terms of technical regulations.
After the meetings Lotti took the the occasion for of having a closer look to the Chinese championship that is currently open to 2.0L and 1.6L cars split in two different categories.
"I knew already that the level of the championship was very good, with the involvement of a number of car manufacturer brands. And I was especially impressed by the excellent promotion around the event. This makes me confident that the WTCC Race of China in November will benefit from the experience and professionalism of the CTCC promoter," Marcello Lotti commented.

Marcello Lotti visits the FRD Motorsports garage at Shanghai Tianma Circuit

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As cars and parts are on their way back from Brazil on board a cargo ship, the 2011 WTCC season faces a further 20-day break before resuming for rounds 3 and 4 at Zolder on the Easter weekend.
The WTCC Race of Belgium, that takes place on April 24^th, will open the European part of the championship that will last until the WTCC Race of Spain at Valencia on the first weekend of September before the long journey to the Far East for the three final meetings.
The circuit of Zolder will host the World Championship for the second consecutive year and the event will also mark the first appearance of the season for the Wiechers-Sport and Zengö Dension teams.
They will run one BMW 320 TC car apiece, driven by Urs Sonderegger and Norbert Michelisz respectively.
On the same occasion bamboo-engineering’s racers Darryl O’Young and Yukinori Taniguchi are expected to swap the old Chevrolet Lacetti for the brand new Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T.

After the Brazilian opener, the 2011 WTCC will resume on the Easter weekend

THE MONROE PERFORMER GOES ON. TWO WHEELS
Monroe announced that their Monroe Performer Trophy will also award two-wheeled season prizes.
Besides rewarding the competitors of the Yokohama Trophy with 3,500 euros for setting the category’s fastest lap in each of the 24 races of the year, the Monroe Performer will also award three prestigious final prizes to the drivers who will set the highest number of overall fastest laps.
The first prize will be one Ducati motorcycle, the second one Elmoto electric bicycle and the third one Marzocchi bicycle.
Rob Huff is the first Monroe Performer leader as he clocked the overall fastest lap in both races at Curitiba, while Kristian Poulsen made a clean sweep in the Yokohama Trophy and pocketed 7,000 euros.

In Curitiba the Monroe Performer awarded 7,000 euros to Kristian Poulsen

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The Chevrolet team opened the turbo era in WTCC in style last week at Curitiba, having a great start to the season in which they aim to defend their world titles.
Rob Huff and Alain Menu shared race victories, while reigning champion Yvan Muller collected two valuable podium results.
The team’s guest driver, Brazilian Stock Car hero Carlos ‚Cacá‘ Bueno also shone in his home event and claimed two excellent results: third in Race 1 (his first podium finish in WTCC) and fifth in Race 2.
Huff left Brazil as the leader of the championship, closely followed by Menu and Muller.
Chevrolet Motorsport Director Eric Nève commented: "What a nice way to start the season! We can really feel proud of the entire team, the drivers and especially the engine guys, who have done a fantastic job during the winter, allowing us to live a perfect weekend in Curitiba."
The championship will resume at Zolder, Belgium, on April 24^th for rounds 3 and 4.

The Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 T cars of Huff and Muller lead Race 1 at Curitiba

GOOD START FOR BMW AND CORONEL
Tom Coronel showed the potential of the new BMW 320 TC during the second race at Curitiba. The Dutch racer seriously threatened Chevrolet’s supremacy and claimed a well deserved second place that boosted BMW Motorsport’s hopes.
"I had a great start and then Tarquini helped by keeping the Chevrolet guys behind for a few laps. But the Cruze was very strong and better on the braking than my car. It was a good start for us. I have a strong team and a good car, which makes me think it will be a nice season," Coronel said.
ROAL Motorsport team principal Roberto Ravaglia echoed: "I am more than satisfied. After finishing to assemble the car we had just the time for a shake down before shipping it to Brazil. Therefore our target was to finish in the top five/six positions. Results went beyond our expectations and confirmed the quality of the work done by BMW Motorsport."

In Brazil, Coronel’s BMW 320 TC fought for victory in the second race

VOLVO POLESTAR SATISFIED WITH OPENING RACES
After months of preparations, Polestar Racing and Robert Dahlgren kicked off Volvo’s evaluation season in the WTCC.
"We were satisfied with this opening as it met with our expectations and was encouraging for the continuation of the season," said Christian Dahl, Managing Director of Polestar Racing.
The team’s Volvo C30 ran with the 2.0L naturally-aspirated engine. A switch to the newly developed 1.6L turbo is going to take place later during the season.
"Compared to our competitors‘ new turbo engines the gap in power was especially clear at Curitiba that is located 1000 metres above the sea. Our calculations showed it was about nine tenths per lap. But keeping in mind how close we were to the top of the field, it shows that our development work with the chassis during the winter has paid off," said Dahl.
Dahlgren beat the 2010 pole position time in Q1 and missed the qualification for Q2 by just 0.4 seconds. In spite of a clutch problem he finished both races in 12^th and 13^th respectively.

Dahlgren and his Polestar Volvo C30 started Volvo’s evaluation season

POULSEN AND VILLA WIN YOKOHAMA TROPHY
Competitors of the Yokohama Trophy offered exciting battles at Curitiba, with Kristian Poulsen and Javier Villa claiming one victory apiece.
The Dane finished the first race in a brilliant fifth position, losing fourth to Tom Coronel only by inches.
"We had a great fight and lot of fun. It was a shame that in the end I was overdriving and gave him the opportunity to pass me. BMW has developed a very good car and I’m sure this will help me to be competive over the whole season," Poulsen commented.
In the second race Poulsen dropped down in a collision with fellow contryman Michel Nykjær and this handed victory to young Spaniard Javier Villa.
"It was a very good result, considering that we did not have the possibility to test before and that on Friday the team was too busy to finish my, which forced me to miss the testing. Despite all this we improved very quickly and winning the second race was a great reward to our efforts. I think we can have a very good season," said Villa.

Nykjær, Poulsen and Engstler filled the podium for Yokohama Trophy’s Race 1

WTCC TEEN-AGER SHOWS OFF HIS POTENTIAL
Pepe Oriola, the 16-year old Spaniard who joined WTCC with SUNRED Engineering showed off a great potential on his maiden races at Curitiba.
Oriola and his SEAT León TDi proved competitive from Saturday qualifying, when they missed the cut for Q2 by a mere 0.164 seconds.
On Sunday Oriola put in two solid performances in the races, finishing the first one in 13^th position and the second in 10^th, which also meant his first WTCC championship point, third position in the Yokohama Trophy and victory in the new Jay-Ten Trophy reserved for drivers at the wheel of cars complying with the Appendix J 2010 of the Sporting Regulations.
With these results, Oriola emerged as the first leader of the trophy, 7 and 8 points ahead of Aleksei Dudukalo and Michel Nykjær respectively.

Pepe Oriola chased by Barth and Villa during the second race at Curitiba

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