The WTCC Race of Japan, that will take place at Okayama International Circuit on November 1^st will be launched next Tuesday, September 29^th, at 11.30 am during a press conference at the French Embassy in Tokyo.
This race meeting will mark the return of the FIA World Touring Car Championship to Japan after last year’s successful maiden visit to Okayama, and will also feature for the first time a round of the Asian Le Mans Series within a WTCC event.
The provisional entry list will be unveiled during the press conference that will be attended by Marcello Lotti, General Manager of KSO, WTCC promoter, Daniel Poissenot, advisor to the ACO President and ALMS Race Director, and Yojiro Terada, President of ACO Japan.

WTCC and ALMS will race in the same meeting at Okayama

LADA’S GREAT ITALIAN WEEKEND
Imola marked an historical moment for the LADA Sport team, as James Thompson scored the Russian manufacturers‘ first WTCC points.
In the first race the Briton took advantage of the pile up at the start and defended his sixth position from D’Aste, Hernández, Menu and Porteiro. In the Race 2 he overtook Hernández for fifth – just behind the leading group – before being demoted by Gené to sixth again.
But besides the two results, the pace of his LADA Priora car was stunning. Placed in the middle of the field for the practice and qualifying sessions, Thompson clocked competitive laps throughout the two races. The progress of the Russian car was confirmed by Jaap van Lagen’s performance in Race 1; the Dutchman was lying tenth in Race 1 before rolling of the track after a collision with only three laps to go.
"It’s been a great weekend for Lada on a circuit that I love, and this pair of results definitely shows that we are making progress. The car seems to be getting better and better. We’ve got to be realistic as there is still plenty to do, but this is certainly a sign that we are heading in the right direction," said Thompson.
Team Principal Viktor Shapovalov echoed: "Not only have we scored our first points, in both races, but we have also improved our pace to the point where we can really compete with our rivals. We can be very proud of everything we have achieved so far. I would like to thank our drivers and all our team members for doing such a great job."

James Thompson defends his sixth position during Imola’s first race

MÜLLER AND PRIAULX AT PETIT LE MANS
This weekend Jörg Müller and Andy Priaulx are set to take part in the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta, at the wheel of two BMW M3 GT2 cars for the Rahal Letterman team.
Priaulx, who makes his first appearance at the Petit Le Mans, shares his car with Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand, while Müller will make shifts with Dirk Müller (his former team-mate in ETCC and WTCC) and Tommy Milner.
The two BMW cars have clocked the fastest times in the GT2 class during today qualifying session. The Müllers and Milner (1:20.393) will start from 13^th spot of the overall grid, alongside the sister M3 of Priaulx-Auberlen-Hand (1:20.463) and ahead of a bunch of Ferrari, Corvette and Porsche cars.

TARQUINI WINS GOLF TOURNAMENT
Gabriele Tarquini is in a great shape. Two days after winning the first race in Imola and stretching his WTCC championship lead, the SEAT Sport driver has claimed another success in the second edition of the Green Golf Tour promoted by Eurosport Events.
Just like in 2008 Tarquini emerged as the winner in the 3^rd Category of the 36-hole Stableford golf tournament that took place Monday and Tuesday at the San Valentino golf club in Castellarano, Italy.
WTCC chief timekeeper Mike Salmon, of MST, won the 2^nd category, WTCC team coordinator Nunzia Corvino claimed victory in the Ladies Trophy, while Glen Valente, marketing director of HSBC Latin America topped the overall classification and was awarded with the WTCC World Amateur Cup.

www.fiawtcc.com

TARQUINI AND MULLER SHARE GLORY IN IMOLA
The previous race meeting in Oschersleben had boosted Augusto Farfus‘ and BMW’s hopes in the title fight. But today in Imola, SEAT Sport’s men Gabriele Tarquini and Yvan Muller struck back and claimed a serious stake on both the Drivers‘ and Manufacturers‘ championships.
By sharing victories and second places on the Italian track, Tarquini and Muller built a solid cushion from Farfus, who now has an 18-point gap from the leader and lies 11 points behind the reigning champion. Meanwhile, SEAT’s leading margin in the Manufacturers‘ standings was stretched to 21 points.
Although the battle for the world title hogged the limelight, James Thompson caused a sensation. Not only did the Briton score LADA’s first points in the Drivers‘ Championship, but finishing sixth in both races he also showed that the pace of the Russian car has improved dramatically. Now podium results look to be within reach.
The championship is now facing a five-week break, before resuming on November 1^st at Okayama, Japan, for rounds 21 and 22.

www.fiawtcc.com

QUALIFYING – TARQUINI LEADS A SEAT TRIO
On his home racetrack, championship leader Gabriele Tarquini took his fourth pole of the season in a SEAT-dominated qualifying. The Spanish marque used team-work and it paid dividends as they achieved a 1-2-3 with Yvan Muller (2^nd) and Rickard Rydell (3^rd). Augusto Farfus of BMW Team Germany, their closest championship contender, qualified sixth. Stefano D’Aste won the Independents‘ pole position.

Q1 – The session opened with the five SEAT Sport cars hitting the track in a line to benefit from slipstreaming. Activities were halted temporarily after Andrea Larini went off at the Acque Minerali and caused a red flag. On restarting the session all three Chevrolet’s entered the top ten along with Priaulx and Farfus. However, in order to ensure a strong presence in Q2, SEAT Sport made a final push at the end and with all five drivers setting their best times they laid claim to the top five positions. Hernández posted his best lap in the final seconds but it was five hundredths too slow to put him through. Müller and Zanardi were also notable names that missed out. Stefano D’Aste was the fastest Independent competitor and qualified 14^th overall ahead of Porteiro (16^th) and Coronel (17^th). James Thompson was the lead LADA and qualified 15^th after sitting seventh until half way.

Q2 – Despite making it into Q2, Alain Menu was absent due to engine problems as he pulled into his garage after Q1 – he will line up 10^th on the grid. SEAT’s opening gambit was a strong one with all five drivers setting good times. Priaulx and Farfus were next out to try and slay the SEAT-shaped dragon but they only managed to demote Gené to seventh – Priaulx achieved fifth and Farfus sixth. On the next lap Farfus bettered his time but remained sixth as Huff had slipped into fourth (and consequently demoted Monteiro to fifth). Priaulx had to settle for seventh followed by Gené and Larini..

www.fiawtcc.com

Following a request from the SEAT Sport team, the FIA Stewards have published a decision that states: "Considering the particular weather conditions in which the qualifying took part (at Oschersleben) and the impossibility of calculating a realistic time, the Stewards decide to allocate the time set during Q1 as the notional time in application of Art. 79 A)1) of the 2009 FIA WTCC Sporting Regulations."
As a consequence of this decision, the BMW 320si car is promoted to the fastest car of the German weekend, 0.1 seconds faster than the SEAT León TDI.
However, the only effect on the weight list for the Imola event is that the Chevrolet Cruze cars are allocated 30 kilos of compensation weight instead of 20.

Compensation weights Imola (amended)
+ 40 kg BMW 320si, SEAT León TDI
+ 30 kg Chevrolet Cruze LT
– 20 kg BMW 320si Zanardi, LADA Priora, SEAT León TFSI

CORONEL TO TAKE PART IN ASIAN ROUNDS
Tom Coronel has secured his participation in the two final events of the 2009 FIA World Touring Car Championship, at Okayama in Japan and Macau.
Despite SEAT Holland’s decision to stop supporting him after Imola, the Dutchman and the SUNRED Engineering team will be able to compete in the Asian rounds thanks to the support of clothing company McGregor and SEAT Sport.
Coronel is still in contention for the Independents‘ Trophy title and after his two recent victories at Oschersleben he is leading the standings.
"It was quite hard for me when I was told that we wouldn’t be racing in Japan and Macau. However, Dutch SEAT importer Pon Car gave me all the possibilities to go and look for a solution to make the participation in Asia happen after all. From that moment on, I have tried every possible option and thanks to many people who have provided ideas and support, we have succeeded. Of course, that makes me very happy," said Coronel.
For the final three events of the season – Italy, Japan and Macau – Coronel’s SEAT León will sport a new blue livery.

The new livery of Tom Coronel’s SEAT León car

ZANARDI 14^th IN HANDBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Alessandro Zanardi claimed an outstanding 14^th place in the Handbike World Championship last Sunday at Borgogno, Italy. On his maiden appearance as a member of the Italian handbike national team, the BMW Team Italy-Spain driver put in a strong performance, finishing the in-line race only 11.29 seconds behind the winner.
"It has been a great experience although my expectations were for better results. In both, the chrono and in the in-line races I left behind the same number of opponents that finished in front of me but I did not have in my arms strength and resistance to fight with the best ones. I could have obtained better results by managing my resources in a different way, if I only had more experience…," said Zanardi.

Alessandro Zanardi in action during the Handbike World Championship

ENGSTLER MEETS MUNICH FOOTBALLERS
After his home event at Oschersleben and before heading to Imola, Independent front runner Franz Engstler took some time to visit football club 1860 Munich.
He took his BMW 320si race car to the grounds and met the Bavaria-based team who compete in the Second Bundesliga.
Both are supported by Liqui Moly and are fighting to be winners in their respective championships. While Engstler sits third in the WTCC Independents‘ Trophy, 1860 Munich are currently placed seventh.

Franz Engstler and his car with 1860 Munich’s football players

INDIES‘ PRIZE MONEY WILL RISE TO 500,000 EUROS
Next year the prize money for the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s Independents‘ Trophy will be raised from the current 384,000 euros to 500,000.
"We are very grateful to Yokohama for continuing to support the privateer drivers‘ efforts to stay in the championship. And thanks to Yokohama we are now able to offer an impressive half-million prize money," WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti declared.
The way this prize money is going to be awarded will be unveiled in the next weeks.
"We are currently in negotiations with other partners to increase the prize money by another 250,00 euros. We hope to confirm this new deal soon," concluded Lotti.

www.fiawtcc.com

WTCC SET FOR NEW AUDIENCE RECORD
313 million viewers followed the first seven events

The 2009 FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) is set to establish a new record in TV ratings, according to the recent intermediary study released by the German Independent Institute IFM *.
The study showed that after 7 out of the 12 race meetings, a global audience of 313 million viewers watched the races of the series‘ fifth season.

These figures, compared to the total audience of 350 millions for the entire 2008 season, are testament to the growing worldwide popularity of the championship, which also resulted in an increase in worldwide press, web and TV coverage and event attendance.
The WTCC is now covered by 75 TV networks over more than 160 countries and the contribution of Eurosport, the n°1 pan-European TV channel & official media partner of the series, represents 10% of this intermediary cumulative audience, showing that the TV coverage of WTCC is growing all over the world.

The high-quality and innovative Live TV production has been further enhanced this year, as the WTCC has become the first FIA World Championship produced in native High Definition.

These mid-season figures also show that the WTCC has delivered so far great visibility to the car manufacturers, with an advertising equivalent value already higher than for the full 2008 season.
All WTCC Series Partners also benefit from the outstanding audience growth with as much media value as over last year’s 12 events.
* IFM is an independent German company, appointed by Eurosport Events to track WTCC international feed on a global basis and deliver media ROI studies to WTCC stakeholders.

www.fiawtcc.com

ROUTE TO: IMOLA, ITALY
The FIA World Touring Car Championship visits Imola for the third time after last year’s successful event that marked the reopening of the glorious racetrack after a two-year closure due to extensive renovation works.
On the WTCC’s first appearance on this track, in 2005, Alfa Romeo’s Fabrizio Giovanardi and BMW’s Dirk Müller shared victories.
The 2008 meeting saw Yvan Muller’s SEAT León TDI claim an important win in Race 1, while the second race recorded the historical triumph of James Thomson in the N.technology Honda Accord. The first – and only so far – victory in WTCC for a Japanese manufacturer.
A large crowd of 37,000 attended the event.

Imola hosts the FIA WTCC for the third time after 2005 and 2008

BMW AND SEAT ON MAXIMUM WEIGHT
Title contenders will run on the same weight next week at Imola. BMW drivers and their competitors in the SEAT turbodiesel cars will have the maximum 40-kilos compensation weight on board.
The SEAT León TDI emerged as the fastest model during the German weekend, especially due to the changeable weather that plagued the qualifying session on Saturday.
According to the calculation that took into account the lap times set in the three previous events (Porto, Brands Hatch and Oschersleben) BMW and SEAT remain on the maximum compensation weight, while the Chevrolet moves down to +20kg, 10 kilos less than in Germany.
Alessandro Zanardi’s BMW 320si (equipped with a sequential gearbox), the SEAT León TFSI and the LADA Priora will have 20kg deducted from the minimum weight.

Compensation weights Oschersleben
+ 40 kg BMW 320si, SEAT León TDI
+ 20 kg Chevrolet Cruze LT
– 20 kg BMW 320si Zanardi, LADA Priora, SEAT León TFSI

The turbodiesel SEAT and the BMW cars are on the same weight at Imola

THOMPSON AND BENNANI RETURN
James Thompson and Mehdi Bennani will rejoin the championship in Imola.
The Briton will take back the wheel of his LADA Priora car from team principal Viktor Shapovalov, after missing the event at Oschersleben due to a previous commitment to race in the Australian V8 Supercars championship at Phillip Island.
Bennani and Exagon Engineering return to the WTCC with their SEAT León after skipping the latest two meetings at Brands Hatch and Oschersleben.
Their best result so far is victory in the Independents‘ class on their maiden appearance at Marrakech.

A. LARINI AND FABIANI JOIN IN IMOLA
Andrea Larini, younger brother of Chevrolet driver Nicola, has won participation in the Imola event after emerging as the best scoring driver during the SEAT Eurocup meeting at Oschersleben last Sunday. Larini will drive a SUNRED Engineering SEAT León; however he is not a rookie, as he took part in a few races in 2005, when the Italian Touring Car Championship joined the World Championship at Monza, Magny-Cours and Imola.
Fabio Fabiani will team with Félix Porteiro at Proteam Motorsport in a BMW 320si. In 2008 Fabiani claimed the FIA European Super Production Cup at Salzburgring in a BMW 320i.

CHAT WITH TARQUINI AT EUROSPORT.IT
At the eve of his home race meeting at Imola, current championship leader Gabriele Tarquini will be a special guest at www.eurosport.yahoo.it, on Monday September 14^th.
Like other sport stars before him, Tarquini will act as guest editor, taking part in the editorial meeting, selecting the news to be published on the home page and writing his own column.
Later on, from 15.00 to 16.00, he will host a chat session with the fans, answering their questions and talking about his racing season and his expectations for the races in Imola.
Questions may be posted at http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/altri-sport/diretta/.

www.fiawtcc.com

ROUNDS 17 & 18 – OSCHERSLEBEN
QUALIFYING REPORT

TARQUINI BEATS COLAK IN CRAZY QUALIFYING
Gabriele Tarquini took pole by almost two seconds in the most unpredictable qualifying session in WTCC history. Independent driver Marin Colak from Croatia will line up second followed by Rickard Rydell. Jaap van Lagen qualified fourth giving LADA Sport their best result so far.
The weather played havoc with the field and as the track dried in the dying seconds of Q2 it was still all to play for.

Q1 – Mother nature played a large part in determining the grid for tomorrow. As the green flag signalled the start of Q1 rain began to fall. It then became a battle against time to clock a competitive lap before all grip was lost. With rain falling heavily the track soon turned into a skid-pan and the entire field returned to the pits with 11 minutes left on the clock.
Some key players in the championship fight lost out in the conditions including Yvan Muller and Andy Priaulx, despite venturing back out to try their luck when it was too late.
Just as a few of the well known members of the WTCC missed out, there were a couple of surprise names that did make the cut. Marin Colak and Jaap van Lagen landed into their first ever Q2.

Q2 – With the track drying the name at the top of the timesheet was different every few seconds. With the exception of the three BMWs (Müller, Farfus and Zanardi) all the drivers‘ best times came from their last laps. Tarquini’s was best of all (1:39.866) followed by Colak (1:41.692), Rydell (1:42.192) and van Lagen from LADA Sport (1:42.307). A duo of Chevrolets followed in the form of Larini and Huff, while Coronel took seventh place. Müller, Farfus and Zanardi completed the top ten in that order.

www.fiawtcc.com

BMW Team Germany drivers Augusto Farfus and Jörg Müller, both celebrate their birthday on September 3^rd. This year they celebrated it together by visiting the BMW factory in Leipzig, a few kilometres away from Oschersleben.
Farfus and Müller enjoyed visiting the assembly line of the new BMW X1 and meeting the workers before signing autographs for the employees during the shift changeover.
"I’ve never been here before, I’m surprised how modern everything is. Really great. At my home race I want to win my first race this year, that is for sure", said Jörg Müller.
The tour ended with the team mates being offered a double birthday cake.

Farfus and Müller during their visit at the BMW factory in Leipzig

CHINESE COMMITTEE VISITS OSCHERSLEBEN
A large committee of FASC (the Federation of Automobile Sports of China) is visiting the WTCC paddock at Oschersleben this weekend.
The group is led by Xian Tongchun, Division Chief in charge of Touring Cars and includes key persons in charge of organising and promoting the Chinese Touring Car Championship that will switch to the FIA S2000 technical regulations next year.
"We are very happy to welcome the Chinese delegation and show them how the WTCC works. It is great to see the CTCC embracing the FIA regulations, because this is a crucial market for car manufacturers. Even those who are interested in joining the WTCC in the near future are keen to have the opportunity to race in China with the same cars. It is something that the FIA and ourselves have worked on, together with FASC president Mr Yu Zaiqing, for a long time," said WTCC promoter Marcello Lotti.

SHAPOVALOV BACK IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
The LADA Sport team spent the summer break building two new Priora cars. This enabled the team to respect the original plan of switching to a full trio of Prioras from this weekend’s meeting at Oschersleben.
The Russian car recently completed a test session at Magny-Cours that focused on general development of chassis and engine. With James Thompson unable to race in Oschersleben, due to a clashing commitment, team principal Viktor Shapovalov is back in the driver’s seat.
"Of course I’ve missed driving, so this is a very nice opportunity for me," said Shapovalov. "I’ve been out of competition for a couple of months so I might not be up to speed straight away, but I’m certainly going to be trying my best."

www.fiawtcc.com

BMW drivers are getting ready for when the WTCC resumes at Oschersleben in three weeks. The German event will mark the beginning of the championship’s final phase and also BMW’s home race meeting.
Augusto Farfus, third in the drivers‘ classification, is visiting Asia: "I came here on behalf of Formula BMW Pacific and PETRONAS to be involved in a young drivers‘ development programme. After my return to Europe I will work hard with the team to ensure that we are best prepared for the final races," he said.
Test drives, PR appointments and other events equally fill the agenda of Farfus‘ team-mate at BMW Team Germany, Jörg Müller: "It’s hardly a summer break for me, there is always something happening. The break is more important for the engineers and technicians, as they work on the cars every day in search of more speed."
Andy Priaulx of BMW Team UK puts his family as top priority during a break. "Quality time with the family is always my priority. To get several days together without me flying off for a test or race is bliss," said Priaulx who will visit the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
BMW Team Italy-Spain’s Alessandro Zanardi and Sergio Hernández are enjoying deserved holidays, but they will return to the wheel of their BMW 320si cars for a test at Adria at the end of August.

The next WTCC meeting at Oschersleben will mark BMW’s home event

LADA SPORT TO RACE THREE NEW CARS
The Russian Bears team that run the LADA factory squad are ready for a complete switch to the Priora car.
The new model was introduced in Porto last month, where James Thompson joined the team to drive the new car alongside two 110 2.0 machines for Jaap van Lagen and Kirill Ladygin. The same happened in Brands Hatch two weeks later. But from the next event in Oschersleben the team will race three Priora cars.
Thompson will be forced to miss Oschersleben due to his commitments in the Australian V8 Supercar championship, which were already in place before he signed for Lada. He will be replaced by team principal Viktor Shapovalov.
After having tested in Zolder last week, the team have another test scheduled at Magny-Cours on August 22, which will focus on the engine.

The LADA Sport team will race three Priora cars from Oschersleben

WTCC DRIVERS KEEP ON RACING DURING SUMMER BREAK
While the championship is having a long summer break, some of the drivers keep on racing in other series.

THOMPSON WINS IN DENMARK
James Thompson extended his lead in the Danish Touring Car Championship winning two out of the three races held last Sunday.
At the wheel of his Hartmann Racing Honda Accord Euro-R, Thompson claimed victory in the first and the third race beating the Chevrolet Lacetti cars of Henrik Lundgaard and Michel Nykjær.
With these results, Thompson has now an 18-point margin over Nykjær, while Lundgaard is 32 points behind him.

CORONEL AND ENGSTLER AT SEPANG
Tom Coronel and Franz Engstler took part last Sunday in the 10^th 12 Hour Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race at Sepang, Malaysia.
They both drove Porsche 996 GT3 cars – Lammertink Racing for Coronel, Autoracing Club Bratislava for Engstler – and both retired because of technical failures.
The race was won by dominated by Manabu Orido in a BMW Z4 of the Petronas Syntium Team; Orido drove for Chevrolet in selected races of the 2008 WTCC.

MENU RETURNS TO BUENOS AIRES
For the fifth time in six years, Chevrolet driver Alain Menu will take part this weekend in the Buenos Aires 200 km.
The race counts as the seventh round of the Argentine TC2000 championship and the second round of the Endurance Series.
Menu will share with local ace Guillermo Ortelli a Chevrolet Astra car run by the Chevrolet Elaion team.
During his previous visits to Buenos Aires, Menu always managed to finish on the podium: he claimed victory in 2006, was classified second in 2004 and third in 2005 and 2008.

www.fiawtcc.com

The Chevrolet WTCC team tested yesterday in Zolder with Nicola Larini. This session was part of the intense programme of development and testing of the new Cruze car, which made its race debut at the beginning of the 2009 season and already won five WTCC rounds so far. The test in Zolder took an even more interesting dimension since the Belgian track has been included in the WTCC’s preliminary 2010 calendar.
Given its demanding characteristics, Zolder is an ideal choice for a test session during the summer break. The team’s aim was to continue the constant development work on the balance of the car, set-up and aerodynamics.
Nicola Larini said: "I know Zolder well since the ’90s and I think it is perfectly suited for touring cars. It is technical and demanding, especially for the brakes, with constant changes of rhythm, and it’s also quite spectacular. I am really happy that the WTCC is coming back here and although this will only happen next year, having the possibility to test now will certainly be useful."
Eric Nève, Chevrolet Europe Motorsport Manager, commented: "I am very pleased with the news of the WTCC going back to Zolder, because it is a perfect track for touring cars and enjoys a very strategic geographical location, at the crossroad between the Benelux countries, Western Germany and Northern France. This region happens to be a key car market and an area where interest for touring cars is very high."

Nicola Larini and his Chevrolet Cruze while testing at Zolder

MONTEIRO CLAIMS SPORTSCAR PODIUM
SEAT Sport’s driver Tiago Monteiro claimed an outstanding third place in the 1000km de l’Algarve that took place last weekend on the new Portuguese racetrack of Portimão counting towards the Le Mans Series.
Monteiro and his Brazilian team-mate Bruno Senna drove their AIM-engined Oreca 01 prototype to complete the race behind the winning Pescarolo Sport’s car of Jean-Christophe Boullion and Christophe Tinseau and the second-placed Aston Martin Racing’s LMP1 of Jan Charouz-Tomas Enge-Stefan Mücke.
"It’s a strong feeling to claim a podium result on my first race in Algarve, which was also my first appearance in the Le Mans Series. Oreca did a great job and gave us a very efficient car that was consistent throughout the whole race," Monteiro commented.

Tiago Monteiro and Bruno Senna on the podium of the Algarve 100km

www.fiawtcc.com

There is only one change to the compensation weight list for the next event in Oschersleben: 20 kilos added to the Chevrolet Cruze cars compared to Brands Hatch.
The BMW 320si emerged as the fastest model during the British weekend, only 0.048 seconds faster than the Chevrolet and three tenths faster than the SEAT León TDI.
According to the calculation that took into account the lap times set in the three previous events (Brno, Porto and Brands Hatch) BMW and SEAT remain on the maximum compensation weight (+40kg), while the Chevrolet moves up to +30kg.
Like in Brands Hatch, Alessandro Zanardi’s BMW 320si (equipped with a sequential gearbox) will have no compensation weight on board, while the SEAT León TFSI and the both LADA models (110 and Priora) will have 20kg deducted from the minimum weight.

Compensation weights Oschersleben
+ 40 kg BMW 320si, SEAT León TDI
+ 30 kg Chevrolet Cruze LT
± 0 kg BMW 320si Zanardi
– 20 kg LADA 110, LADA Priora, SEAT León TFSI

The Chevrolet cars will have 20 further kilos on board at Oschersleben

FASTEST CARS IN THE PREVIOUS EVENTS
Lap time calculation as per art. 79 Sporting Regulations

Curitiba:  1^st SEAT León Tdi; 2^nd BMW 320si (+ 0.252); 3^rd: Chevrolet Cruze LT (+ 0.337)
Puebla: 1^st BMW 320si; 2^nd SEAT León Tdi (+ 0.419); 3^rd: BMW 320si GBS (+ 1.497)
Marrakech: 1^st Chevrolet Cruze LT; 2^nd SEAT León Tdi (+ 0.191); 3^rd: BMW 320si (+ 0.831)Pau: 1^st BMW 320si; 2^nd Chevrolet Cruze LT (+ 0.579); 3^rd: SEAT León Tfsi (+ 1.002)Valencia: 1^st SEAT León Tdi; 2^nd BMW 320si (+ 0.294); 3^rd: Chevrolet Cruze LT (+ 0.965)Brno: 1^st BMW 320si; 2^nd BMW 320si Zanardi (+ 0.393); 3^rd: SEAT León Tdi (+ 0.809)Porto: 1^st SEAT León Tdi; 2^nd BMW 320si (+ 0.147); 3^rd: Chevrolet Cruze LT (+ 0.324)Brands Hatch: 1^st BMW 320si; 2^nd Chevrolet Cruze LT (+ 0.048); 3^rd: SEAT León Tfsi (+ 0.320)

CLAIRET TO JOIN SUNRED IN OSCHERSLEBEN
Frenchman Jean-Marie Clairet is the SEAT Eurocup driver who won WTCC participation in the next event at Oschersleben.
The 42-year old from Paris emerged as the best scorer in last weekend’s Eurocup round at Brands Hatch, claiming victory in the second race and climbing to fifth in the series‘ classification.
"It’s a dream. The WTCC is another planet compared to the championships I have raced so far. My only goal will be to finish the races without damaging the car," said Clairet who has claimed European and national titles in the Citroën and Peugeot trophies during his racing career.
Clairet is the fourth SEAT Eurocup driver to qualify for a WTCC event, following Tim Coronel (Brno), Diego Puyo (Porto) and Norbert Michelisz (Brands Hatch).

www.fiawtcc.com

After last week’s event in Brands Hatch, WTCC competitors face a long Summer break, as the championship will only resume in six week for rounds 17 and 18 that will be held on September 6^th at Oschersleben, Germany.
With 16 races in the archives and 8 to go, the championship fight is wide open.
SEAT Sport’s reigning world champion Yvan Muller leads the drivers‘ classification with 82 points. The Frenchman scored only two points in Brands Hatch and saw the closest rivals – his team-mate Gabriele Tarquini and BMW Team Germany’s Augusto Farfus – reducing their gap to 5 and six points respectively.
With 80 points still at stake, four other men may also have a shot at the title: Rickard Rydell (54 pts), Robert Huff (53), Jörg Müller (52) and Andy Priaulx (48).
In the Manufacturers‘ Championship only 10 points separate the leader SEAT from BMW.

After Brands Hatch the FIA WTCC faces a six-week Summer break

FIRST VICTORY FOR TOM BOARDMAN
In Brands Hatch’s Race 2, Tom Boardman claimed his first victory since he joined the WTCC’s Independents‘ Trophy.
The Englishman took advantage of home soil and fought on equal ground with the trophy’s leading drivers: Tom Coronel, Félix Porteiro and Stefano D’Aste.
After finishing third in Race 1, behind D’Aste and Coronel, Boardman posted a perfect performance to win the second race from Coronel and D’Aste, becoming the fifth winner in the trophy so far during the current season.
"When I joined WTCC I expected it to be easier. It has been a tough season but we have been learning and finally everything is in place. I am so relieved I can fight with the leaders!" said Boardman.
Porteiro is still leading the classification, but Coronel reduced the gap to 16 points, while Franz Engstler lies third a further 25 points behind.

FIA COURT RULED ON SEAT’S APPEAL
At the beginning of the WTCC season, the FIA Touring Car Bureau adopted a number of decisions concerning the technical configurations of the cars entered in the championship, including two decisions limiting the maximum supercharged air pressure for all SEAT León TDI cars (Decision no. 5 of 24 February 2009 and Decision no. 22 of 21 May 2009).
On 25 May 2009, SEAT Sport submitted a request to the World Motor Sport Council to cancel these two decisions.
On 24 June 2009, the WMSC rejected the request submitted by SEAT Sport, a decision that was appealed by SEAT Sport.
Ruling on the appeal lodged by the Spanish National Authority on behalf of SEAT Sport, the FIA International Court of Appeal, declared the appeal inadmissible.

HUFF HELPED PAINTING HIS OWN CAR
Last weekend, Ian Cook brought his own ‚Popbang Auto Art‘ touch to Brands Hatch.
The 25-year old artist from Birmingham created an image of Robert Huff’s WTCC Chevrolet Cruze in the main public area of the circuit, drawing crowds throughout the day. Unlike normal paintings, Ian uses remote control cars and old tyres to apply the paint to canvas, rather than a brush.
In order to make the Cruze image even more unique, Ian invited Huff to add his own personal touch. Huffy painted the lower front bumper and valance of the car using a scale replica of the ‚Bumblebee‘ Chevrolet Camaro, as featured in the movie Transformers 2, before signing it.
The finished image, which is over two metres wide, will go on display in the Chevrolet team hospitality unit for the next two WTCC meetings at Oschersleben and Imola.

www.fiawtcc.com

ROUNDS 15 & 16 – BRANDS HATCH
RACE 1 & 2 REPORT

TARQUINI AND FARFUS CLOSE THE GAP FROM MULLER
Chevrolet and BMW both claimed 1-2 finishes at Brands Hatch, in two incident-packed races.
Once again Alain Menu proved to be one of the men to beat on the Kent circuit; the Swiss overtook his team-mate Robert Huff in the early stages and added another victory to his impressive tally on this track. Huff finished second from an aggressive Andy Priaulx.
In the second race – just like two weeks ago in Porto – Augusto Farfus started from pole positiojn on the reverse grid and led all the way, followed by his team-mate Jörg Müller. Tarquini won a tough fight for third with Priaulx and Rydell.
The reigning champion Yvan Muller was involved in a collision at the start of the first race and collected only two points. This meant that his leading margin in the Drivers‘ Championship was reduced to 5 and 6 points ahead of Tarquini and Farfus respectively.
The fight is close in the Manufacturers‘ Championship too, where BMW is now only 10 points behind SEAT.
The championship is now facing a long summer break and will resume on September 6^th at Oschersleben, Germany, for rounds 17 and 18.

www.fiawtcc.com

Just before heading to Brands Hatch, Andy Priaulx spent one day with the Eurosport crew visiting the Tour de France during the 211km stage from Tonnerre to Vittel.
Before the start, the triple WTCC champion took the opportunity to meet cycling ace Lance Armstrong and his Astana team-mate Alberto Contador.
"Lance was always an inspiration. His story is just unique. So it was great to finally meet him," Priaulx said, adding "I have always been a big fan of Tour de France, and finally thanks to Eurosport, I had the chance to see it as close as possible. A great experience."
Priaulx followed the whole stage inside the Garmin-Slipstream team, sitting in the sporting director’s car.
Watch Andy Priaulx’s Tour de France experience, his meeting with Lance Armstrong and everything from the Brands Hatch Weekend in "Inside WTCC with Andy Priaulx", on Tuesday night at 23:00 cet on Eurosport.

Andy Priaulx met cycling icon Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France

THOMPSON AND LADA AIM FOR GOOD RESULTS

LADA Sport’s new driver James Thompson is looking forward to his home race meeting in Brands Hatch this weekend, after he first drove the LADA Priora on its maiden WTCC appearance two weeks ago in Portugal.
"There’s nothing like competing at home. I enjoyed my first outing with the Priora in Portugal and I hope that we can put some of the lessons we learned there to good effect at Brands Hatch. Our first races allowed us to identify the main areas of development needed, and now we can embark on the long process of putting all these procedures in place. Of course it won’t be an easy task, but thanks to the commitment and dedication of the entire Lada Sport team, I am sure that we can continue to make useful progress," Thompson said.
Compared to the event in Porto, the new Russian car will be 60 kg lighter, as the FIA Touring Car Bureau decided to grant the Priora a weight break on the basis of the performance achieved on the Portuguese street circuit.

James Thompson and his LADA Priora aim for good results in Brands Hatch

WTCC 100 RACES VIDEO CLIP IS ON LINE
Eurosport Events‘ staff created a video clip to celebrate the WTCC’s 100 races.
In 5 minutes and 8 seconds, a breathtaking sequence of spectacular shots reviews the history of the championship from Monza 2005 to Porto 2009, through nineteen key moments.
Some of the most dramatic and thrilling clips depict the first victories of Alessandro Zanardi (Oschersleben 2005), Chevrolet (Brands Hatch 2006), the turbo diesel SEAT (Oschersleben 2007) and Honda (Imola 2008), as well as Augusto Farfus rolling in qualifying at Pau 2007 and winning the 100^th race at Porto 2009, the series‘ first visit to Africa (Marrakech 2009) and many crashes and overtaking manoeuvres.
Especially touching are the clips from Macau that remember the moments in which Andy Priaulx (2005, 2006, 2007) and Yvan Muller (2008) clinched the world championship crown.
Click here to watch the 100 races video clip: http://videos.eurosport.com/fiawtcc/top-100-wtcc-races_vid110368/wtcc-player.shtml

WTCC SET FOR NEW RECORD AUDIENCE
215 million viewers worldwide have watched the first four race meetings of the current World Touring Car Championship’s season: Curitiba, Puebla, Marrakech and Pau.
These figures represent a 158% increase of the viewing figures compared to 2008, which proves that the WTCC’s popularity is growing steadily and that the series continues to break audience records, season after season.
In the 2008 season, the WTCC set its new record in TV audiences with a total of 350 million viewers around the world.

www.fiawtcc.com

The 15^th and 16^th rounds of the FIA WTCC will take place next week at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix Circuit, located some 30 km South East of London. It is the fourth consecutive year the championship visits the racetrack.
The WTCC races in Brands have often marked a first. In 2006 Race 1, Yvan Muller claimed his first success since he joined SEAT Sport, while in Race 2 Alain Menu gave Chevrolet their first WTCC win. In 2007 Race 2 Andy Priaulx obtained his first (and so far his only) WTCC victory on home soil.
Among the current WTCC drivers Menu has won ten times in Brands Hatch, adding his three WTCC victories to the seven he obtained in the British Touring Car Championship.
Last year BMW’s Jörg Müller inherited victory in Race 1 when Robert Huff had to pit for a puncture with only a couple of laps left. In the second race Chevrolet made up for the disappointment when Menu overtook Félix Porteiro to cross the line first.

Brands Hatch hosts the FIA WTCC for the fourth consecutive year

VOLVO ENTER TWO CARS IN BRANDS HATCH
The Volvo Olsbergs Green Racing have entered two cars in the FIA WTCC meeting at the Brands Hatch. The Volvo C30 cars, driven by Robert Dalhlgren and Tommy Rustad, have been accepted by the FIA Bureau on the basis of the national homologation and therefore they will be laden with the maximum compensation weight and not eligible to score points.
This is the third guest appearance for Volvo in WTCC, as Dahlgren raced a Volvo S60 at Anderstorp in 2007 and a C30 at Brands Hatch last year. His best result was 8^th in Anderstorp’s Race 2. Rustad – the first Norwegian to join WTCC – used to be a competitor in the FIA European Touring Car Championship, scoring two race wins for Nissan in 2001.
"Last year was an exploratory appearance. This year we are upping the stakes to give our British Volvo fans and customers a great show," said Derek Crabb, Director of Motorsport at Volvo Car Corporation.
Rustad and Dahlgren are currently placed 2^nd and 6^th in the Swedish Touring Car Championship respectively.

Dahlgren and Rustad will join WTCC’s British event with two Volvo C30 cars

BMW AND SEAT TDI ON MAXIMUM WEIGHT
The SEAT León Tdi emerged as the fastest model during the weekend in Porto and will receive the maximum compensation weight for the next meeting in Brands Hatch, like the BMW 320si.
According to the calculation that took into account the lap times set in the three previous events (Valencia, Brno and Porto) BMW remains the fastest model, but the gap between the German car and the Spanish turbodiesel machine was reduced to one tenths of a second.
The Chevrolet Cruze is the third fastest car on the three-event calculation, with a gap of 0.7 seconds; it will be 30 kilos lighter than BMW and SEAT, while Alessandro Zanardi’s BMW 320si (equipped with a sequential gearbox) will have no compensation weight on board.
Both the SEAT León TFSI and the LADA 110 will have 20kg deducted from the minimum weight. Although the newly homologated LADA Priora would have been laden again with the maximum handicap, it will also benefit from a 20kg reduction following a decision of the FIA Bureau.

Compensation weights Brands Hatch

+ 40 kg BMW 320si, SEAT León TDI, Volvo C30
+ 10 kg Chevrolet Cruze LT
± 0 kg BMW 320si Zanardi
– 20 kg LADA 110, LADA Priora, SEAT León TFSI

TEAM ENGSTLER ADD THIRD CAR FOR GEIPEL
The Liqui Moly Team Engstler will enter a third BMW 320si car for Philip Geipel in the next two race meetings.
Geipel, 22-years old from Germany, will join regular drivers Franz Engstler and Kristian Poulsen at Brands Hatch and Oschersleben. "He is the first young driver we will give a chance to learn and grow in the WTCC as part of our Liqui Moly Junior Team project," explained team manger Kurt Treml.
Reigning champion of the German ADAC Procar series, Geipel made two previous appearances in the FIA WTCC: at Brno in 2006 and 2007, at the wheel of a Toyota Corolla T-sport.

MICHELISZ WINS PARTICIPATION IN BRANDS
Norbert Michelisz is the SEAT Eurocup driver who won WTCC participation in the next event at Brands Hatch. The 24-year old from Hungary emerged as the best scorer in Porto, claiming victory in the second race and climbing to second in the series classification.
This is the second time Michelisz joins the SUNRED Engineering WTCC team, as he had already won participation in last year’s races at Okayama.

www.fiawtcc.com