The 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship is bound for a new record in broadcasting figures, according to the interim evaluation report released by REPUCOM.
Figure show that the global coverage of the 2013 WTCC totaled to 515 hours of dedicated broadcasts, a 9.3% increase compared to the same period last year.
The increased number of hours, also reflected in a higher media impact (advertising equivalent value), which was also increased by 3.6% compared to the 2012 season.
241 million people tuned in for watching the first six events of the season, and this is comparable with last year, when 254 million people watched WTCC on the TV all over the world. The interim report shows that the first half of the season was televised over 188 countries on 88 different channels worldwide, 59 free-to-air and 28 on cable or satellite, or pan-regional channels.
Ulrich Lacher, Global Director Enterprise Services – REPUCOM said: “WTCC media figures are very encouraging and point out a sustained development as the series continues to grow. New television markets are being opened up and new audiences are being reached. With Citroën joining the championship next year and the Russian market now established with the Moscow Raceway as an important venue, we expect 2014 to show even greater results.”
Antonios Argyropoulos, Head of Media Rights Distribution – Eurosport Events said: “We are delighted with the figures released by REPUCOM, as they prove that WTCC’s popularity is steadily growing. We are really encouraged by this evidence and the trust that our broadcast partners around the world are placing in the championship.”

THOMPSON HAPPY WITH LADA’S RESULTS

The LADA Sport Lukoil team successfully completed their first full WTCC season proving that performance of the Granta car were steadily improving.
After scoring points in seven races – that placed him 14^th in the Drivers’ Championship – during the final event at Macau James Thompson came close to achieve LADA’s first podium result in the World Championship.
After he classified ninth in Friday’s qualifying and fourth in Sunday’s morning warm-up, Thompson was stopped in the first race by a trivial technical problem. In the second race he started from second on the top-ten reverse grid and chased the leader Tom Coronel until the two final laps, when he dropped to fourth behind Rob Huff and James Nash; eventually Thompson was punted into the wall by Pepe Oriola.
“It was a big disappointment for everyone in our team. After the restart I lost a bit of pace in the first sector but I was confident that we would be able to make it up in the second sector, where we had been very quick all weekend. I reckoned that we could even fight Tom Coronel for first place. But then, after Oriola went into me, it was impossible to carry on: a real pity!” the Briton commented.
However he is positive on how the season went: “On the whole, it’s been really good for us. Our goal was originally to be somewhere in the middle of the grid, but by the first half of the season we were already fighting in the top-ten. Then, in the Asian rounds we were in very good shape: sixth in Japan, eight in China and fighting for a podium in Macau. I’m very proud of the whole team and I’ve got no doubt that we’re going to have another even more competitive car for 2014. Before then, we’ve got a lot of work to do and there are many tests ahead of us. I’m really looking forward to next year.”

NASH WINS THE YOKOHAMA TROPHY

On his second WTCC season, James Nash clinched the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy, beating his bamboo-engineering team-mate Alex MacDowall.

At the wheel of his Chevrolet Cruze car, the young Englishman established himself among the championship’s top drivers from the beginning of the season. Fast and consistent, Nash was capable of winning two overall races (Salzburgring and Porto) and finished on the podium on three other occasions.

Eventually this helped him to claim a brilliant third place in the WTCC Drivers’ Championship, the best result ever for a non-factory driver.
“We came with a plan to secure the Yokohama Trophy title and if we could, a top three overall too. To have achieved both is simply fantastic! I drove a controlled opening race. I knew what I had to do which was to stay ahead of Chilton and with that in-hand there was no need to try anything ahead. I simply had to concentrate on bringing the car home in the points. The second race though, was pretty dramatic. I got ahead of Thompson off the grid and tucked in behind leader Coronel going down to the first real corner but then I could see all hell breaking loose in my mirrors as quite a few cars smashed into each other and blocked the track. I think had the race not been stopped I would have been good for a podium at least but the two rolling starts that followed rather mucked things up for me,” a delighted Nash commented.

TANIGUCHI CLAIMS FIRST ASIA TROPHY

Yukinori Taniguchi celebrated his comeback to the WTCC by claiming the first edition of the championship’s Asia Trophy.

The Japanese driver, who had been a regular in the world championship in 2010 and 2011, was given the possibility to replace Fredy Barth at Wiechers-Sport, for his home race meeting at Suzuka.

He had no plans to join for other races, but a couple of second places in the Asia Trophy at Suzuka whetted his appetite and convinced him that it was worth a try. So he sealed a last minute deal with Campos Racing for driving a SEAT León at Shanghai, where he won both the trophy’s races.

The title was nearly in the pocket, however he needed to race in Macau to be sure. Another last-minute move brought him at the wheel of the Nika Racing Chevrolet Cruze and Taniguchi settled the matter with a victory in the first race, despite strong pressure from Campos Racing’s Michael Soong. The second race in Macau went to Henry Ho in a Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW 320si.

Taniguchi also established an odd record, becoming the first driver in WTCC history to race for three different teams and in three different cars during the same season.

SOME FAMOUS WORD FROM MACAU

Pepe Oriola: “After the second interruption, I saw we had the podium within reach and didn’t hesitate to fight for it. It was a great race, I had so much fun.”

Tom Chilton: “Race two was just another disaster – again contact put me out of the race. I am just really upset that I was caught up in other people’s mistakes.”

Ron Harvelt, RML: “It has been a pleasure for everyone at RML to work with Yvan over the past four years and with a bit of emotion we wish him good luck for the future.”
Tiago Monteiro: “When it is so close like that on this very, very tough circuit there is just no room for the smallest error.”

Rob Huff: “I started seventh and finished first, but passed thirteen people in total. Figure that out!”

Marc Basseng: “That’s a great team result and our most successful event ever in the WTCC!”

Alex MacDowall: “To come back with the car in one piece was something after the carnage in race two!”

Tom Coronel: “Being on the podium after the final race of the season is always good.”

Stefano D’Aste: “I was chasing Basseng and Oriola, but their cars were faster on the straight. I was quicker in the second sector, but it’s impossible to pass there…”

Mikhail Kozlovskiy: “I didn’t expect so many accidents to happen under the safety car! Many drivers were pushing really hard in the last race of the season and weren’t especially thinking about saving their cars…”

Tom Boardman: “Coronel was in front of me but I was a lot quicker than him through Mandarin and was able to overtake him pretty easily, and that was it really.”

BORKOVIĆ UPGRADES FROM ETCC TO WTCC

Dušan Borković is the first independent driver to announce his participation in the 2014 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
The 29-year old Serbian will drive a SEAT León run by NIS Petrol Racing Team with the support of Campos Racing. After claiming the Category 1 title in the 2012 FIA European Hill Climbing Championship at the wheel of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, during the current season Borković took part in the FIA European Touring Car Cup. He began the season at the wheel of a SEAT León, with which he won at the Salzburgring, before switching to a Chevrolet Cruze for the two final race meetings.
Eventually he was classified third in the Super 2000 Drivers‘ Cup.
“This was not an easy decision and I’m glad to have taken it together with my team. The fact that I will be driving alongside some of the greatest race car drivers, including a true legend like Sébastien Loeb, and will be able to compete in a world championship is a great achievement for me. I will take 2014 as an apprenticeship year to learn the tracks in view of 2015. I will do my best to achieve the best possible results, however whatever it comes will make me happy,” Borković said.

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It seems like Yvan Muller and Rob Huff are united by a strange – and benevolent – fate. They have been team-mates for long time at Chevrolet, they handed each-other the WTCC title (from Muller to Huff and back).
Today in Macau they were facing the last races with their respective teams – RML and ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport – before moving to Citroën Racing and LADA Sport respectively. And they both managed to leave with a victory.
Mulller won the first race in a very dominant way, something that has become his own trademark, while Huff responded in Race 2 with a number of thrilling overtaking manoeuvres and claimed his sixth victory in the WTCC Guia Race.
The fight for the second position in the Drivers’ Championship was not decided on the track. Gabriele Tarquini – who had a 25-point margin – was sidelined by an engine failure that came out during the warm up, which left Tom Chilton with the opportunity to fill the gap. However, the Englishman crashed during the first race and this not only cost him the second place but also promoted a delighted James Nash to third in the overall classification.
Nash also clinched the Yokohama Trophy title ahead of his bamboo-engineering team-mate Alex MacDowall. And they celebrated by winning one race apiece today.
The new Asia Trophy went to Yukinori Taniguchi who built this success step by step, sealing last minute deals for Shanghai and Macau and becoming the first driver in WTCC history to race for three different teams and in three different cars.
As it usually happens in Macau, drivers and teams paid a dear toll in terms of damage. If the first race was rather smooth, the second one turned into a carnage with two massive pile ups that eliminated 17 cars out of 33! Luckily this happened on the last race of the season…

RACE 1 – MULLER CRUISES TO VICTORY
Yvan Muller took another of his famous lights to flag victories. The 2013 World Champion took the lead from pole position and bid farewell to the rest of the field.
Behind him Tiago Monteiro defended his second place keeping at bay Rob Huff, despite the Briton’s car was faster on the straight. Norbert Michelisz finished fourth ahead of the bamboo-engineering duo of Alex MacDowall – who won the Yokohama Trophy race – and James Nash who clinched the Yokohama Trophy title.
On the last lap Marc Basseng won the fight with Pepe Oriola for seventh; Yukinori Taniguchi finished on top of the Asia Trophy beating Michael Soong.

RACE 2 – HUFF WINS AFTER CARNAGE
Rob Huff claimed an amazing victory in a race that saw the field decimated by two massive pile-ups.
Tom Coronel was able to benefit from pole position and lead for most of the race, but the double red-flag and the two restarts behind the safety car gave an advantage to the SEAT and Chevrolet cars that were faster than the BMW on the straight. Eventually Huff jumped into the lead with only two laps left, while Pepe Oriola also managed to strip Coronel of second position.
For most of the race James Thompson and LADA cherished the dream of claiming the Russian manufacturers’ first podium, as the Briton was second behind Coronel. However Thompson lost two positions to Huff and Nash after the second restart and eventually was punted off by Oriola.
James Nash finished fourth ahead of his team-mate Alex MacDowall, and the pair gave bamboo-engineering a 1-2 finish in the Yokohama Trophy.
Among those who survived the carnage, Henry Ho finished in tenth position, claiming his first WTCC point and winning the Asia Trophy race.

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Yvan Muller on pole position is nothing new, as today the new WTCC champion scored his eighth pole of the season out of twelve qualifying sessions.
However, this was his first pole position at Macau. The RML driver was superb throughout the whole day, steering clear of any possible problems or mistakes. First in Practice 1, second in Practice 2, first again in Q1 and Q2.
Besides the position, what impressed most was his pace that relegated his closest competitor, Tiago Monteiro, one second behind. However the combined results of the three Honda drivers (with Gabriele Tarquini third and Norbert Michelisz fifth) put the Japanese cars in a good position for the races.
Rob Huff tried everything to claim a fifth consecutive pole position in Macau, but eventually last year’s champion was forced to settle in fourth.
Alex MacDowall qualified sixth, and first of the Yokohama Trophy, while Tom Coronel ranked tenth and won pole position on the reverse grid for the second race.

Qualifying 1
In the early stages Muller was the first one to post a significant quick lap of 2:30.989; then Monteiro improved to 2:30.969 in the period between the first and the second red flag. Eventually Muller set the fastest lap of 2:30.142 just before the third interruption.
In the five minutes left after the last red flag, a number of drivers managed to improve: Huff to second (2:30.700), Michelisz to third (2:30.945), Tarquini to seventh and Boardman who qualified in 12^th and reached Q2 for the first time.
Tom Chilton joined the session thanks to a miracle performed by the RML crew that put the car in conditions to run after the spectacular crash in Practice 2. And this enabled Chilton to make to Q2 on his last attempt.
Surprisingly Pepe Oriola, who had been one of the fastest in the morning’s practice sessions, was kicked out of the top twelve right at the end of the session. 
The session was disrupted three times by the red flag: the first time after Hugo Valente crashed at Paiol bend, then when Michael Soon (Valente’s team-mate at Campos Racing) dived into the tyre wall at the Fisherman’s bend and finally, with five minutes left on the clock, when Fredy Barth hit the wall at the Solitude Esses.
The following drivers went through to Q2: Muller, Huff, Michelisz, Monteiro, MacDowall, Thompson, Tarquini, Nash, Coronel, Chilton, Basseng and Boardman.

Qualifying 2
On the first timed lap Muller made clear that he was the man to beat for the pole, clocking the time of 2:29.770. Monteiro posted a provisional second fastest lap of 2:30.112 while Tarquini hit the wall and aborted what promised to be the second fastest lap.
On his second attempt Muller improved to 2:28.993, smashing the WTCC lap record by five tenths and leaving Monteiro one second behind.
Tarquini and Huff were able to climb to third and fourth, ahead of Michelisz and MacDowall who emerged as the best of the Yokohama Trophy.

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Rob Huff has the best winning record in Macau for WTCC, and in today’s test session he proved once again that he is always the man to beat on the Guia circuit.
In the late stages of the session, the 2012 World Champion drove his ALL-INKL.COM SEAT León car to clock the fastest time of 2:32.169, a mark that he improved further to 2:32.147 on the following lap.
The dying moments of the session provided plenty of improvements. Norbert Michelisz’s Honda Civic set the second fastest lap of 2:32.218, beating Yvan Muller’s Chevrolet Cruze (2:32.372) and the other Honda of Tiago Monteiro (2:32.693).
Pepe Oriola ranked in fifth (2:32.780) with Stefano D’Aste in sixth (2:33.314) and best of the BMW drivers and the Yokohama Trophy competitors, despite an early collision with Campos Racing’s newcomer Konstantins Calko at Moorish bend.
Chilton, Coronel, Thompson and Bennani rounded out the top ten. Michael Soong topped the Asia Trophy competitors in 22^nd position overall, followed by Henry Ho in 23^rd.
A few drivers had moments: Mak Ka Lok spun at the ‘R’ bend, Franz Engstler brushed the wall and was forced to pit for repairs, Yukinori Taniguchi crashed heavily into the wall at the Reservoir bend, which caused the session being red-flagged.
Friday will see the WTCC field take to the track for two thirty-minute Free Practice sessions, before the two-stage Qualifying begins at 15.35 local time (8.35 CET).

HUFF: I WANT TO LEAVE WITH A VICTORY

Rob Huff was extremely happy when he came back to the Münnich Motorsport garage at the end of the test session.
“It’s the first time I’m back on top since I won the race in Budapest earlier this year. It was a good couple of laps and the car felt good. It’s just a test today, but obviously this makes us confident. I’m very pleased for the team, as I can see that now they are smiling…”
This is Huff’s last race meeting with the German team before moving to LADA Sport for next year.
“Of course I want to leave them on a high note. It has been a wonderful year for me. These guys make an absolutely fantastic and loving team. I was welcomed with open arms and was impressed throughout the season by the way they cared of me and my car. I really would like to thank them with a victory here.”

TWO NEW DRIVERS JOIN CAMPOS RACING

Spanish outfit Campos Racing signed two new drivers to complete the three-car line-up for the WTCC final race meeting this weekend at Macau.
Konstantins Calko and Michael Soong have joined the team’s regular Hugo Valente; they both are newcomers to the WTCC.
Calko, 19-year old from Latvia is the first Baltic driver to appear in WTCC. After claiming a number of victories in karting, including two national titles and a third position in the 2010 European Championship, the young Latvian proved successful in car racing as well.
After being sacred Baltic Touring Car champion in 2011, he won last year the title of the Radical Masters Euroseries.
Soong, from Hong Kong, will replace Fernando Monje; although he also faces his WTCC debut, the 33-year old driver has built himself a solid touring car experience winning races in the Hong Kong and the China championships.
In the current season he took part in the China Touring Car championship at the wheel of a Kia K2 and ranked twelfth in the Super Production class.

DRIVERS IMPRESSED BY NEW CONTROL TOWER

Wednesday of the race week in Macau is usually dedicated to gather competitors of the main races – WTCC, F3 and Motorcycling GP – and offer photo opportunities to the press.
This year drivers and riders posed for pictures under the new Race Control Tower of the Guia Circuit, that was built in the latest months and replaced the previous building that dated back to 1993.
Between the end of the current year and the beginning of 2014, the whole Grand Prix building that includes garages, offices and the media centre will be demolished and a new one will be erected in time for next year’s event.
All the drivers were much impressed by the new Race Control facilities.

DRIVERS MEET MACAU SCHOOL CHILDREN

After the pictures in the pit lane, all drivers and riders boarded on buses to reach the glamorous Venetian Macau-Hotel Resort where they visited a collection of stunning classic automobiles and motorcycles celebrating the heritage of the Macau Grand Prix.
There they took part in an autograph session for the benefit of a group of children from the local School of Nations of Macau and the Macau Portuguese School.

WORLDWIDE TV COVERAGE FROM MACAU

The FIA WTCC Guia Race of Macau will benefit from a large worldwide TV coverage once again, including live broadcasts in Europe, the Asia Pacific region, Africa and the Americas.
European WTCC fans will have to set their alarm clock for an early wake up to follow the season’s finale on Eurosport – Europe’s largest sports channel – that will cover live the qualifying session on Friday, 15^th November at 8:30am (CET) and the two races on Sunday, 17^th November at 4:00am and 5:00am (CET) respectively.
In Macau and Mainland China eight free to air television broadcasters will air both races live at 11:00am and 12:00 (noon) local time respectively: TDM, Macau Cable TV, TVB, Guangdong TV, CSPN Network (that includes Shandong Sports TV, Xinjiang Sports TV and Jiangxi TV, Channel 6). On top of this, CCTV 5, Chinas’ state broadcaster, will show highlights of the event within its ‘Auto times’ magazine on Wednesday of the week after the event.
Pan-regional broadcasters such as Eurosport Asia and FOX/Star Sports will also show the races in the Asia Pacific region in addition to the 88 broadcasters reaching 188 countries around the world.
For those in the Americas, Speed 2 Channel in North America and Fox in Latin America will be broadcasting both races on a delayed basis, while Mexican broadcaster Viva Sports, through their network in Latin America, will broadcast both races live.

FOR HAVEN’S SAKE

Eurosport commentator and touring car expert Martin Haven’s column.

Macau preview – Celebration Day

The Macau Grand Prix reaches a huge milestone this year, celebrating its 60^th Anniversary. For any event, that would be reason for celebration but for any motor-race – let alone a street race, for both cars AND motorcycles, held in a tiny city, leased by a foreign power, then returned to China – it’s truly astonishing!
To put 1954 – the year in which the race was first held – into perspective, the Korean War had just finished, Dwight D Eisenhower was President of the USA and Bill Haley and the Comets released Rock Around The Clock.
The event, of course, is also the venue for the season finale of the FIA WTCC and the carnival atmosphere, combined with the passion of the fans and organisers for the event, ensures that Macau is a firm favourite with teams and drivers.
The track itself is quite some challenge. Broken into essentially two halves, it combines a tight, twisty mountain circuit that’s a pitching, diving roller-coaster with the harbourside section, which is wide, open and all-but flat-out.
The entire 6km length of the track is lined with unforgiving walls, waiting to trap the unwary. Imagine Monaco, combined with the fastest parts of Monza and you have an idea of the challenge the drivers face. Simply surviving two races in Macau is quite some achievement.
The Championship has been decided here nearly every season before this and Macau will still see the Yokohama Trophy Champion crowned, as well as the final Championship positions decided.
In both title races, James Nash is a front-runner. He looks most likely to add the Yokohama Trophy to his BTCC Independent’s title and is still in the running to be championship runner-up. He’ll have to overhaul Gabriele Tarquini and Tom Chilton, however and both men are likely to be highly competitive around the streets of Macau.
The final race weekend for the current WTCC format is sure to be a cracker – the street circuit always produces fireworks, with plenty of close racing, incident and accident. It’s must-see racing and the perfect way to celebrate the end of another great WTCC season.

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Chevrolet and Honda cars alternated in dominating the races at Shanghai International Circuit today.
An avalanche of Cruze cars filled the first five spots in Race 1, despite a shower had shuffled the cards a few minutes before the start. The two RML drivers made their gamble going for slick tyres, and won. Pepe Oriola, who had opted for the wets, tried everything to resist while Yvan Muller and Tom Chilton were coming back, but eventually was forced to give up.
In Race 2, Tiago Monteiro took a convincing lights to flag victory keeping his team-mate Gabriele Tarquini at bay, while Norbert Michelisz defended the third position to give Honda the second 1-2-3 finish of the season after Slovakia Ring.
In the Drivers’ Championship, now focus is on the fight for the second place, that sees Tarquini having a 22-point gap ahead of Chilton, while James Nash lies a further seven points adrift.
And Nash scored two victories in the Yokohama Trophy, that nearly granted him the title. His leading margin ahead of his bamboo-engineering team-mate Alex MacDowall is now of 41 points, with 43 still at stake.
At the same time the RML team clinched the Yokohama Teams’ Trophy, further increasing their already large margin.
Among the drivers who were shining in China, Tom Boardman deserves to be mentioned. Not only he scored his first points of the season in the Drivers’ Championship, but also finished twice on the Yokohama Trophy podium and – icing on the cake – overtook Michelisz and Monteiro for ninth at the end of Race 1.
The one-off appearance of Thed Björk and the Polestar Racing Volvo ended in a very disappointing way. Although the driver and the car had showed a very promising pace, a grid penalty after qualifying and an electrical problem at the start of Race 1 spoiled what could have been an exciting weekend for the Swedish team.
The championship will resume in two weeks for the final rounds 23 and 24 at Macau on November 17.

ROB HUFF JOINS LADA SPORT FOR 2014
2012 World Touring Car champion Rob Huff will join LADA Sport Lukoil for the next two seasons. Huff himself unveiled the deal during the TV live broadcasting, at the end of the Shanghai’s first race.
The man from Cambridge will be at the wheel of the team’s third Granta car alongside his fellow countryman James Thompson and Russia’s Mikhail Kozlowskiy who have been both confirmed for 2014.
In a move that demonstrates its commitment to WTCC, the Russian manufacturer forged a technical collaboration with ORECA in 2013 and they will jointly develop a revised version of the Granta racing car in compliance with the championship’s new technical regulations for 2014.
Huff stated: “I’m delighted with this new association with LADA Sport Lukoil and it’s a massive thrill to be back with a manufacturer team. It will be an honour to work with such an ambitious and hard-working group of people. I’m also really excited about racing as a team-mate to James Thompson, because I have a huge amount of respect for him. I’m determined to emulate the sort of success I had with Chevrolet, taking LADA Sport to the top in WTCC. The team is still fairly new to the championship and I hope to be able to use my knowledge and experience to make an active contribution towards building a championship-winning outfit.”
Team Principal Victor Shapovalov echoed: “We are very happy to have such a talented and experienced driver as part of our team. We have made significant progress since the start of the season and proved that the LADA Granta car is capable of fighting for the top five positions. Rob Huff’s driving skill can contribute much to the team’s success. The increased driver line-up for 2014 and 2015 will help us to strengthen our position. In view of a forthcoming season with new manufacturers joining, we set very ambitious goals. I am sure that the pair of Huff and Thompson will be one of the strongest in the Championship.”

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