FIA WTCC NEWSLETTER # 42 – 11th November 2005
MASSIVE TV COVERAGE FOR THE WTCC GUIA RACE
The WTCC LG Guia Race of Macau will benefit from even greater
TV coverage, as well as an enhanced live broadcast on Eurosport,
a number of premier TV channels from Asia- Pacific and Portugal
will broadcast both races live or on a delayed basis.
Live coverage will be broadcast by TDM (Macau), MASTV (Macau,
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan), ESPN Star Sports (Pan Asia), Guangdong
TV (China), TVB (Hong Kong), RTP1, RTPi and SIC (Portugal).
Among the channels that will feature delayed broadcast or
highlights are CCTV 5, Guagzhou TV, Chengdu TV and Zhuhai
TV (China), VideoLand TV (Taiwan), J Sport and Tokyo Eizosha
(Japan), ZDF (Germany) and Sport TV (Portugal).
A TOYOTA ALTEZZA FOR TAKEUCHI AT MACAU
Hironori Takeuchi from Japan and James Kaye from England
were the latest additions to an already impressive entry list,
which comprises of 32 drivers from 12 countries.
The first Japanese driver to join FIA WTCC, Takeuchi will
be at the wheel of a Toyota Altezza run by the Macau-based
Ao’s Racing Team, marking the first appearance of a
Toyota car in the championship. It will be the only rear-wheel-drive
car of the field besides the BMWs. Takeuchi has a long standing
relationship with the Japanese manufacturer, for which he
won the 2001 All Japan GT Championship.
Kaye (41) is a Touring Car veteran, with 11 years of experience
in the BTCC in which he claimed two Privateers’ trophies
and one Production Class title. In 2005 Kaye has raced a Synchro
Motorsport Honda Civic, while at Macau he will drive a GR
Asia SEAT Toledo.
SATURDAY OFF FOR TOURING CAR DRIVERS
FIA WTCC’s timetable will change in order to adapt
to the traditional format of the Macau Grand Prix. According
to art. 116 of the Sporting Regulations, which allows an extra
test session of 30 minutes, Touring Car drivers will hit the
track on Thursday. They will run on the usual schedule on
Friday, for two free practice and one qualifying session.
Competitors will enjoy a day off on Saturday, when the Guia
track will host the Motorcycle Grand Prix and the qualification
race to the Formula 3 Grand Prix. The two final races of the
2005 FIA WTCC will be on Sunday, at 12.05 and 13.20 local
time.
LADA PRESENT WTCC PROTOTYPE IN MOSCOW
Last Friday, at the Moscow Sport-Motor-Tuning exhibition,
Russia’s biggest car manufacturer LADA Avtovaz launched
their project to compete in the FIA World Touring Car Championship
from the next season.
During a press conference at the LADA stand, Avtovaz Chief
Designer Engineer Vladimir Guba and representative from the
German Mtec Sport team presented to the Russian media the
first prototype of the LADA 21106 in Super 2000 technical
specifications.
In his speech, Mr Guba confirmed that the WTCC project is
underway. Some aerodynamic tests are already taking place
at the factory in Togliatti and construction of the racing
cars’ chassis will begin soon.
LADA will race two 21106 cars in the 2006 season but they
will switch to the new Priora from 2007.
EUROSPORT NAME FIA WTCC MARKETING DIRECTOR
Eurosport – 100 percent shareholder of KSO –
appointed George Bolos as Vice President, Marketing and Sales,
in charge of the FIA WTCC.
"By creating this position and filling it with George
Bolos, we are signalling to sponsors, manufacturers, teams,
event promoters and media partners that Eurosport is committed
to raising the FIA WTCC to yet another level," said Angelo
Codignoni, Eurosport President and CEO. "Over the past
three years we have worked to upgrade a European series to
FIA's third World Championship alongside Formula 1 and WRC.
The next step will be promoting the FIA WTCC to a mega event."
Lately George Bolos has held the position of General Manager
in charge of marketing, ticketing, torch relay, spectators
and services for Athens 2004. In this position, he contributed
in making the Athens Olympic Games an outstanding success.
FLASH NEWS
PARTY: The FIA WTCC’s end of season
party and prize giving ceremony will be included in the Macau
Grand Prix traditional party on Sunday, November 20, at the
Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Centre. The Soirée
will begin at 7.00 PM with a dinner that will be followed
by the Macau Grand Prix prize giving. The FIA WTCC prize giving
will close the programme.
REPLACEMENT: Peter Scharmach, 41 from Germany,
will replace fellow countryman Franz Engstler at the wheel
of the second BMW 320i car run by the Engstler Motorsport
team, alongside that driven by Paul Poon from Hong Kong. Scharmach
took part in the 2002 and 2003 Macau Guia Race, in both cases
he was classified fourth in Race 1 at the wheel of a Schubert
Motors BMW.
MARATHON MAN: For the second time Gabriele
Tarquini competed in the New York Marathon. And again he managed
to complete the distance, in 3 hours and 49 minutes. “I’m
pleased despite not breaking my record of 3 hours 14. But
this time it was hotter and I only started training from the
beginning of October,” he said.
THEY SAID: QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Ao Chi Hong on his participation to the Guia Race: "For
any Macau driver it would be a privilege to compete in an
FIA World Championship, and the fact that the final round
of FIA WTCC’s inaugural season is held right here in
Macau, makes it even more special.”
EUROSPORT COVERAGE FROM MACAU (Central European Time)
Sunday 20th: Warm up – LIVE EUROSPORT, 00.45/01.15
Races 1 & 2 – LIVE EUROSPORT, 04.45/07.00
Races 1 & 2 – repeat EUROSPORT, 07.00/08.30
Races 1 & 2 – highlights EUROSPORT, 11.30/13.00
Races 1 & 2 – repeat EUROSPORT 2, 15.00/16.00
Motorsport Weekend Magazine EUROSPORT, 21.00/21.30
Thursday 24th: WTCC Magazine EUROSPORT, 20.15/20.45
Friday 25th: WTCC Magazine EUROSPORT, 08.30/09.00
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