FIA WTCC NEWSLETTER # 48 – 21 December 2007
MEXICO BACK IN THE WTCC CALENDAR
The FIA World Touring Car Championship will visit Mexico
again in 2008. After a one-year break the 3.2-km Miguel E.
Abed racetrack of Puebla Amozoc will host the championship’s
third and fourth rounds on April 6th.
The WTCC had already raced in Puebla twice: Fabrizio Giovanardi
(Alfa Romeo) and Peter Terting (SEAT) shared victories in
2005, while Salvatore Tavano and Augusto Farfus claimed a
double for Alfa Romeo the following year.
These were also among the most successful WTCC events ever
in terms of crowd, with 71,000 and 76,000 spectators attending
the two previous editions. Mexico having been reinstated,
the 2008 FIA WTCC will be composed of twelve events and 24
rounds.
2008 FIA WTCC CALENDAR
Round Date Country Venue
1 & 2 2 March BRAZIL Curitiba
3 & 4 06 April MEXICO Puebla Amozoc
5 & 6 18 May SPAIN Valencia
7 & 8 1 June FRANCE Pau
9 & 10 15 June CZECH REPUBLIC Brno
11 & 12 13 July PORTUGAL Estoril
13 & 14 27 July GREAT BRITAIN Brands Hatch
15 & 16 31 August GERMANY Oschersleben
17 & 18 21 September SWEDEN Anderstorp *
19 & 20 5 October ITALY Monza
21 & 22 26 October JAPAN Okayama
23 & 24 16 November MACAU Macau
* subject to the ASN confirmation and the FIA homologation
of the circuit
SUCCESS BALLAST SYSTEM REVISED
The FIA WTCC handicap weight system has been revised in view
of the 2008 season, starting from the name that has been changed
to “success ballast”. The new system was approved
by the FIA World Motor Sport Council after a proposal coming
from the Touring Car Commission.
The imposition of success ballast remains based on different
criteria: championship points and race results.
a) according to the Championship points: 1 kg per every point
scored
b) according to the sum of points obtained in the two races
of each event, according to the following scale:
1st + 30 kg
2nd + 25 kg
3rd + 20 kg
4th + 15 kg
5th + 10 kg
6th + 5 kg
These ballasts will be scrapped and recalculated after each
championship event. Handicap weights a) and b) are cumulative
up to a maximum of 70 kg.
A 30 kg ballast will automatically be allocated to each driver
entered on a race-byrace basis on the occasion of his first
appearance in the championship.
CHOO TO COMPETE IN TWO WTCC ROUNDS
Singaporean driver Melvin Choo is eyeing to take part in
two rounds of the 2008 FIA World Touring Car Championship.
Choo, who placed third in this year’s ATCS at the wheel
of a Honda Integra DC5, has bought Porteiro’s 2007 BMW
320si for his ATCS campaign in 2008. He will also drive his
new car in some rounds of the WTCC next year: “I wish
to race in the Japanese and Macau events. Is a learning curve
for me in motor racing and in the WTCC I’ll be competing
with some of the best touring car drivers in the world.”
MULLER AND MONTEIRO IN THE LISBON-DAKAR
Team-mates at SEAT Sport in the FIA WTCC, together Yvan Muller
and Tiago Monteiro are facing another big challenge: the Lisbon-Dakar.
Last year the Frenchman took part for the first time in the
infamous raid, making it to the end in 22nd position at the
wheel of a Nissan Pickup he shared with three-time winner
and fellow countryman René Metge.
For the 2008 event, which will start from Lisbon on January
5th to arrive in Dakar on January 20th after 6,000 km of special
stages, Muller has joined Philippe Gache’s team and
will drive a single-seater SMG buggy powered by a 250bhp 6-cylinder
boxer Porsche engine, built by Gache and conceived together
with Jean-Louis Schlesser. The team line-up five buggies including
Muller’s and Monteiro’s.
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