LADA Sport and Lukoil have confirmed they are finalizing a deal to join forces in an all-Russian partnership for competing in the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Evgeny Malinovskiy, head of Lukoil Racing said: “We are in the final stages of the negotiations and close to sign the agreement with LADA Sport. We hope that our support and experience in WTCC will help LADA Sport and that we will be one of the best teams.”
After an encouraging participation with one LADA Granta car driven by James Thompson in two WTCC events – Hungary and Portugal – during the 2012 season, next year the Avtovaz Group will be represented by two cars, run under the banner of LADA Sport Lukoil, with Russian driver Aleksei Dudukalo joining Thompson in the team’s line up.
LADA Sport principal Victor Shapovalov commented: “We are very pleased and proud with Lukoil’s decision to support our WTCC programme. The whole team are very motivated and work flat out to develop competitive cars for our drivers. We are very excited looking forward to the start of the season. Testing said that the Granta is a fast car, with a powerful engine. We believe that Aleksei and James will be in the position to fight for top positions in every race.”

DUDUKALO: I CAN’T WAIT TO START TESTING

Aleksei Dudukalo will join James Thompson at LADA Sport Lukoil to drive one of the team’s LADA Granta cars in the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
The 36-year old driver from Moscow will face his third season in WTCC after two years at the wheel of Lukoil Racing Team’s SEAT León cars. His best result was a second place behind his team-mate Gabriele Tarquini at the Slovakia Ring last year.
Dudukalo is not new to LADA Sport, having clinched the 2012 Russian Ice Racing title in a Lukoil-backed LADA Kalina.
“I am glad to continue racing in the WTCC, especially because now I have the opportunity to do it for a factory team and in a Russian car. I hope that James and I will make life difficult for our competitors. I can’t wait to start testing the LADA Granta on the track!” Dudukalo said.
LADA Sport principal Victor Shapovalov commented: “We are pleased to welcome Aleksei, and we are confident he has the potential to achieve very good results in his third season in the World Championship.”

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Last night Rob Huff and Chevrolet were officially named 2012 FIA World Touring Car champions during the traditional FIA prize giving gala in that took place for the first time at Istanbul.
In the sumptuous setting of the Ciragan Palace, the FIA honoured all its champions in a progression from Karting to Formula One.
The part of the ceremony dedicated to the presentation of the WTCC trophies culminated in an all-Chevrolet podium with the Cruze 1.6T racing car on the background. Alain Menu and Yvan Muller – second and third in the championship respectively – received the runner up trophies, lining on either side of Rob Huff. Then Chevrolet Europe’s Communications Director Vijay Iyer joined them to receive the Manufacturers’ trophy.
Rob Huff was awarded the Drivers’ World Championship trophy for the first time, after he finished twice in third and once in second, while Iyer collected Chevrolet’s third consecutive Manufacturers’ Championship trophy.

JAMES NASH TO DRIVE FOR BAMBOO

James Nash will join Silverstone-based bamboo-engineering to drive one of the team’s Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T car during the 2013 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Both Nash and bamboo have been working hard since the close of the 2012 season in Macau to make the deal work.
“I’m delighted to have signed with Bamboo. The Chevrolet is such a strong platform and will give me a chance to show my true potential. Richard Coleman runs a tight ship and we both share the ambition to challenge for the Drivers’ Championship in 2013,” commented Nash, who faces his second season in WTCC after racing a Team Aon Ford Focus in 2012.
“Racing in the WTCC this year has been immense; it’s a fantastic championship and allows me to compete with the best in the world and race on a global stage. I’ve definitely been bitten by the WTCC bug; the racers, the tracks, the countries are all top notch, but now I need to make my mark on the global stage,” said the 26-year old Englishman.
Richard Coleman, Team Principal, bamboo-engineering said: “We’re delighted to have signed James, I’ve been talking to him for many years now and to have finally put pen to paper is great for all of us. We’ve been knocking on the door for a few years now, but with Nash onboard, and his newly gained WTCC experience, he’ll be a challenger this year, 2013 is going to be great.”

TARQUINI AND MONTEIRO AT HONDA THANKS DAY

Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro were the guest stars last week at Twin Ring Motegi, in an event organized by Honda Racing to thank its motorsport fans.
Together with their fellow Honda Super GT drivers and Moto GP riders, Tarquini and Monteiro attended press conferences, talk shows, photo and autograph sessions, meeting media representatives and families with children.
They also completed demonstration drives around the circuit at the wheel of the Honda Civic WTCC car and took part in karting races against the other Honda racers.
The Honda Racing Thanks Day was attended by more than 4500 people in spite of rainy weather.

THE FIA ETCC AT THE ESSEN MOTOR SHOW

The FIA European Touring Car Cup is well represented at the Essen Motor Show, Europe’s first motorsport exhibition that began
last Friday, November 30 and will close on Sunday, December 9.
More than 350,000 visitors are expected at Essen’s fair complex over the nine days.
Five racing cars are on display in the FIA ETCC stand, representing the different categories: Petr Fulín BMW 320si and Peter Rikli’s Honda Civic (Super 2000), Ulrike Kraft’s Ford Fiesta and Zeljoko Markovic’s Citroën C2 (S1600) and Andreas Pfister’s SEAT León Cup (Single Make Trophy).

THE CHEVROLET-VAILLANTE AT BOLOGNA

The Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T car disguised as a Vaillante that Alain Menu/Michel Vaillant drove to victory in the WTCC Race 2 at Portimão is being exhibited at the Bologna Motor Show.
The red-white-blue racing car makes a fine show in the middle of the stand of La Gazzetta dello Sport, to celebrate the publication of a new series of comic books that reprints Michel Vaillant’s old adventures.
The first issue ‘Brivido a Monza’ (‘De l’huile sur la piste’) was distributed Wednesday, December 5 together with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

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Team Arena’s Ford Focus WTCC Limited Edition road car that was launched at Macau during the final meeting of the 2012 FIA WTCC, is already arousing a huge interest among fans and dealers.
The car, that was used as the leading car during the rolling start lap for Macau’s Race 1 has been developed by Arena and built to celebrate Ford’s return to the WTCC; it also benefits of a Ford warranty that includes the specially upgraded engine.
The striking looking car is finished in Ford’s Artic White and comes complete with the very same decals that appear on the WTCC racers, including the traditional navy blue racing stripes.
Under the bonnet, the car features a 1.6 turbocharged ecoboost engine that has been upgraded by Arena’s race engine partner Mountune Performance to deliver 202 bhp and sits on Team Dynamics alloy wheels identical to those of the racing car, with Yokohama low profile tyres. A Mountune Performance developed short-shift gear change and a Powerflow exhaust also feature on this exciting car.
The Focus WTCC Limited Edition will be offered for sale globally with a run of just 2,000 worldwide planned.

MENU GUEST STAR AT MICHEL VAILLANT’S LAUNCH

Alain Menu was the guest star at the launch of ‘Au nom du fils’, first comic book of the series Michel Vaillant New Season, that took place last Friday in Paris at the FNAC Montparnasse shop.
Menu, who earlier this year had played Michel Vaillant’s role on the racing track during the WTCC Race of Portugal in Portimão at the wheel of a Chevrolet Cruze car disguised as a Vaillante, joined the Studio Graton team on the stage during a crowded press conference.
Afterwards, the Swiss racers signed copies of the new comic books together with Michel Vaillant’s scenarists Philip Graton and Denis Lapière, and illustrators Marc Bourgne and Benjiamin Benéteau. Earlier on Friday, the five of them had visited Eurosport headquarters at Issy-les-Moulineaux, for another signing session.
The comic book ‘Au nom du fils’, that is set in the FIA World Touring Car Championship and features Michel Vaillant racing against the likes of Yvan Muller, Gabriele Tarquini, Tom Coronel, etc, is now for sale in all the bookshops.

DUTCH TEAM DREAM OF THE WTCC

Nederland-based Vuik Racing are setting up a programme to take part next year in the German ADAC Procar championship. But at the same time, team-principal and driver Henk Vuik doesn’t conceal his dream to race in the WTCC.
In 2013 the team will run two Mercedes C200 cars. “One is the former Thate Motosport car driven by Jens Weimann, while the sister car has been raced in the Scandinavian Touring Car Cup by G-Rex Motorsport,” Vuik explained.
Vuik and his team have built themselves a reputation in the Formula Ford Euro Cup (4^th classified in 2000) and Dutch and Benelux
championships, before they switched to touring cars this year.
“I was looking for a new challenge and took part in the Burando Production Open (the Dutch Touring Car Championship) winning three races! Now we are ready to step up to the ADAC Procar. Both cars have been fitted with new suspension developed in the STCC, and I think they have the potential to win races,” said Vuik.
The plans for 2013 have been set, but Vuik has already a secret dream.
“My dream is to take part with my team in the WTCC, and to race a Mercedes A-Class powered by a 1.6-litre turbo engine…”

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Clinching his first World Touring Car Championship crown, Rob Huff became the series’ fourth different champion following Andy Priaulx (2005, 2006 and 2007), Yvan Muller (2008, 2010 and 2011) and Gabriele Tarquini (2009).
46 drivers of 18 nationalities took part in at least one event during the 2012 season, at the wheel of twelve different models built by six car manufacturers: BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, LADA and SEAT.
Robb Holland was the first competitor ever from the USA to enter in a WTCC meeting.
The season’s finale at Macau featured the largest field, with 29 drivers at the start, while the average participation over the twelve events of the year was 23.3.

MULLER’S NEW RECORD

Yvan Muller claimed nine race victories during the year, setting a new record for a single season. The previous one – eight – dated back to last year and belonged to Rob Huff and Muller himself.
In 2012 Huff focused on consistency. He won five races, four less than Muller and one less than Alain Menu. However he finished on the podium 17 times, against Menu’s 16 and Muller’s 14; Huff also failed to score in two races only, while Menu and Muller remained scoreless in three races.
Muller’s nine victories meant that he has been the first driver to reach 30 race wins; Menu and Huff are equal in second place with 23.
Three other drivers won races this year: Stefano D’Aste joined the winners’ club claiming his first two WTCC successes, Norbert Michelisz and Gabriele Tarquini won one race apiece.
Tarquini is the only driver who scored wins in all the WTCC seasons so far: 18 in eight years.

MENU THE FASTEST MAN

Alain Menu emerged as the fastest man in qualifying. He won pole position in four of the twelve events, while Muller topped the qualifying session three times, Huff and Tarquini twice, Michelisz once. In the all-time table, Menu and Tarquini are co-leaders with 15 pole positions.
The closest gap between the poleman and the second was 0.026 seconds at Shanghai, when Menu beat Muller, while the average gap over the season was of 0.258.
In the live-or-die battle to win a place in Q2, the average gap between the 12^th (last qualified) and the 13^th (first excluded) was of 0.055 seconds. The closest gap was recorded in Marrakech, where Pepe Oriola cut Franz Engstler off by only two thousandths of a second. For three times Engstler was the first driver to miss the cut, while this happened twice to Tom Coronel, James Nash and Alberto Cerqui.
Besides the three Chevrolet works drivers, Tarquini was the only one who made it to Q2 in all the events, while Pepe Oriola and Tiago Monteiro failed only twice. Rickard Rydell, Michel Nykjær and Colin Turkington had a perfect record, as they qualified for Q2 in the sole event they entered.

D’ASTE KING OF REVERSE POLE

In 2012, the number of drivers admitted to Q2 was increased from ten to twelve, but the number of positions to be reversed on the grid for Race 2 remained ten. This in order to avoid possible strategies to secure the pole.
Of all the drivers, Stefano D’Aste was the best interpreter of the new regulations and managed to claim the reverse pole position on four different occasions. Which put him in the position to win on the Suzuka East Circuit, where overtaking is nearly impossible.
Norbert Michelisz was the poleman on the reverse grid twice.

FORD’S FIRST LEADING LAPS

The twenty-four races of the 2012 WTCC totaled to 320 laps, including 16 behind the safety car, which equated to a race distance of 1358,47 kilometres.
Yvan Muller led nearly one third of the total laps; the 2011 champion was ahead of the field for 106 laps, much more than Menu’s 85 and Huff’s 43. Behind the Chevrolet trio, ranked D’Aste and Michelisz with 33 and 27 laps led respectively.
Looking at the all time statistics, with 369 laps led, Muller is the only driver who topped the 300 mark, while Menu is second with 297.
In the 180 races held since 2005, thirty-three drivers have managed to stay in the lead for at least one lap. During the 2012 season three new members joined the club: James Nash (4 laps in Marrakech, the first ever Ford car leading a WTCC race), Mehdi Bennani (3 laps at Sonoma) and Alex MacDowall (1 lap at Macau).

MICHELISZ CONSISTENT LIKE HUFF

Just like Rob Huff did in the Drivers’ Championship, Norbert Michelisz focused his attention on consistency in his hunt for the Yokohama Drivers’ Trophy.
The Zengö Motorsport driver won five races during the season, the same amount of his closest rival Pepe Oriola, but two less than Stefano D’Aste who eventually was classified third in the standings.
Michelisz claimed a serious stake on the title by scoring points in 17 out of the first 18 races. And although he only pocketed five further points in the final six races, the margin he had built was enough to earn him the final victory.
The Hungarian was also the best Yokohama Trophy competitor in the overall championship, where he finished sixth, just ahead of D’Aste and Oriola.

LUKOIL BEAT ROAL BY FOUR

Four points only separated Lukoil Racing Team and ROAL Motorsport in the final classification of the Yokohama Team’s Trophy.
Thanks to the double points awarded in Macau and to Tom Coronel’s withdrawal in the second race on the Guia circuit, the Lukoil duo of Gabriele Tarquini and Aleksei Dudukalo managed to overturn the positions.
Although Tarquini was the driver who scored most of the team’s points during the season, it was Dudukalo who decided the final outcome by finishing seventh in Macau’s Race 2 after his team-mate retired, his car damaged by debris on the track.

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