WTCC drivers treated American fans to a breathtaking show on the occasion of the championship’s first visit to Sonoma and the United States.
Both races were eventful. Yvan Muller and Rob Huff shared the victory honours and their results also made the fight for the world championship as hot as ever. The two Chevrolet drivers are now on equal points with only six races to go.
It is easy to predict that the battle will go to the wire at Macau once again.
If Huff was the happiest man in the paddock for having matched Muller’s point tally on top of the Drivers’ Championship, Norbert Michelisz too had reasons to rejoice. The young Hungarian was a pain in the neck for the Chevrolet cars in both races and eventually claimed two podium results and stretched his leadership in the Yokohama Trophy.
Gabriele Tarquini and Alain Menu tried their best and never gave up. However, their hopes of achieving great results vanished when they collided at the start of the first race. The Italian had the consolation of a podium in Race 2, while the Swiss saw his hopes of staying in contention for the title fight seriously jeopardized.
Among those who contributed to entertain the Californian fans a few deserve to be mentioned: Tom Coronel completed two great recoveries from 20^th on the grids to eight and fifth; Alex MacDowall chased the top drivers in both races; Tiago Monteiro finished twice in the points on his last appearance with Sunred before switching to Honda; Tom Boardman scored points in both races; Franz Engstler lulled into the dream of winning Race 2 before Muller brusquely woke him up…
The championship takes a one month break, while cars and parts are being shipped to Japan. Rounds 19 and 20 will take place at Suzuka on October 21.

Sonoma – 21 / 23 September 2012
www.fiawtcc.com – http://www.racesonoma.com

Photo: Nate Jacobson

With a last gasp lap, Alain Menu claimed his fourth pole position of the season beating Gabriele Tarquini by two tenths of a second.
The Italian driver had set the benchmark with a very fast first lap and felt like he had wrapped pole position for good. However, the Chevrolet team managed to prepare their cars in time for a second attempt that eventually Menu exploited stealing the pole at the very last moment.
Tarquini and the Lukoil Racing Team tried to react, but when the SEAT was ready to leave the pit lane, it was too late for a last flying lap.
Although they also managed to improve, Yvan Muller and Rob Huff were not able to beat Tarquini’s time and qualified in second and third, ahead of the two best Yokohama Trophy competitors: Norbert Michelisz and Alex MacDowall.
A few drivers were disappointed by the results, as they did not manage to advance to Q2. Tom Coronel spoiled his Q1 by spinning on new tyres, Pepe Oriola could not make any better that 18^th, and Team Aon team-mates James Nash and Tom Chilton were not able to repeat the good results they have had in Practice.
Stefano D’Aste and Mehdi Bennani qualified tenth and ninth, meaning a full BMW front row on the reversed grid for Race 2.

Sonoma – 21 / 23 September 2012
www.fiawtcc.com – http://www.racesonoma.com

Alex MacDowall set the fastest lap in the first outing for the WTCC drivers at Sonoma. The 30-minute test lasted only 26 minutes before being red flagged when Felice Tedeschi crashed at Turn 4.
Yvan Muller was the first one to time a significant lap of 1:49.891, ten minutes into the session. A few moment later Alain Menu improved to 1:49.373 and then Pepe Oriola moved the mark further ahead to 1:48.609.
With twelve minutes left on the clock MacDowall clocked a lap of 1:48.281 that eventually remained the fastest as the red flag shortened the session by four minutes.
Tedeschi went wide at Turn 4 and his Proteam BMW 320 TC hit the wall and rolled; the Italian newcomer had struggled from the beginning, spinning three times at Turn 2 before the crash. Despite the hard crash, Tedeschi was unscathed.
Fernando Monje set an impressive third fastest lap of 1:48.979, demoting Muller to fourth in the fastest of the Chevrolet cars. While Stefano D’Aste was the best of the BMW drivers, ranking eighth with a lap of 1:49.449. James Nash’s Ford was timed at 1:50.270 and classified 14^th.

MACDOWALL: THE RED FLAG HELPED ME

Commenting on his fastest lap, Alex MacDowall said: “It was good. The track was a bit dusty and slippery. It was difficult to make one lap on the proper racing line. A lot of drivers were running wide to check the limits of the tracks. I managed to complete one good lap and set a kind of a bench mark. However I don’t think it would stay the fastest until the end, because the red flag prevented the Chevrolet drivers to improve.”

Tuenti Racing Team fellow Spaniards Pepe Oriola and Fernando Monje set the second and third fastest lap.
“I did not use the news tyres. So I’m quite happy with my second time. It has been a very good beginning to the weekend” Oriola said.
And Monje echoed: “I cannot complain. I did put the new tyres, but I think that my lap time was very encouraging.”

US DRIVER TO RACE WITH BAMBOO AT SONOMA

Robb Holland is the first US driver to compete in the FIA World Touring Car Championship as he will drive for bamboo-engineering this weekend at Sonoma.
Holland replaces Pasquale Di Sabatino for this weekend’s round at Sonoma in California, and partners Alex MacDowall in the team’s Chevrolet Cruze.
After being a professional cyclist for the US national team, Holland switched to car racing in 2006. Since then he established himself as a podium finisher in the SSCA World Challenge for Touring Cars, winning his first race last year at the wheel of a Volvo C30.
During the current season he is racing in the British Touring Car Championship driving a Honda Civic.
“This is a very exciting weekend for me, and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to join WTCC for the US event. I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of the Chevrolet Cruze. This has been a last minute call-up, but I’m thrilled to be given the chance to show what I can do in a competitive car with a team as strong as bamboo-engineering,” Holland said.
Team Principal Richard Coleman added: “This has all come together very late and has been very short notice for Rob, but we’re all very excited. Robb brings a lot of experience to the team and we’re all very much looking forward to working with him here at Sonoma this weekend.”

WTCC DRIVERS MEET THE LOCAL MEDIA

Rob Huff, Alain Menu, Tom Chilton and Pepe Oriola joined WTCC General Manager Marcello Lotti as they all attended two media lunches on Wednesday and Thursday.
The events promoting the WTCC Race of USA at Sonoma took place at two elegant restaurants: the first one in San Francisco at McCormick and Culeto’s in Ghirardelli square, facing the Marina, the second one at the Zócalo in Sacramento.
Lotti delivered a brief welcome speech explaining why and how WTCC set up a race meeting at Sonoma.
“I am especially proud to be here with you today, because the WTCC Race of USA at Sonoma is an historical event that marks the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s visit to the United States. To establish an event in North America has been one of our priorities in recent years. United States are an important market for car manufacturers and feature a very proud and long-standing motor-sport tradition. We are pleased to have reached this goal and bring the WTCC to Sonoma,” he said.

www.fiawtcc

Team Aon have been busy in the weeks between the Brazilian round of this year’s World Touring Car Championship and this weekend’s event in California, with some extensive development on the Global Ford Focus. As the team get to grips with their first season in the world’s premier touring car championship, 2012 has been a steep learning curve for Team Aon drivers Tom Chilton and James Nash. Now with the championship’s first visit to Sonoma Raceway this weekend, the team face a new challenge in Ford’s backyard.

“We’ve had a really busy few weeks at Team Aon, but it’s nice that we’ve had the big breaks in between races after such a busy start to the season”, said Chilton. “The great thing is that now we’ve actually got a test car to work on during the breaks. To have a test car ready in our first year in the championship is so valuable and a testament to the hard work of the team, in what has been a very busy season.”

When the British squad took to the track in Monza for its first ever WTCC track, it was following a very limited WTCC test programme with the new Ford Focus. Embracing the challenges that brought, it did nevertheless create some difficult race weekends for the Team Aon drivers. “I’d be lying if I said we weren’t struggling at the start of the year. But that’s only to be expected when you’re new to a championship that everyone else has been in for years, and you’ve had a very limited test programme. I think we’ve got over the hard part now though, we’re in much better shape with every race weekend,” added Chilton.

The 2010 BTCC Independents’ Champion is keen to make the most of the remaining events in the 2012 season. “We’ve very much using these last races to prepare for the 2013 season. We’re trying as many things as possible. There’s restricted testing in WTCC, so we’re having to do a lot of testing during the race weekends.

“Since Brazil we’ve focused on geometry, suspension, the engine, aerodynamics and brakes. Pretty much every significant part of the car has been looked at again. It’s been a lot of work for the team, but it’s been productive. The testing we’ve done has been about testing the reliability of the new parts as well as speed and improvement to set-up, and so far we’ve made some strong steps forward on all counts. To the credit of the boys at Arena, they’ve designed, made and run new parts with no problems in a very tight time schedule.”

Racing in the US brings with it its own pressures. Taking part in this year’s WTCC with technical support from Ford, Team Aon is far from a factory team, but still the pressure is there to do well in Ford’s backyard. “The essence of the big US manufacturers, Ford and Chevrolet, and racing for the first time in California, it all adds up to being quite a big deal. It’s an important race for all of us in the team and everyone is pushing hard to deliver the best results we can. This season has really been a learning year, and while it’s been hard to do that in front of a global audience, we’re proud that we’ve been putting together this fantastic Ford Focus WTCC car.”

As a new addition to the WTCC calendar the Sonoma Raceway will be a new experience for all the teams, putting Team Aon on a level playing field with the rest of the teams for the first time this season. “I think it will definitely help us”, said Chilton. “It will be new for all the teams and drivers. We saw that even in Marrakech, a circuit that WTCC had been to before, because they changed so many areas of the track, speeds and braking points changed and I don’t think it’s any coincidence that we had our best weekend there. It will be interesting to see how quickly everyone adapts to the new challenges of Sonoma.”

With the 2.5 mile long Sonoma circuit providing overtaking opportunities, and short straights amongst the undulating features, the California circuit could suit the characteristics of the Focus’ Mountune built engine. “We’ve been working a lot on track and we’ve always had a lot of torque, so power wise our engine should suit Sonoma,” said Chilton.

“I’m hoping that the changes we’ve made will help see us though to Q2 this weekend. One thing’s for sure. We’re going to see some exciting racing on the WTCC’s first visit to the US.”