NEWS ARCHIVE
The Chevrolet team returned to Valencia’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo for another test session in preparation of the new season. Reigning champion Yvan Muller and vice-champion Rob Huff are sharing driving duties in the two-day test, while their team-mate Alain Menu, who tested in Valencia a few weeks ago, is working with the engineers. The tests take place yesterday and today.
An event at the modern Slovakia Ring on April 29 will replace the WTCC Race of Argentina that was due to happen in Córdoba on 8 July. Close to Bratislava, Slovak Republic’s capital city, the Slovakia Ring was inaugurated in 2009.
Honda’s decision to enter in the WTCC brings a glorious brand back to top level international automobile motor sport with a works programme since the company pulled out of Formula One. In recent years Honda cars have also been very successful in Touring Car racing, winning a number of national titles, three consecutive FIA European Cups (2009, 2010, 2011) and one WTCC race in 2008 (James Thompson at Imola).
Today during a press conference in Tokyo, Honda announced they will join the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Honda CEO Takanobu Ito explained: “We took the decision to enter in the WTCC with the European Civic. We will develop a totally new engine for this project and we are all excited about starting this new challenge.” For this project, Honda formed a joint partnership with Mugen and J.A.S. Motorsport. Mugen will manufacture a 1.6-litre turbo bespoke racing engine developed by Honda R&D.
WTCC regulars Mehdi Bennani and Javier Villa starred on Tuesday in a promotional event in the city of Assa, located in the Moroccan Sahara. Bennani and Villa took part in exhibition races, driving karts and Renault Clio Cup cars during the event that was aiming to promote motor sport in a Country that will host WTCC for the third time on Marrakech’s city circuit later this year.
Lukoil Racing Team driver Aleksey Dudukalo has claimed his first victory of the season in the Russian Ice Racing championship at Ramenskoe’s hippodrome, in the Moscow region. Last Sunday at Ramenskoe, in the championship’s opening event, Dudukalo and his LADA Kalina car dominated the rest of the field, winning all the heats they took part in, and are now leading the point table.
Readers of the popular website Touringcartimes.com voted Rob Huff as the best driver in the 2011 WTCC season. Huff collected twenty-five per cent of the votes to rank ahead of Norbert Michelisz and Darryl O'Young. "I'm absolutely made up to be voted the best driver... it certainly put a big smile on my face," said Huff, adding: "It's most unexpected, but it's certainly an award I've been chasing for a while. A big thank you to everyone who voted for me!"
Bamboo engineering announced they will run again two Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 turbo powered cars in 2012, with full specification upgrades and identical to the works RML cars. Team Principal, Richard Coleman said: “We’re talking to several top line drivers at the moment and we’ll hopefully be in a position to announce our line up within the next couple of weeks.”
Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Championship and the FIA European Touring Car Cup will take place at Monza, Italy, 10 and 11 March. The deadline to apply for media credentials is Tuesday, 28 February. No media credentials will be allocated after the aforesaid deadline.
